In The Zone: The Ja Debate, Must Win for Vikings?

The FAN's Dave Sinykin and Trent Tucker are back talking some Wolves hoops and plenty of NFL as the Vikings host the Bears.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (01:38):
It's eight oh two on a Saturday morning, and you
are in the zone. Good morning, everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I am Dave sinecon joined as always by my partner,
the professor of Hoopology, Go for legend.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
NBA champion.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Double t Trent Tucker in the house on this lovely
Saturday morning.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Good morning Tea, Good morning David. How are you.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
I'm good man, Good good to see you as well.
Nice to be together. A couple of weeks in a row.
We're starting to build some steam, a little rhythm.

Speaker 1 (02:05):
That's true. It is just like the Wolves, right, just
like the Wolves.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
And unfortunately we don't get to play the Jazz and
Kings over and over like the Wolves do. Denver in
the house tonight, so things might be a little different.
Although they appear to be a shorthanded group tonight. Jokic
questionable with a is it a wrist? Yeah, we're left
wrist sprain, Cam Johnson out, Christian Brown out for six weeks,

(02:29):
so we'll get into that. But yeah, our Wolves are winning.
They've won four in a row, again, dispatching of some
of the have knots on the schedule. But that's something
that has not been a given for this team. In
recent years. It's nice to see them do that. It
was not easy last night, right, I mean they were down,
I think down a point heading into the fourth quarter.
The Wolves had no answers for Sabonis in the first half.

(02:52):
I think he had twenty four in the first half.
Defense was not sharp. Jade McDaniels was getting hurt, hurt
every seemed like every five minutes, went to the locker
room three separate times. But they dominant fourth quarter thirty
two to nineteen. Defense Titans. Dante got hot early in
the fourth, knocked down a couple threes, and he was

(03:14):
great last night. I mean he was tapping out loose
balls on offensive you know, missus and from the other team,
keeping possessions alive.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
He was great. But yeah, four in a row, eight
and four.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
It's gonna get a little meaty, you know, as the schedule,
you know, turns a little tricky.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
A lot of games this week.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
They played tonight, Monday, Wednesday, and another Cup game on
Friday night.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
But Tide seems to be turning just a little bit.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well yeah, I mean, you know the games that you
should win, that's what you want to do, and you
can build some confidence from there. And also you can
find your rhythm in began to reset some things. And
as you and I talk about some of the main
things that were one of the amazing things that the
Wolves need to make sure that they tighten up is

(03:59):
only that d and these are the type of games
that you can begin to find some rhythm with your defense, oppressions,
some of the things that you weren't doing how you
want to play.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
And it's just going to be even more confidence as
you move throughout the season.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
Yeah, they're starting to figure things out on that side
of the ball. It looks different than it looked early
in the season. I feel like they're starting to figure
out exactly where where they want to be. And again,
tonight's a much better barometer. Even if it isn't banged
up Denver team missing some guys, this is a championship
level team coming into the house after playing again Utah twice,

(04:33):
Sacramento twice again. Dispatch them big time. You know, lots
of lopsided victories. That's what you want to see. But
you know, it's hard to feel real comfortable yet about
where they are until you see them play good teams.
And you know, we will see that tonight. But then
you know this week Monday night Dallas in Town, Wednesday

(04:54):
night Washington in Town, Friday night at Phoenix, which has
been a little better than people thought.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
But well, these next four games are winning both, yes,
and you you know, we you know, the Wolves have
always played well against Denver, whether they were shorthanded or not.
And you know they have the personnel, you know, to
attack some of the weaknesses that the Nuggets have shown
over the last few years. But now they've added a
few new players, like you mentioned, one of the Cam

(05:20):
Johnson may may not be around tonight, so you know
that's going to take some you know, some start away
from what they do defensively. But you know, if if
the Wolves just can continue to you know, to get
better on the defensive end. You know, that's where you
talked about Dante de Vincenzo having active hands last night,
keeping balls who lose given extra possessions, No, things are

(05:41):
very critical as you moved throughout the season, and once
you get deeper into this season and try to make
a playoff run, and you want to need those extra
possessions for sure.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
At halftime, it was I think a little concerning eleven
turnovers by the Wolves.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
In the first half.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
They were sloppy and I think had nine points in
the first half, never really got the offense going. Now
he finished with thirty, so he woke up. The defense
got tighter, as I said, and they got better protecting
the basketball. Randall twenty six points, eleven rebounds. It wasn't
a great McDaniel's night points wise, I think he had thirteen,

(06:15):
but man, first he gets hit in the nose, Then
he got you know, need where the sun doesn't shine.
And then the most concerning one was I don't if
he saw where he kind of slipped into the splits.
It looked like he tore his groin off of his body.
He limps to the sideline, takes his jersey off right there,
and has.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Just saw that. I'm like, okay, what is this.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
I think as a fan, when you see a player
throw off their jersey and head to the locker room,
you imagine the worst because you feel like he knows
something is really bad. True, it's kind of like what
we saw with aunt Alot the last couple of years,
right where it looks like they're gonna need to bring
a wheelchair out to take him off the court. And
then he's back seven minutes later, looking exactly And McDaniels

(06:56):
does come back in the fourth quarter and he looked
just fine. But for a while there, I'm thinking, all right,
of course, Jaden's averaging eighteen a game, he's shooting fifty
five percent. He's leading the league. This is a true sentence.
I'm saying this to you, and it means something because
it's real. He leads the league in free throw person
or in three point shooting. Jade McDaniels fantastic fifty eight

(07:18):
percent from three. So we've talked about what a great
start to the year he's had, what a different offensive
player he is. And I'm thinking, as he's throwing his
jersey on the ground, now, how long is he out?
Of course, right, he's finally figured things out. He's comfortable offensively.
The Wolves now have a three headed monster, all averaging
at least eighteen nine.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
He goes down, Yeah, but.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
He came back, so crisis averted. Taking a page from Ant,
I'm just fine, just need to kind of clear my head.
But it was a rough night, he said. After the game.
They were asking him how you're feeling. He just said,
I just want to go home.

Speaker 3 (07:49):
Honestly, you have some nice I mean, you want to
have some nice every night is not going to be perfect.
We all know that the most thing, the most important
thing you want to do as a player is fine consistency.
And if you can, if you if you're a good
sixty percent of the time sixty five percent of the time,
you way ahead of the curve. And when I talked

(08:09):
to young kids all the time about shooting and the
main the first question I asked them, I said, if
you get ten shots to night, how many shots do
you need to make to be considered a great shooter?
And you know the first answer you get, first thing.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
They say is I was told there'd be no math today,
mister Tucker is ten. I said, well, I didn't understand.
I didn't say be perfect. Yeah, I said, I said,
because it'd be great.

Speaker 3 (08:36):
And when they realized that if you can shoot forty
eight to forty nine percent from the field, you're considered
a great shooter. So there's room for air. And only
thing that you are looking for on the daily basis
is to find that consistency. And you're not going to
you know, you're not going to be perfect every night.
We all know that but if you can find that

(08:57):
consistency with your game and your energy and your effort
throughout the long season, you know your team's going to
be in pretty good shape at the end.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Did anybody have the right answer and say, you know what,
five would be great if I could make half my shots?

Speaker 3 (09:08):
Yeah, you know, as you get through about twenty five
kids and then they come up with, you know, with
the right answer. But you know, he he's been fantastic
to start this season off. And you know many people
have talked about will he emerge at some point in time,
and he has really worked on his game, you know,
doing the all season. But I believe by being in
this systant under Chris Finch now for about three years,

(09:30):
he understands you know, where his place in the offense
is at.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Yeah, it's clearly not standing in a corner and waiting
for the ball. They've figured out a way to unlock
what he might become. And he's not just a three
and D guy anymore.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
He is a.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Legit two way player who has the confidence now to
attack a defense from anywhere and he's really good at it.
I mean, you know, we talked all season about can
he step now into that that spot as being the
second or third best player any championship level team.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
He's absolutely doing that right now.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
It's also important you know that his teammates now I
begin to understand, you know, how to give him space,
you know, withinside the offense, so that he can operate
and be more productive not only for himself, but for
the team as well. And as his offensive game grows,
it's only going to help Rudy Gobert is because now
the defense has another player that they have to pay

(10:23):
attention to, and that's going to even free up Rudy
Gobert now to get in position to get more offensive
rebounds and more second chance opportunities for this team.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
So when you're.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Perimeter guys are consistently good and you talk about maybe
now three headed monster, you know, those guys who play
with him find more space and more opportunities.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
As a guy who made his living shooting from deep
in the NBA, when you see a guy like McDaniels
elevate that part of his game and become I mean,
we're what we're twelve games into the season, he's shooting
fifty five percent. I'm not ready to call him Steph
Curry two point zero. Okay, but when you see a
guy improve drastically, the shot used to be flat, like
I mean, it was just ugly, and now it's got

(11:05):
some Archie's just talking about it. It's all confidence for me.
How surprising is it for you to see a guy
and is what fifth year suddenly seemed to unlock the
shooting from distance part of his game, Because I don't know.
It feels like to me, either you're a really great
shooter when you come into the league or you're not.
And you don't always see a guy become I'm not
calling him a great shooter yet, but it's no longer

(11:28):
consistent shoot. Yeah, it's no longer impediment. It's no longer
oh my god, he's shooting from three. Whatever you're gonna do,
he's actually making them and just you can you can
hear him talk about I just feel like it's going in.
How unusual is that for you?

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Well, I mean it's all about you know, who got
into his ear, you know, doing the off season and
explain to him in a way where the conversation was positive.
You know, a lot of players can become sensitive when
when you talk about you need to do X, Y
and Z. Or you're not able to to do X,

(12:00):
Y and z. It's all about how you deliver the message.
And someone may have said to him, hey, you know what,
if you are able to add this to your game,
with all the good things you already bring to the table,
now just imagine how.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Much better you could be as a player.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
Now he receives that in a in a in a
total different way. It's not coming at me in from
a from from being criticized. It's not a harsh conversation.
You know, we believe that you are very very good already,
but we think you can be better. And if you're
willing just to add one of these two things now
to your game, you see those other guys on that list,

(12:37):
you could join that list very quickly. And maybe somebody
got to him over the last few years and talked
about some of the things that you know, he could
get better at.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
And now he's a better player for that. Yep.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
And by all reports, he was here virtually all off
season in the gym along with Nas, staying in town
working on his game, and clearly that work has paid off.
I mean, you work that hard at something you hope
to see the positive results.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
He's obviously seen those so far.

Speaker 3 (13:02):
Well, if if you want to stay in the league
and you want to become a better player in the league,
when you go into the off season, that's where you
get better at and that's when you have time to
work on things and to add this, and you can
do it over and over and over and over again.
But you have to be committed mentally to want to

(13:24):
stick to a plan. And if and if your regiment
starts at seven am every day, no matter what you
do the night before, you got to stick with that plan.
Can't say, well, I went out last night with my
buddies to two in the morning. Yeah, maybe I can
start at night. No, it doesn't work that way. If
you go to better two or three, you got to

(13:45):
get up and be in the gym at seven because
you have to find that consistency and that and that
body of work and the use that consistency as well,
and and and and kudos to him, you know, for
for having someone to work out with and having the
mindset to see that if I can do something different,
my team can be better.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Now, I think from fans perspective, when you hear guys
like Nas and McDaniels staying here all summer, working right after,
virtually right after they both got paid big time, nine
figure deals. I think it says a lot for fans.
I think they're still grinding. They're not just saying we
got our payday, now we can just play. No, they're
still trying to improve. Now every player does that.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
It's just true. That's true.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
I mean, but you know, when you get a taste
of winning, you know there there's nothing better. And the
money is there. I got, I got the contract, that's
not going anywhere. Yeah, So now let's let's make going
to work every day enjoyable. And how can we do
that by winning? We all know how hard it is

(14:46):
to win, no matter what level you're at. But am
I willing to do the things to make myself a
better player so that I give my team a chance
to be a better team. And that's what professional is.
All the bouts.

Speaker 2 (15:01):
So a profitable, successful evening for your Timberwolves, not so
much for your Golden Gopher football team. And we come back,
we'll chat about the disaster and Eugene as the Gopher's
limp back home with another tough road loss. Lots to
come during these two hours, plenty of NBA, College Football,
NFL conversation. Before we are done, thanks for being along
for the ride. You're in the zone. I'm the fan,

(15:22):
and we are back a twenty one on a Saturday morning.

(15:53):
You are in the zone as usual. We're with you
till ten o'clock following us today it's Fantasy Football Weekly,
emotional addition of Fantasy Football Weekly. It's the final program.
No really, after thirty one seasons, this will be years.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Yes you know, not just for the season, but you
know you're talking about over.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
It's over.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
It was not only a good run, it was a
great run for many of us listening who have grown
up with Fantasy Football Weekly, or at least have been
listening for decades. These guys have done an amazing job.
Charg and his merry band of compadres providing I thought,
the best fantasy content you can find. It's part of
the deal Charge made with Fantasy Life when he sold

(16:37):
his Guillotine League business to Matthew Berry and Fantasy Life.
The show was part of the deal. Church has separated
from Fantasy Life with some issues they had this season,
and so he announced via Twitter last night or via
ex that today's show would be the last one. So
this will be it for Fantasy Football Weekly. Ten o'clock.

(16:58):
One last chance to listen to the boys. Congratulations on
an amazing run. Saturdays on the Fan have been about
as steady as you'll find in this industry, between Fan
Outdoors in the Zone and Fantasy Football Weekly, it's one
hundred years of broadcasting those three shows together, Fan Outdoors
the longest running, Fantasy Football and US we're at thirty one.

(17:23):
Packer Previews at thirty. So the weekend programming, all the
programming at the Fan has been here forever and that's
what makes the station so great. We'll miss the program,
the station will miss the program. We wish the boys
the best of luck. I urge you to listen. I
listened to the first segment on the way in. It's
kind of emotional. You'll want to listen. Ten o'clock today,
Fantasy Football Weekly, The Wild on the Fan. Today, the

(17:44):
Ducks the opponent. Five o'clock on the Fan, and then
Gophers Men's basketball follows the Wild. Tonight, Gophers against the Phoenix.
Doug Gottlieb's Phoenix of UW. Green Bay the next opponent
for your Golden Gophers. We'll talk about the hoops team.
In a minute, let's chat football. It's rare that we
get to look back at a Gopher football game they
played last night, the fan has learned. In Eugene, Oregon,

(18:06):
another road game, another blowout loss for your Gophers, who
have now lost three road games, well four for the
season and outscored in those four road games one hundred
and fifty two to twenty or to thirty three.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
It's not good. No.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
Forty two to thirteen in the final in Eugene against
the eight rank Ducks who could do whatever they wanted offensively,
tee three hundred and thirty two yards of offense for
Oregon in the first half. They averaged over nine yards
per offensive play in the first half. So look, they
couldn't run the ball. That's been an issue all season.
But the defense had no answers for quarterback Dante Moore,

(18:45):
whose stat line last night as he tries to outpace
Fernando Mendoza for the Heisman twenty seven for thirty for
three hundred and six yards and two touchdowns. He could
do whatever he wanted and the Gophers had no answers defensively.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, you said it all right there
a nearly perfect game from the quarterback position. And when
you're not able to compete on the road against the
better teams, you know, as a head coach, you you
have some concerns about where are we as a football program?
And then we can we can play with the middle

(19:21):
pack of the teams in the Big ten, you know,
but if we want to move into the upper echelon.
You know, how did Indiana do it? You know, what
have they done over the last two years, you know
to put them in this position and no one ever saw,
you know, the Hoosia's football program, you know, alone one

(19:43):
year out of twenty five, but two years in a row,
you know, being one of the top teams in college football.
You know they're doing something right. And maybe you know PJ.
Fleck needs to make a call down to Bloomington and
see if you can have a head have a conversation
with the hair coat to Indiana to figure out how
things can move forward.

Speaker 2 (20:02):
He's going and go for Yeah, I'm not going to
take anything away from PJ. He's a great coach. But
all Indiana did was find the right guy. They found
a guy who knows how to coach and knows how
to identify talent and talked about it last week. When
they rose last year, it was all with James Madison transfers.
There was a bunch of you know, FCS guys that

(20:23):
came up to play up a level and they were
all overlooked good enough to come be Yeah, they just
didn't have the chance at that level. So it wasn't like,
you know, well they opened up the callers. He brought
in all these They don't have five stars or four
stars in Indiana. They just have a coach who knows
how to coach. And again I'm not saying, well PJ
doesn't know how to coach. I'm saying, if you're asking
what happened in Indiana, they found a fantastical.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
But they identify some four and five star players that
somebody else didn't identify. You know, just because you were
not ranked on paper, you know, it doesn't mean that
you you and I as talented as a guy who
is ranked on that paper, on that list.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
As long as you mentioned Indiana for just a second,
right washing the Penn State game last week, I haven't
felt like that the last you know, half a quarter
of a game. It reminded me for me as an.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
Indiana guy, so Isaiah Thomas.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Well, not quite that far, but yes, like it felt
like a final four right for me, It felt like,
you know, two thousand was the last time Indiana was
in the championship for basketball. It felt like eighty seven.
It felt like eight one. It felt like there's so
much on the line here. When Indiana lost their twenty
to seven lead, Penn State's up twenty four to twenty.
There's two minutes left, they're at their own twenty and
then they get sacked and they're on the twelve with

(21:34):
no timeouts in a minute forty and I can't believe
they let this get away, you know. And then Bendoza
ushers this drive where he gets them all the way
down to the ten, and then of course the play
of the season, the spectacular catch and throw because Mendoza
is getting pummeled by two guys as he lets go,
and the all time call from Gus Johnson who just
lost his voice and lost his mind and lost everything

(21:56):
that feeling when that was called a touchdown and still
they had thirty seconds to make sure that Penn State
didn't I mean, I haven't had that kind of anxiety
as an Indiana fan for any sport in a long
long time. Never thought I'd have it watching a football game.
Amazing comeback, and now they get Wisconsin and Purdue to
close out the regular season. So for me, it's about
identifying a coach who knows how to do the best

(22:20):
with what he has. And for him it was I'll
just find guys I know how to play my system
and eventually now he'll get four in five stars. But
for PJ, I mean, if I'm a Gopher fan and
I look at the three losses where they gave up
forty points, right Ohio State, Iowa, and Oregon, that's a concern.
It's a concern. I mean against Ohio State and Oregon.

(22:41):
These are top ten teams, great programs. The Iowa game
hurts more than anything to not be competitive when Floyda
Rosedale is on the line. That one is more head
scratching than the other two. You can kind of see
this coming. Iowa, sorry, Oregon, is doing all it can
to stay in the college football race. They want to
blow out teams if they can put a resume together

(23:02):
that the committee eventually cannot turn.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Away from it. But Indiana beat them, yes, yes, and
there we go.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
So so, but yeah, I mean, at some point in time,
you know, you want to move up the ladder.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
It's it's okay that I know it. You make bowl
games here and there and every year and you go
win a bowl game, But at some point in time
don't you want to play in the big game. I
have a chance to play in the big game because
everybody can go to a bowl now. And it's and
I'm not saying anything is wrong with, you know, having
an extra game once the season is over, but at

(23:38):
some point in time when I and you look at
other programs, you know that can that can make a
change and and do something different, and all of a sudden,
now they were not in the picture and now they're
you know, they're the main guy, you know, in the window.
You know, how are they doing these things? And we
cannot and we and we have a lot to offer

(23:59):
Ibul leave here in the Twin Cities, but at some
point in time, you know, we we got to get
out of this mind so that just being in the
midller was good enough, That's not good enough anymore. No,
it's time to take a next step at some point
in time.

Speaker 1 (24:11):
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Six and four for the season, now four and three
in the Big Ten. They'll head to Wrigley Fields next
Saturday to take on the Northwestern Wildcats. That's not going
to be easy. Northwestern is a not a good team.
And then of course they close against the Badgers, and
that that Badger program got a win last week against
the Huskies and announced that Luke Fickle's coming back. But
Wisconsin's at the lowest point I mean in thirty years

(24:34):
right now, I mean they are, so that's winnable. I mean,
you're looking at you know, if you can get past
Northwestern Wisconsin at eight and four season. And as to
your point, a lot of Gopher fans are going to say,
that's all we can expect. Dating four, that's a that's
a win, that's a But again, who are you beating?
Who are you competing against? It can't make you feel
that good.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
And I think you know what, you know what some
of the conversation about the concern may come in is
that Indiana has taken a major league, not just a
small league. They take them. They've taken the major lea.
And you're talking about two years in a row they've
been in the top ten in the country. And here

(25:13):
we are trying to find that way out in the
middle of the pack of the Big ten.

Speaker 1 (25:18):
So what are they doing?

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Let's figure out how can we give ourselves a chance
to get there, because, as you mentioned, you know, four
and five star guys name on the paper is great
to have, but there are so many other good football
players and good athletes and good players all around the
country who names are not on that list. And evidently

(25:43):
the guy in Indiana he has figured something out, and
maybe it's time to tap into his thought process to
see if we can get on that same road.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah, you know, I point back to look. He started
out as a recruiting guy. He was Nick Saman's recruiting coordinator.
He went to Pitt was a recruiting coordinator. He knows
how to hang with Nikki, he knows how to find talent,
he knows how to convince guys to play for him,
and then obviously he's a really good coach on the field.
It's gonna be hard to replicate what Indiana's done. That's
just nuts. You don't need to shoot that high, maybe,

(26:14):
but just be competitive when you go out to play Oregon.
Make it a ballgame, you know, make it a ball game.
Don't give them a chance to basically get a first
down every time they run a play, which is what
they did in the first half. It's hard to wrap
your head around. We're not even competitive when we go
on the road right now, and so you know, a
chance to close out the regular season.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
I mean, next week's really to me, really big.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
How do you respond from this game against a team
that maybe on your level a little bit like I
don't know if he'll be favored at Northwestern and they
guess maybe not.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Any I mean over the last few weeks, I mean,
there are a couple of games that could have easily
gone the other way. It's just that Michigan State was
just a bad team. Yeah, I mean that we.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
Feel a lot.

Speaker 2 (26:58):
You're right, we feel a lot differently about this Gopher team.
Had they lost to that.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Spot, he's in the Michigan State could have beat him,
and somebody else don't.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
I don't know who else playing. Was it Purdue who
may have? Yeah that way as well. Yeah, that was
tight too.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
So I mean, you know, at the end of the year,
the record, could you know, the record could look good,
but but he has the program moving in the right
direction based on what the record looks like if there
is a misleading just because you're eight and four, are
you Are you really one of those eight and four
programs moving in the right way?

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Yeah, and it all it's gonna come down to once
the season's over all, right, Drake Lindsay, as a red
shirt freshman stepping in as a quarterback, your first year
has been very good. I think overall, you know, you
hope he stays. Most players at the Gopher program are
not leaving, They are sticking around. There'll be teams calling
for Drake Lindsay, and so the pressure will be on
this program to keep him, because you even get continuity

(27:52):
with your quarterback if you can get a couple more
years of Drake Lindsay. I think the arrow is pointing up.
You just got to get some lineman now, so to
see him. A Gopher football team struggle to run the ball,
and I think Taylor did end up with like fifty
seven yards. But there was a point I saw a
graphic on the screen last night where it was like
rushing yards for the game was like one hundred and
sixty to two. I mean the Gophers had two yards

(28:14):
on the ground fairly deep into this football game. That's
so against what we know from this program that is
usually built with a strong running game, and they just
can't they can't move people up front. And Darius Taylor
did not suddenly become a bad running back. There's just
no room and to put everything on your young quarterback
because you can't run the ball against the top ten team.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yeah, good luck, good luck with that. Well, we need
to run back. It's been around for six seven years. Yeah,
that works out well, doesn't it.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
Well?

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Pause here, let's turn our attention to basketball for the
next segment.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
Gophers and NBA.

Speaker 2 (28:48):
Plenty of NFL conversation to come in the hour number
two as the Vikings welcome the Bears to town. My
packers search for answers, Lots to come as we roll
on in the zone.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Thank you, let go shows that backing shot thought tonight.
I know i'd been looking talking. We are back eight
forty one on a Saturday morning. You're in the zone.

Speaker 2 (29:44):
Tucker sinnecon Brett, Blake Moore running the show as always.
We'll turn our attention back to hoops for this segment
before Uh, I'd say nine o'clock hours pretty much going
to be NFL dominant. Uh, Gophers men's basketball went uh
on the road and played an SEC team this week, Missouri.
They hung out for about a half. Okay, they might

(30:06):
have been a head at the half or a really
close game with the half, and then Missouri blows him
out in the second half wins by twenty. I don't
think it's completely shocking. You know that that's the first
significant test for this team. Players still trying to figure
out everything, but a litmus test early and they'll welcome
u W. Green Bay tonight to try to get back

(30:29):
on the winning side. But again, I didn't get a
chance to watch it. I saw highlights. They hung on
for twenty minutes. As we mentioned last week, Missouri is
going to be a middle of the pack SEC team,
But that's a really deep, good conference team. Yeah, it's
a program that's further along, right they they've there are
three or four years into this thing, and and Nico

(30:50):
is sort of on the fly trying to put something together. Yeah,
and early on, I mean, obviously the competition was very
weak early, but you know, I think there's some talent here.
I think there's a reason to be excited. Cameron Boozer,
the freshman for Duke last night, did something that hasn't
been done in college hoops since three with Mellow.

Speaker 1 (31:11):
He dropped thirty five. Last night he did.

Speaker 2 (31:13):
He did drop thirty five. He had thirty five points,
twelve rebounds, five assists, three blocks, three steals. It's the
first thirty point, ten rebound, five assists game with one
or less turnovers since Carmelo Anthony and twenty oh three.
This is Carlos Boozer's kid. Yeah, Cameron Boozer, do you
have a twin brother?

Speaker 1 (31:32):
He does?

Speaker 2 (31:33):
Okay, Duke will face Kansas this week and Kansas has
there's three guys that right now have sort of already
correct mid November three freshmen have sort of risen to
the top as they're calling that the top three guys
potentially draftable next year is maybe the best.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, it probably are draft class we've seen.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
And Kansas has another one, this Darren Peterson kid, six
y five guard will match up against Cameron Buss a game.
I'm gonna tell me about it. Did he spoke the
Lake this week? A Lake reference, and so he was
talking about, you know this this kid could be So
he's already very special, and he said, you know, at
some point in time you know, doing one of my

(32:17):
hockey breaks. You know he's gonna he's gonna come pick
me up and take me out and watch a Jayhawks game. Yeah,
I probably should. This kid's supposed to be special. It's uh.
And the third player is the b y U kid Debanza,
who is also off to a great start. So the
tank ability factor in the NBA is going to be high.
There are already some teams that are looking like lost seasons.

(32:40):
In fact, the Pelicans just fired Willie Green this morning.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
Uh. They're off to a two to ten start. Uh.
And if they don't own their draft picks, they don't.
Who's the GM then?

Speaker 2 (32:50):
Now?

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Is this the same as Joe dumars now.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Over he made the big trade to give up their
pick next season, which looks like it might be a
Coloss disaster.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Not to get Joe dumash.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Right, No, Okay, his eligibility is, his career is done.
If you want to get really scared for a second.
Another team that is off to a terrible start as
the La Clippers. Although they won they beat Dallas. Those
two teams have been the two biggest disappointments for Dallas
has hurt so you know, right, But they're three and ten,
like at some point it becomes a lost season, right, I.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Mean, you know, when you don't have Kyrie Irving and
Anthony Davis is you know, is in and out of
the lineup, you know every other day. You know, you
know Cooper, you know, Cooper Flag can only do so
much as a rookie. So, I mean, but Dallas has
lost a lot of close games for them to be
three and ten. Yeah, the record doesn't look good on paper,

(33:44):
but just look at a lot of those close games
they have lost during a season. You know, a bounce
here or there, you know, they might be seven and
six and all of a sudden, Now the conversation is different,
you know. But when you don't have a Kyrie Irvin
or consistent Anthony Davis, it's hard to win those close
ball games. But if I know, people in Dallas are frustrated.

(34:05):
Coach Lucas now is in LA and the GM has
been fired. All the pressure now is going to fall
on Jason Kidd to see if he can Estavage this season.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
They they fell in double overtime to the Clippers last night,
one thirty three, one twenty seven. James Harden of triple
double forty one, fourteen and eleven. The Clippers are four
and eight, and just to make you feel worse, the
Oklahoma City thunder owned their draft pick next year and
it's unprotected.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
So the Clippers are going to make a run, you
know that. You know, we have to all hope that
they do every year the Clippers, for and you know,
it just started off slow. Kawhi could be heard here
or there's not playing well, the team, you know, can't
find his way, and then all of a sudden, the
last twenty five games of this season, they find themselves
in the playoffs and somehow, some way they'll be back

(34:51):
there once again. I know it's disappointing, probably for Steve Barmer.
You know, he's paid these players a lot of money.
He has some veteran guys here or there who are
not we're not able to play consistent ball, especially at
the start of this season. But I believe the Clippers
will be one of those playoff teams, you know, or
fighting from one of those last playoff spots when it's
all sett and down.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Well, the rest of the NBA outside of Oklahoma City
is praying for that because if they end up in
the lottery with the Clippers pick and end up with
one of those three guys we were just talking about,
it might be over. I mean, look what the Thunders
doing right now, double t They are what twelve and
one something like that. They blew out the Lakers the
other night. They were up thirty two and a half.
And not only that, Jalen Williams has yet to step

(35:34):
on the court this season. Their second best players. They
didn't have lou Dort, they didn't have Aaron Wiggins, and
they still were up on the Lakers by thirty and
Luca played and Reeves played. It wasn't like the corpse
of the Lakers. The point is this Thunder team is scary,
and now there's questions like could this be a seventy
win team? I mean they're on that pace if you
go back to like the middle of last season to now.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
It could be a seventy win team.

Speaker 2 (35:56):
And here they are again they're without key players. You
know that that toepitch kid, that lottery pick from two
years ago is out.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
They find this.

Speaker 2 (36:04):
Aj Mitchell who they drafted, actually the Knicks drafted him
a couple of years ago in the second round with
a thirty eighth pick, and he was immediately traded to
the Thunder for the fortieth pick in cash. And right
now he looks like a guy that's capable of being
the best guard on a good team. Like he is
the best defensive guard in the NBA. Through twelve or
thirteen games, he's averaging I don't know, fifteen twenty points

(36:26):
a game. They found another guy, like if.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
It when you're not just talked about this just because
your name is on the list, Yeah, doesn't mean that
you're the best player.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
You see, Santa Barbara second round pick at Karn Presty
knows how to find people.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
When Carle came from nobody never heard of Kawhia, that's true.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
And I think before he got hurt doing that stress,
he may have been the best player in the league.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Who's this guy? Yeah, but you.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
Know, if you know talent evaluators, guys who who really
have an eye, you know, for picking up players. But
also you have to find the right guy for your system.
And and these are the guys who work well. You know,
with the guys we already have here, they're gonna be
good in our locker room, teachable, coachable, but also they

(37:16):
understand how to play. And we can plug them in
and put them in a situation where they can do
what they do best, and all of a sudden, now
you know, we don't miss a beat just because we
don't have some of our better players playing at this time.
And that's what good organizations are able to do. In
Oklahoma City, as you mentioned, you know, they could be

(37:37):
one of those seventy plus win teams once again.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Yeah, it's an amazing thing they're building there in okay See.
And we'll get to see them about a week and
a half. They'll be the fourth and final.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
NBA fans are like the imagine. They're like, why couldn't
it just be us? This was us? Why do they
have to leave us? We will get okay See a
week from Wednesday in Oklahoma City. That'll be the fourth
and final game of the NBA Cup Series. The Wolves
are setting themselves up where even if they were to
lose that game, they might grab the wild card spot

(38:09):
because they're point differential in these Cup games through two
is now fifty four points because they beat the Jazz
by forty and they beat the Kings by fourteen last night.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Walker Kesseler he's done for the seasons. For the season
he is out. The wolves third Cup game will be
Friday night in Phoenix. We mentioned that's the after this
four game homestand they will head to Phoenix Friday night
for a Cup game, and if they win that then
there're three and hour Yes. Yeah, Suddenly Grayson Allen has
become a go to player for them. He's not just
a spot up shooter. He's becoming the one of the

(38:40):
leaders of that offense. So that won't be easy. Phoenix's
is certainly taking a step or two from the disappointment
of last season. We mentioned the Clippers earlier. Bradley Beal's
done for the season, so again a hip surgery. You're
saying they could contend or get back into the mix. Well,
that's a big loss obviously for.

Speaker 1 (38:57):
The know they didn't have Brady Bill a year ago. True,
and they got there.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
I mean it's the same team you know that has
kind of stralla long during the regular season for some
reason that they seem not to have a big deal
of interest, you know, at the game with the first
twelve or fifteen games of the year, and then you
get to the last twenty five thirty games of the
season and somebody said, oh, here come to Clippers, and
here we go again. You know they're making a run.

(39:24):
Kawhi is healthy, he's playing every game now. Now he's
playing thirty five minutes and putting up thirty five points
a game. I believe they will, you know, make some
noise at the end of the season once again.

Speaker 1 (39:35):
But how much noise would they make? Mention that OKAC
has their draft pick.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
That's part of the SGA trade for Paul George years
ago was this pick. They have a pick swap. I
think next year. That's the trade that just keeps on
giving for the OKAC third which you know none of
them Jalen Williams in that trade as well.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
But at that time, you know, trading making that trade
for Paul George was.

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Not a bad deal. It didn't seem like it.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
No, But now you come I can say, wow, Paul
Joyce has not been able to stay on the court
and be healthy, and this guy he is the best
player in the league.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
All that. Yeah, you gotta bury the lead there. It's like,
forget about who Paul George is. You just traded the
guy who might be outside of well, he's not the
best player in the league, but he's he.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
Just might be the best. Preend he's not, but he's
second or third? Who's better? Nicola Jokic is better? Dude.
Have you seen Jokic's stats this year?

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Well, I mean, look at what but think about here
was a six five six six six guard doing what
he has.

Speaker 2 (40:27):
Pushing off, getting foul calls. He's pretty good.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
About you know, Jokic. You know Yolkis is a seven
feet tall But I mean, but Sga just might be
the best.

Speaker 1 (40:36):
He might be the best. Well, I mean, look, there's
no right or wrong answer.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
But Jokic, who had fifty five points Thursday night against
the Clippers, his stat line this year double team.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Just listen to this.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
He's averaging thirty five point eight points per game, twelve rebounds,
and eleven assists. So he's the fan has learned that
means he's averaging a triple double.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yeah, you know what his field goal percentages this season is?

Speaker 2 (40:59):
He seventy seventy four percent, you know, just three point
shooting percentages fifty two fifty six percent. Okay, he is
the best player on the planet. I will not listen
to any arguments. I'll put Yannis two and I'll put
Shay three.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
I put Shay ahead both of them. You know, Janni's
is averagings can't defend.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Thirty three and fourteen. Yeah, he can't defend. He's not
a great defender.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
He's not.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
No, he's not He's not a defender. He can't defend
at all. Okay, and he's the biggest guy on Floyd,
So he should get eleven or twelvey about now.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
I'm not saying he's not a great offensive player.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
He is, you know, but you know Washingt SGA over
the last year or so, you know, you know, I'm
a big Yokis fan. I've always thought he was the
best player in the league. But was o thomas A's
record only twelve and one ers? And they said, and
the other best players are.

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Where they're not playing, well, some of them are, but
they're down a few guys. Okay, take Yoki's other best
players away from him. We're the German Nuggets. This guy's
twelve and one, Well the Nuggets.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yeah there.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
Well, that's the thing. He's more valuable than SGA because
the thunder had more talent around them.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
What you said, the best players in that plant now
has he has a championship just like SGA. You said
SGA best players. His second best player hasn't played all year,
is not And they had twelve and one and they
and who beat them?

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Was it?

Speaker 3 (42:17):
Somebody locked up and beat them at the end? I
forget now, somebody Indiana or Portland, somebody like that.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Pland it was Portland. Yeah, you know, but he know.

Speaker 3 (42:28):
I'm not taking anything from Nicola Jokics right now, a
guy in Oklahoma City, he's on Guarded.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
I will say that I'm watching Starting five on Netflix
where they you know, they focus on five guys for
the season from last season and it was at the
first year and Sga is one of the guys from that.
I like him a lot more as a human being
watching this show and learning more about who he is
and what a great.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Teammate he is.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
And uh, he's a hard guy not to root for,
even if some of the things he does on the
court and getting the foul calls and you know, push
it up annoy some of us a bit. I'm not
disputing he's a one of the best players on the planet.
I'm just saying, so you're asking me, Yeah, Jelpicch gets
my vote.

Speaker 3 (43:06):
I mean, you know, I mean, who's gonna argue you know,
and you're not going to get a whole lot of
pushback from that.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
Where should we put Steph on this list? You see
what Steph did last night? Forty nine points for Steph
last night, he had forty six. Wednesday, they just beat
the Spurs back to back in San Antonio one on nine,
one o eight was the final last night. This was
Steph's forty fourth forty point games since turning thirty. Yeah,
he ties MJ with that. Yeah, forty four games scoring

(43:33):
thirty plus points after the age of thirty. He just
went back to back forty plus on the Spurs. Is
easy for him to get to that. To that mark
is because he's taken more three point shots. Yes, it's
many more baskets than right, so yeah and so h.
But he's he's been fantastic throughout his career. But you know,
at some point in time, don't you think that you

(43:54):
would double team him? Seems like it would make some sense.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Throw the ball to Draymond Green and see if he
can knock down, you know, with five or six three
point shots.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
A lot of offensive threats on that team outside of
Steph right now and.

Speaker 3 (44:04):
Jim Butler if he's playing. But San Antonios. I don't
know what their.

Speaker 2 (44:12):
Record is at the stage, they are eight and four,
just like the Wolves. They just dropped two in a
row to the Warriors.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
They should not lose the Golden State because nobody can
guy Wimby. So what was Wemby's numbers? If you know,
I do, he was like twenty six and fourteen forty
because he should be by the basket and there's nobody
on Golden State team's taller than six seven playing in
the post al Horford. Come on, give me a break. Yeah,
you can't grind Wimby. But Wenby wants to be a guard,

(44:39):
and I'm okay with him having the mindset. Well, I'm
not okay with are the coaches in San Antonio having
that mindset? I mean, yeah, you got a generational talent,
a guy who's seven five. They can put it on
the floor and he can do some things that's seven
foot guys that have never been able to do it.
But when it comes to winning, Golden State Warriors should

(45:00):
never beat They should not beat the San Antonio Spurs
is because Wemby should dominate the game and control of
the temple. If the game is fast, yeah, it favored
Steph Curt but flow it down. See forced Golden State
to have to play defense on the inside, and then
you're going to put everybody in fire trouble. If san
Antonio doesn't make or run like I think they should

(45:22):
make or run, it won't be on Wenby, It's going
to be on the coaching sit Yeah.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
I mean it's early.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
They are a young team just figuring it out. I
still think they're gonna be there, and I don't think they'll.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
Be second they but this should It's almost like having
a modern day Luel Sender.

Speaker 1 (45:40):
Plan. When he was dominating the game.

Speaker 3 (45:44):
I mean, they had to change the rules for him
in Wilt Chamber because nobody could could defend them once
they was down low. And this guy is different from them.
It's because he can play away from the basket. But
just imagine if you allow him to play closer to
the basket a little bit more, who's going to guard him?
And now he can step out now to knocker three

(46:04):
And you're talking about shooting, and he should shoot eighty percent.
He should have the highest shooting percentage ever in the
history of basketball. But you know, I understand they want
to allow his talents to expand. But when it comes
down to winning, I can say one thing about Greg
Popovich when he came down to winning at Tony Parker

(46:25):
and Genoba, that ball went inside to Tim knockt yep
when he came down to winning.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
So let's see they're still figuring out the best way
to use him.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
I this is still an the boarding progress. This is
not not This is not hard. This is not this
is not hard to figure out. I know the mindset
of what some of these new and young coaches have today,
but having a seven foot five guy like that, with
that type of talent inside and outside, now, this is
not hard to figure out.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
We just have a couple of minutes left in this segment.
We've had a couple of texts come in on the
Bradshawn Brian kfan text line which you can reach out
to us. Six four six eighty six is the number
asking about Jahn Morant, which we did touch on a
week ago. And for those that weren't listening, things that
have gone paar shaped in Memphis. He might be done.
They might be looking to move him. There are red
flags that come with John Morant of the off the

(47:15):
court stuff he's been disciplined the talents on question. We've
seen it in the playoffs against the Wolves. For the record,
assuming the Wolves could somehow land Jahn Morant not giving
up their top three guys.

Speaker 3 (47:29):
And any top three guys would be Aunt, McDaniel and
Julius Randall.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
Okay, you keep those three guys.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
So, I mean, if you're gonna trade for John, you're
not trading those three guys. You know, you might be
looking Nas. You know you might be looking Dilli haam Nas.
I don't know if that would excite Memphis or whatever,
but just for the point of this quick one minute conversation, okay,
would you be on board bringing John Morant and everything
that comes with him and pairing him with the Aunt

(47:56):
in the back court and saying let's play. Yeah, you
don't have concerns about what he gets into off the court,
the disciplinary things, the gun stuff that in social media.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Posts sometimes that you know, change the scenery is good
for you. Yeah, being around guys who can sit down
and have a conversation with conversation about you know, different
things here or there, maybe that coaches can't organizations may
not have the ability to do. I would take I
would take the chance you like the basketball pairing of
that back. Do you think that's good for ants game
and unlaunched jobs? You think that would would work? You're

(48:30):
on board? Really go bear my every thirty points a
game despite himself, by himself the whole game. Yeah, you
got those four guys on the floor and with the emergency.
Mc daniels now is an offensive threat. If you really
go Bear every time your man go Vay cases spot
to go over to help out. I mean, you might
just get fifteen baskets on dunks every single night and

(48:52):
we don't have to run and play for you. You're
not outside in a bad situation where now you've got
to make a play at twenty five feet. They're staying
closer to bad. That's going to say, hey, you know
here I am. When you guys are ready to find me,
I'd be standing right here two feet from the basket,
and I can do this as well as anybody in
the league.

Speaker 2 (49:07):
I just I agree. I mean, from a basketball standpoint,
it's enticing. I just wonder what the chemistry of this
locker room, which seems to be really good. These guys,
you know, Nasa McDaniels or boys, they work out together
all the time you bring them up. What does that
do in the locker I mean, it'd be fraught with
some some peril.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
Right, If I could use a phrase, it's just would
you do it? I don't. I don't think that I would.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
I just he worries me and the fact that the
outside shots not real reliable. Man, He's he is watch
is all of a sudden, Dante deeven Chendo is wide open.
But he might have to go in the trade too.
You know, you got to give up to get John Moran.
I don't know what to deal with you.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
No, you're right.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
I mean I don't know what the deal would look like.
I don't have draft picks to give him, so I
don't know what they would I would think they'd want
draft picks. Yeah, So I don't think it's real likely
that they'd find a a deal that would excite them.

Speaker 3 (50:01):
But we're just you know, we're just having this conversation
just to speculate. Yes, okay, I mean I would do
the deal. I mean, if I don't have to break
up my team for a talent of that nature. You're
the guys that have in my locker room.

Speaker 1 (50:19):
Yeah, I take a chance.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
Yeah, I take a chance because you know, with that
talent right there and Anthony Edwards, and now you want
to talk about pace of play. You know, you want
to move the ball up down the floor. You want
to make things happen. You want to create easy opportunities
in early offense. But now you're not facing the set
defense so much against the shot clock. I mean, you're

(50:42):
talking about one of the most electrifying guards in the game,
and those two guys moved them down the floor. He
knows how to play.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
Now.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
I would trust the guys in this locker room to
be able to to help him navigate through this, all right. Yeah,
I mean if it was a very young locker room,
really inexperienced, if Anthony Episos was in his first year,
I could, I could, I could lean on your side.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
But after this team is going back to back to
the Western Conference finals, I think I have enough maturity
in this locker room that could that could keep him
on the straight narrow.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
All right, story will continue to follow. It's a long shot,
but it's what we do. It's fun to speculate. That's
what sports talk radio is all about. Right, all right,
late for a break, second hour coming up, NFL Heavy
everything on the line for the Bikes, must win?

Speaker 1 (51:31):
Is it a must win?

Speaker 2 (51:32):
We'll ask our skull clapping partner here, Double t what
he thinks Bears in town, Bears Vikings? What's wrong with
my Packers? Can they get off the mat? NFL Conversation
Hour number two in the Zone.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
We are back nine oh eight on a Saturday.

Speaker 2 (52:14):
You're in the zone, Trent Tucker, Dave sinnecon Brett, Blake
Moore hanging out with you till ten again. The final
episode of Fantasy Football Weekly follows us that the Boys
are done. Final show coming up after us at ten o'clock.
Wild Hockey tonight at five Boys, how are we feeling
about your favorite hockey team with the is it here?

Speaker 1 (52:34):
Is it at the casino tonight?

Speaker 4 (52:36):
Yes, Grand Casino Arena. The Ducks, the up and coming Ducks,
that squad.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
And that been a good weekend for Minnesota teams against
the Ducks so far.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
If anything goes show, have a good time to face
the Ducks.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
You have Rossi out on the ir officially now, so
you've got yu Off moving up in the lineup. You've
got Hartman moving up in the lineup. So a lot
of moving pieces, but disappointing l against Sharks again, who
somehow still managed to beat us in overtime. But it's
an opportunity for some guys and we'll see what happens.
But my hopes are still optimistic short term and we'll

(53:11):
see long term, all right.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
I'm with hell Gophers basketball follows the Wild tonight on
the fan. They will face UW. Green Bay.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
I'm a barn.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
I believe that's at the Barn tonight. I think good time.
I think it's at eight eight, okay, eight o'clock tonight.
Lots going on in town. The Wolves back at home tonight.
They will unveil again the old from about eight years ago,
the city edition, Prince themed uniforms, the Prince themed court.
And I think they did it for me because I'm

(53:41):
going to see purple Rain tonight with my wife, So
it's kind of a princey night for me. It's a
princey knight for the Wolves and Gophers and Wild in town.
It's just a it's a big night tonight, for sure.
It'll be a big day tomorrow at US Bank Stadium
as the Vikes try to try to win a game
at home. One in three now after the the Ravens
last week, they are one in three at the Purple Palace,

(54:05):
and here come the six and three Chicago Bears, who
were getting there. You know what's beat at home by
the Giants last week until Jackson Dark got knocked out
with a concussion, and your guy Russell Wilson came in
and started throwing balls into the ground, and Caleb Wilson
woke up and Ben Johnson put him in the right
spots and here they go. They win another one in

(54:26):
the fourth quarter. The Bears are coming to town where
they are six and three and your Vikes are four
and five. Knowing that at Green Bay at Seattle the
next two weeks, So mister Tucker, it is a must
win in your minds, that's that's must win. I kind
of feel that way with Green Bay and we'll get
to that in a bit. And again they're playing a
two and eight team, but still I feel like my

(54:48):
team's in the same spot. It is a musk win
in mid November, and that's that's not a place you are.

Speaker 1 (54:54):
Because you know he lose this football game.

Speaker 3 (54:59):
Knowing you have to go in the road to play
two really good teams, you know, even though the Packers
have struggled, you know have have I had they struggles
this year, but it's still a good football team. And
see Adaos playing as well as anybody in the league.
And I don't know if Sam Donald can continue this
run all the way through the playoffs, but right now,
you know he's he's played any as good as any

(55:21):
quarterback in the league. So yeah, tomorrow against a team
that a year ago would have lost this game because somehow,
some ways they found a way to lose close games
a year ago. And now with the new coach and
the new system and new belief, Cayler Williams is a
is a different quarterback.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Let me ask before we get to the match up here,
Let's fast forward to the end of the season. Let's
say that when the MVP vote comes out, it ends
up going this is not going to happen, But just
play with me here first time. Okay, Let's say Sam
Donald wins the m v P and Daniel Jones finishes
second or in the in the five, although I think

(56:00):
Jonathan Taylor is more likely to get those votes than
Daniel Jones. But if you're the Wolfs and you see
two quarterbacks that you had in your room a year ago,
finished the season in the top five of MBV voting,
and you're looking at your squad, perhaps out of the playoffs,
with a young quarterback that's still trying to find his way.
How much of an indictment indictment if you're the owners,

(56:23):
is it on the front office that you had two
MVP caliber quarterbacks in your room and chose to go
with the young guy that you drafted. I just I
feel like the Wolves will have a hard time stomaching
where their team sits right now looking at the success
of those two quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (56:42):
I don't think they would.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
I mean, yeah, I mean you could say, well we
should no high size twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (56:49):
I mean and let me stop you for a more second.
By all accounts, they really wanted to trade up for
Drake May in that draft for whatever reason, neither they
didn't do it. They didn't get it done. They couldn't
make it work. Drake May is in the MVP conversation
as well, another guy that they had their eyes on.
So there's guys that were in their atmosphere that are
all performing at a really high level.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
And JJ's making his fifth start to I hear you know.
I hear you. I hear you loud and clear. But
when they drafted JJ McCarthy, no one thought that Sam
Donald would come in and play for the for the
Minnesota Vikings. Things worked out well for him. Unfortunately for JJ,

(57:28):
he gets hurt, he's loss for his season. Sam Donald
puss up a fourteen and three record, okay, And there
was no way they could resigned Sam Donald if they
thought that JJ McCarthy was going to be the future.

Speaker 1 (57:39):
They couldn't give some Sam Donald alone term.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Contrary, but they could have franchised tagged him and had
one more year of JJ watching.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
It could have done me. But they was ready for
JJ to play. Yeah, because JJ would have played as
a rookie and would have started as a rookie of
his first year if he doesn't get hurt.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
But doesn't all that change when you go fourteen and three,
And granted maybe you weren't as good as a fourteen
win team.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
A lot of things once your way, but they were
a good four team ten weeks.

Speaker 3 (58:02):
I mean, the two teams they lost to, they just
couldn't figure out how to beat them. And but no,
Sam Donald was not the future for the Minnesota Vikings
and if you the whelfs, I mean, Daniel Jones was
not the future.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
The future was JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
No matter how well Sam Donald player, he was not
the future of this football team.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
I mean, why why not believe? And you know, w
we turned him around, like this is a guy we
could now have for eight years.

Speaker 3 (58:31):
Because as soon as they lost to the La Rams
and the Detroit Lions, Sam Donald was done.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
Nobody.

Speaker 3 (58:40):
Okay, he had a good regular season. He can't he can't,
he can't get it done.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
In the playoffs. But JJ McCarthy was the future.

Speaker 3 (58:46):
I mean, even if Sam Donald would have gotten him
a win in the playoffs, I still think the Vikings would.

Speaker 1 (58:52):
Have gone in this direction.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
Okay, it is because this is the guy that we
drafted number one. Was he the fourth or overall pick?
No like eleven? Okay, sorry, but he was the first
round draft. He was a high he was a high
first round draft, maybe the fourth quarterback taking some of
the Yeah, but he was the future of the team,
not Sam Dunan, not Daniel Jones.

Speaker 1 (59:13):
Well I understand that, but maybe you were wrong, like
you could think these the future that but I'm asking
your question.

Speaker 2 (59:19):
Yeah, but I'm just saying, now, if the Wolfs look
back at the season as it ends and they go, well,
you guys were wrong. I mean, Mark Hurthy might be great,
but but we were ready to win right now when
you wanted to.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
Just put we don't know if Daniel Jones would have
played this well. I mean, we saw what Daniel Jones
was like in New York.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
I always liked him more than most.

Speaker 3 (59:36):
But the question is based on what you saw from
Daniel Jones in New York, would you, in your in
your wow, just imagination, would you thought that he would
have gone to to to Andy and doing the things
that he's doing.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
No, I wouldn't have expected it.

Speaker 2 (59:50):
But look at how many guys were looking at Matt
Jones looks like a new quarterback and say, these quarterbacks
sometimes just need a new place to play.

Speaker 3 (59:57):
And when Sam Donald came here a year ago as
a potential backup for ten million dollars, yep, what was
the conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
It's a lot to pay for a backup when you
got a rookie quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
In ghost in New York. So if he's saying ghost
on the field, how can this guy he didn't play
in the NFL for crying out out. So these guys
were never ever visualized being the people that we see
now at the quarterback position.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
JJ McCarthy was.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
And yeah, I mean we can all look back and say, well, yeah,
hindsight's twenty twenty. But but when they put their playing
together and they drafted him as the first round quarterback
out of the University of Michigan, these two guys were
never any equation. And yeah, I mean, but no, they
they made the right decision that they felt like for them.

Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
And he's only played with five football games.

Speaker 2 (01:00:47):
Yeah, he still could be a great quarterback. I'm not
dismissing his potential.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
But look how but look how long it took sam
Don to get where he is, and he had to
find the right place to give him a chance to
be a good quarterback. Now with Daniel Jones, turned this
one year what he's doing now into the next three
or four years and be at this level only time with.

Speaker 2 (01:01:07):
Two right, But the Colts have now committed to him
by trading their number one pick the next two years, so.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
They believe in what they got. Yeah, just like the
Vickers believe in JJ McCarthy. Now, if you and I
are still around. You know, twenty four months from now,
wherein the conversation could be different.

Speaker 1 (01:01:21):
We'll revisit it, all right, So let's move on to
the other JJ.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
It was a weird game for Jefferson last week against Baltimore. Obviously,
production has not been up to what we expect from Jefferson.
You can blame the quarterback, the offense. There's a lot
of reasons, but I think a lot of the body
language got talked about after the game, where a couple
times when interceptions happened in his coverage, he didn't chase
after the guy intercepting the ball. The first one, maybe

(01:01:46):
he thought he touched the guy down and clearly he
was eventually down, but he didn't get up and go
after the second time, no excuse like he did not
go after the interceptor. That's not what you expect from
Justin Jefferson, and maybe frustration bubbled over.

Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
Maybe there are other reasons.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
I'm asking you, as a Viking fan, how concerned are
you when you see a guy who's the leader of
your team not do what you always expect of him,
and that is play to the whistleblowers and go after it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
I mean to me that it's not a good look.
And you know there's no time to pout. Yeah no,
not now, time to show up, came pout. Now, now
when you lead the team, I understand, you know, you
you know you're frustrated here or there, but we are
where we are, this is what we have and you

(01:02:33):
still have to be a leader whether things are going
good or not. It's what true professionalism is all about.
And we just run the ball a little bit more.

Speaker 2 (01:02:43):
I was gonna ask you that next, like how you
know just running frustrated? Are you by the offense right now? Well,
because I'm very frustrated in my team's offense.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
But how I feel?

Speaker 3 (01:02:52):
Yeah, I mean I understand that Koc likes to fling
the ball all over the field, and Sam Donald gave him,
you know, gave us, you know, or what his offense,
what he wants his offense to look like.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
Okay, but everybody's different, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:03:08):
As a head coach, you got to figure out what's
going to work for the personnel that you have on
your team today and right at this moment, and maybe
JJ McCarthy's is not ready yet to throw the football
around the field thirty five or forty times, So help
him out.

Speaker 1 (01:03:23):
This is why we're.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
Here, This is why you hear, this is why you
get the big money. You have to figure these things out,
you know. And what frustrates me about coaches at any level,
at any sport, it's when they say, well, at sometimes, yeah,
I know, players got to be in the right mindset,
but sometimes players need for you to help them figure
things out. And if Trent Tucker or Dave Seneca is

(01:03:47):
not good at doing this a large portion of the game,
don't put them in that situation because they're going to
fail more times than that, and then who's going to
get blamed for The player is going to get blamed
for it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Maybe he's not equipped to do what you want him
to do. And if you can't change, then you got
to replace him.

Speaker 3 (01:04:08):
But if you don't have someone to replace him, now,
you as a head coach have to make those adjustments.
I think the Vikings need to run the football a
little bit more so they can bounce off the offense
and see if they can and said they can move
down the field and be more efficient.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
It's time for the head coach to step up.

Speaker 2 (01:04:25):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:04:25):
It's a big spot tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:04:26):
There's no question everyone's talking about you know, Ben Johnson
against Brian Flores. They've had some great battles where Ben
Johnson of late has come out on top when he
was directing the Lions. Now he's a chance to bring
his team in to face Brian Flores, who will be
without Jonathan Grenard. That's a big that's a big loss
for sure for the defense. Chicago comes in winners of

(01:04:48):
six of their last seven. They've beaten the Cowboys, Commanders, Giants, Saints, Bengals,
and Raiders, so not necessarily a gauntlet of winning.

Speaker 1 (01:04:57):
Teams, but they lost those games in the Europe They
and that's that's the point.

Speaker 2 (01:05:01):
Is this administration, this coaching staff has figured out a
way to keep them in games and pull the right
strings at the end to give them w.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
I mean a million games a year ago, but they
just had the wrong person on the sideline. And so
what's the difference between Caleb Williams today and a year ago.
But his numbers may not jump off the off the charts, okay,
but he's playing one in football. So Ben Johnson, when
the game is on the line, he can put a

(01:05:32):
package together and say this is going to give my
young quarterback the best, the best chance to be successful.
He's not ready to take on, you know, that type
of responsibility by himself. You know, he's not to Joe
Burrows of the world. He's not the Josh Allens or
Lamar Jackson's you know, he's not the young Aaron Rodgers.

(01:05:52):
So I got to help him, you know, That's why
the hired me as a head coach to get him
to a point one day where I'm ready to turn
you know, the keys to the car over to him.
They say, okay, now you go drive the car and
you go drive the bus. But today he's not ready
for that. So that's where the head coast comes into play.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
He he continues to look really pedestrian for three quarters.
Caleb Williams, you know, some bad plays, bad passes, just
bad decisions, just doesn't look like it's all there. And
then down the stretch in the fourth quarter, suddenly he's
escaping the pocket and making great throws on the road.
He's really good with that arm.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
Outside of the past.

Speaker 2 (01:06:32):
Obviously he's a great running quarterback as well, but man,
he's he can be really accurate on the move. And
so if the Vikings are chasing him around tomorrow it
is danger time. You know, it's he knows how to
find guys and it sounds like Romandunze is going to
be healthy. That's a guy that has not been one
hundred percent of the way.

Speaker 1 (01:06:49):
He must win. It is a must win.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
You four and five, you want to get to five
and five knowing that your next two games are going
to be even more difficult.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
Yeah, it's a it's a so unusual to see this
team lose games at home. You know, to be one
and three, uh at us Bank Stadium and that chance
to maybe be one and four, but.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
We can't turn the ball over.

Speaker 3 (01:07:09):
So that means that now you got to say, Okay,
I can't put my young quarterback in harms way too much,
you know, So how so how do I help? How
do I help bounce off the offense? And sometimes you
have to change, And I know it's hard for a
lot of coaches to make changes because they're so stubborn
and stuck in their ways. And this is I'm going

(01:07:31):
to do it my way. We're gonna I'm gonna drill
it into you and make it happen. But every once
in a while, you know, you you know, you have
to be the big guy in the room and say,
you know what, this ain't working.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
This is not working.

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
I've always said great coaches are guys who can adapt
to the talent and the person there that's in front
of them and make it work.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
That's what great coaches is all about. I think. I agree.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
I think both teams are going to be able to
score tomorrow. It's just a it's a big opportunity for
McCarthy in this offense and the running game against the
Bears defense. That is, without they lost a key pass
rusher for the season, they still don't have Jalen Johnson
the cornerback, They're banged up on the secondary. There should
be spots for McCarthy to find his talented receivers and
so this is this is just a really big spot

(01:08:21):
to see where this offense.

Speaker 3 (01:08:22):
Ask us, if you know, okay, you beat the Lions
on your road, what was the game plan?

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
What worked? Did you running football well against the Lions?
I believe so. Certainly stopped the run and you've ran
the ball pretty decently. Yeah, I believe.

Speaker 2 (01:08:37):
Soca Godaron Jones looked last week against Baltimore. He had
a burst. He looked like, you know, vintage Packer years there.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
Feed him, yeah, make him run, make them, make them
stop that, and then you can go to some something else.

Speaker 2 (01:08:50):
You can run on Chicago all day long, and they
need to do that tomorrow, and you know it's time.
It's time now. It's not often where I am pulling
for the Purple against the Bears are because usually the
Bears are.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
At the bottom. They don't like the Bears anywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:09:04):
No, I can't stand the Bears, but I usually from
a competitive standpoint, would love to see the Bears knock
off the Purple because the Purple is the team I'm
looking to beat. And maybe down the road I'll feel differently.
But tomorrow I'm not gonna do this skull chat. I'm
not gonna have purple pomp poms. But in my head,
I'm pulling hard.

Speaker 3 (01:09:21):
For your boys. You know you're in purple country. I
should for just for the moment.

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
I will for the moment tomorrow. Okay, next week, different story,
not not next week and then next five minutes?

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
Right pause here? What's going on with the Packers? Seven
points at home, two straight losses at Lambau for the
first time in the Lafleor era, and back to back weeks,
Packers at the Giants with a new coach, a new quarterback.
Weigh in on that, and look at the other two
big games of the weekend, Detroit at Philly, Seattle at
the Rams. We'll weigh in on both of those as

(01:09:53):
we roll on in the zone on the fan. We're

(01:10:26):
back nine thirty one in the zone another half hour
or so. Week eleven of the National Football League is
upon us. We've talked about Bears at Vikings, Trent calling
it a must win. I think most Vikings fans agree.
You can't follow the one and four at home. You
can't drop to four and six. You can't know that
you had to head to Green Bay and Seattle the
next two weeks. Gonna be tough to win both of those,

(01:10:48):
let alone one. So it's a big game tomorrow. Green
Bay is in a similar boat after dropping two home games.
They went from the one seed to the seven seed
as things stand in the NFC with the ten to
seven loss Monday night against the Eagles. And I've had
a lot of questions, what's wrong with your team? What's
going on? Well, we'll start with what's going right with

(01:11:08):
the team. The defense looked outstanding, obviously, the defense kept
them in the game, held Sakuon Barkley to less than
three yards of carry, they held the Eagles to ten,
and then the three green Bay losses they've given up ten, thirteen,
and sixteen.

Speaker 1 (01:11:22):
So defense is Greazi.

Speaker 2 (01:11:23):
Defense is great, and that's not something as a Packer
fan we say too many years. But the offense is
a complete lost unit right now. And it begins with
what's been the strength of this team, and certainly was
a year ago. What made green Bay really good offensively
year ago was the running game with Josh Jacobs. They
were putting love into second and threes and second and two's,

(01:11:44):
and it opens everything up. And this year the offensive
line is not run blocking. They ranked twenty fifth in
the league in first down success rate on the ground,
they're twenty sixth and yards per carry less than four
yards of carry on first down. Lafleur keeps going after it,
knowing that that that's what makes his offense tick is
running the football in early downs. And they can't pop

(01:12:05):
holes for Josh Jacobs. He's getting hit before he gets
the ball. And so they just lost their center for
the season. Green Bay Elton Jenkins his career as a
packers likely over. It's not good, not good. The two
guards are absolute works in progress. Jordan Morgan, the number
one pick, is now the right guard they he'll probably
be the left tackle next season. And the left guard

(01:12:25):
they signed for seventy seven million bucks from San Francisco,
Aaron Banks.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
He's been a disaster. So if they.

Speaker 2 (01:12:31):
Can't figure out how to run block, I'm not sure
the offense is going to ever be what green Bay
hopes it could be. An look last week, not to
make excuses, everybody's hurt, but you know, you look at
the the offensive pass catchers that were missing in the
second half, Romeo Dobbs, Matthew Gold and Jaden Reid Tucker Craft.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
That's four is a major loss, one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (01:12:54):
But my point is four of their top five preferred
pass catchers were out of that game, and so you
know things were not going well offensively. So here come
the New York Giants. The last time green Bay went
to New York two years ago, packup quarterback Tommy DeVito
comes in and beats shocks the pack and green Bay

(01:13:15):
loses to New York. So I have a little bit
of trepidation. I don't like facing a team when they
fire their coach. You know, you get the bumps usually
from the team kind of rises up that first game
playing for a new coach, whether decent. Yeah, forties. And
here's Jameis Winston, who I know. You have love for
Russell Wilson that goes beyond most. But Jameis Winston is

(01:13:36):
a much more capable quarterback today.

Speaker 1 (01:13:39):
Is Russell Wilson was this Hall of Fame quarterback. I
don't dispute that, not anymore. Yeah, no, no, we all
know that.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
I just think again from a worry standpoint, all right,
Jameis Winston is a good people love to play for.

Speaker 1 (01:13:51):
He's a great guy. He's a funny guy. He's a leader.

Speaker 2 (01:13:54):
James or Russell doesn't necessarily get the locker room behind
him like Jamis Winston. Can little concerned about the timing
of facing this team right now now, big picture, I'm
glad it's not Jackson Dart.

Speaker 1 (01:14:06):
That kid is off to a great start. He would
make me worried.

Speaker 2 (01:14:09):
They don't have Camp Scatabo, their rookie running back was
out for the year. They don't have Eleak Neighbors, their
best receiver.

Speaker 1 (01:14:14):
Again the Jazz one issue too.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
They're two and eight, but they were up by two
scorers in the fourth quarter in Chicago. I mean they
are playing hard. They're also really banged up. They are missing,
but the Jazz always up two scores. It feels like
way they keep collapsing. And I wouldn't be surprised that
they're ahead heading into the fourth quarter tomorrow against Green Bay. Right,
but that won't be good. No, that would not That
would not be good for my blood pressure. I'll tell

(01:14:37):
you that right right now.

Speaker 1 (01:14:39):
So what's so? So what's wrong with the pack? Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:14:41):
The pack is the Lass three games when they'd given
up less than seventeen points, right, Yes, Panthers, Browns, Eagles. Okay,
the Eagles, you say, okay, but the Browns and the Panthers.
That's now, that's where the concern has to come in.

Speaker 2 (01:14:57):
A yeah. I mean again, you look at the games,
and I know, the brown ahead of the Browns ten
to nothing.

Speaker 3 (01:15:02):
But defense Panther's defense is not that bad. You know,
they went to New Orleans and last weekend they lost
it home to the Orlands. Yeah, they didn't really handle
success very well, did they. You know, anytime you beat
Green Bay, you know you don't have success.

Speaker 2 (01:15:16):
It's been self inflicted wounds offensively in the losses to
the back losses, and the Egles.

Speaker 3 (01:15:21):
May have played one of the I'm not going to
use the word dumbest games, but close to it. At
the end of the game, were you throwing the football for?

Speaker 2 (01:15:34):
I didn't see it when Green Bay turned over the
ball and downs with the minute and a half to
go over I put the Wolves on and I'm like,
I'm watching Wolves Jazz, It's what third And I saw
a tweet like loves got the ball back with thirty seconds.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
I'm like, how did they not run the clock out?
Like how?

Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
And I of course watched back when I missed they
the Egos, they tried to give Green Bay the game, right, Hey,
we want to help you guys win a football game
so that you can stay ahead and your and maybe
we have played you guys in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:16:02):
You know in Philadelphia. It should be a fine match
up for Fox with CBS, so who remember it may
be y NBC. I mean, I could not believe that
the Philadelphia Egos did what they did at the end
of the football game, and the green Bay practice eskudn't
capital Yeah, they didn't a sixty four year off field
goal was not going to happen on that No, no.

Speaker 1 (01:16:22):
Not at all.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
And again you look at the little things right like
last week, and the receivers are hurt. They turned to
bow Melton to play wide receiver, who had been a
receiver until this season. Now he's a cornerback. He's practicing
as a cornerback, but they decided to put him as
a wide receiver. You know, good for him trying to
help the team. He drops a fourth and sixth pass
that would have put the Packers in field goal range.

(01:16:43):
He also lined up illegally on a long pass to
Christian Watson that would have put him in the red zone.
Either one of those plays don't happen, you might win
that game. So it's just it's just one little thing,
and it's counting on a guy that's been playing on
the other side of the ball to step in for
you and make big plays, and he just wasn't up.
I'm not blaming him, but I'm looking at big picture.

(01:17:03):
Where are your You've got three receivers on the practice
squad player receivers don't ask a cornerback to come in.
So are you questioning now the leadership. Well, there's a
lot of question marks. I got an interesting text here.
Somebody asked me, why do you think there's such a
gap in local and national perception of the Packers' issues.
National media blames Love. Local green Bay media is putting
it on Lafleur.

Speaker 1 (01:17:23):
By all.

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
Statistics, Jordan Love is a top five quarterback. I mean,
you could look at it. It doesn't may not feel
like it because he's not scoring touchdowns, but he's not
the problem in Green Bay. There's a lot of issues
with play calling and again run blocking the offensive line,
and Laflora is catching some heat. And you know, again,
if the Packers were to move on from Matt Lafleur
this season, he would be hired within twenty four hours,

(01:17:47):
either by Atlanta or Tennessee. He would not be out
of work for long. And I don't I'm not on
board for moving on for Matt Lafleur, even if I
do have issues with some of the things he does
as a head coach. But it is interesting that the
common fan says, well, it's about a fantasy thing like
Love doesn't throw touchdown passes, he stings. He's not worth
fifty five million. Look at the analytics. He's doing everything

(01:18:08):
you want from a quarterback. He's not being put in
the best position. And most of it is the team
can't run the football and he doesn't have his receivers.

Speaker 1 (01:18:15):
That he wants.

Speaker 3 (01:18:15):
And so if you're talking about j. J. Mccarth, well,
there is some of that. There is some of that, right,
So they'll be bringing it back to the head coach, right.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
Yeah, it's on the floor to figure out. Okay, though
the line doesn't block like you wanted it. To figure
out a way to put that offense still in a
way to succeed. Figure out a way move Love out
of the pocket, put the ball in his hands more,
have him run more, whatever it takes. They can't run
the ball, that's the problem, right, They can't block, They
cannot block. Those guys have to get better. Now, Sean
Ryan steps in its center.

Speaker 3 (01:18:43):
Maybe he I mean, they've got some good some good
yards against the Eagles when at the end of the
football game, I run the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:18:48):
I mean, he got better better. I mean, but.

Speaker 3 (01:18:53):
What is Matt Lufloyd doing at this stage? Would just
play Colin not to put the Green Bay package in
this situation to win? I mean, you say the defense
has been great, but they gave up forty to the Cowboys. Okay,
maybe that was just one of those you know, it
gets people crazy. It's it's second and long and they're
running the ball like every single time. It's like run

(01:19:15):
run pass punt, or it's run run, throw a screen pass,
like don't even look down.

Speaker 1 (01:19:21):
There's no balancing, there's no balancing.

Speaker 2 (01:19:23):
Very predictable, I mean there's no Yeah, the Eagles call
on that fourth and one play that turned the ball
over at the end of the game that were Eagles
were calling out the play. It was the fourth time
they ran it on third or fourth and one in
the game. You count run the same play four times.
You got a defensive lineman going inside zone, inside zone,
and Jacobs gets hit basically as he gets the ball.
It can't be so predictable, and that's what got is

(01:19:44):
La Flora the cross areas right. But look at what
the Eagles did on fourth and whatever it was. You
you're going to throw the ball deep to aj Brown. Yeah,
that it's coaching mail practice. If that had cost them
the game, imagine Siriani trying to answer those questions and
pump the ball, make him go ninety yards and thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:20:02):
Is you gonna go for just running? Yeah? He should
a random ball one o'clock.

Speaker 3 (01:20:06):
Yeah, because forced in the car timeout, I was like,
I was like, you're talking about not smart football.

Speaker 1 (01:20:14):
Yeah, they gave him a chance.

Speaker 3 (01:20:16):
I mean he came the pack because every chance to win,
and Love did have a shot.

Speaker 2 (01:20:20):
He did make a mistake in that final drive on
the last seconds, he missed a wide open receiver.

Speaker 3 (01:20:26):
So on the screen pass, your running back went the
wrong way. He tried the wrong way. You never turned inside,
turn outside. Yeah, they don't see Jacobs and I can't
play football. All right, let's pause here. Final segment.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
I want to look at the other two big games Rams, Seahawks, Lions, Eagles,
and we'll wrap up tonight's the Wolve's Nuggets preview as well.
Final segment right after these, have you.

Speaker 1 (01:21:08):
Ever said in time to dig you round? What's what's
the power back?

Speaker 2 (01:21:17):
Final segment, this edition of In the Zone, Tucker and
sennecon hanging out again. We'll have things off to Fantasy
Football Weekly for their final show. The show h The
run ends today ten o'clock. Fantasy Football Weekly, Wild Hockey
at five Gophers Basketball Tonight following the hockey game around
eight o'clock u W Green Bay against the Golden Gophers.

(01:21:38):
Lions at Eagles is your Sunday night football game. That's
about as good it should be a good matchup, huh
as it gets. Yeah, what a bigger game for who Lions?
Because you know, everything's so mudder right here in the
in the NFC North, and with the Bears hanging in

(01:21:59):
the middle, the Packers are still there even though in
third place. You know, third and fourth placed team can
get hot and win a couple of games here, then
all of a sudden things can look different two or
three weeks from now. But I think it's the must
bigger game for the Lions. I agree the NFC East
is a disaster. The Eagles could lose four straight they'll
still win that division.

Speaker 1 (01:22:20):
So I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (01:22:21):
The Lions typically heading outside in November, you know, are
not as good as they you know obviously are at home,
and you know they are just a couple of weeks
removed from a tough home loss to the Vikings, so
they still have something to prove against good competition. So
I would agree with you it's a bigger game for
the Lions, who are missing Sam Laporta, cornerback Terry and

(01:22:42):
Arnold is out. Eagles aren't a short week after of
course the Monday night game, so really interesting game. I
give Detroit a good chance in this one too, even
missing some key players. I'm just not sold, unfeeling.

Speaker 1 (01:22:57):
But the Eagles just find the way to win. That's
what they do.

Speaker 3 (01:23:00):
They just find a way to win. It's not pretty.
You have no idea what Siriano and his coaching staff
are doing over there. But somehow, some way they make
a play. You know that with a third down play
with Sekon Barkley, Sirkin Barkley breaks away from the defense
is third and whatever it may be on the screen pass,

(01:23:20):
they throw a screen pass and they pick and they
pick up with twenty five yards or whatever they pick
up and then the next house touchdown pass. But then
you look at it and you're like, wow, it's a
his scratcher what they did at the end of the
football game. You've seen some of these inconsistent plays run
the Philadelphia Eagles, but it seems like somehow, some way,
they find a way to make a play.

Speaker 2 (01:23:41):
Dan Campbell took over the play calling last week against
Washington and they were explosive and against Washington's a disaster
this year. But that's why I want to see how
they follow that up. Is the offense back with Campbell
calling the plays or now they got to face a
real defense.

Speaker 1 (01:23:54):
Is going to be a slog again. Yeah, they're very talented, yeah,
you know.

Speaker 3 (01:23:58):
And that's why it's a his scratcher, because this is
a team that is talented from top to bottom. I mean,
they have a ton of talent, but it's the play
calling and some of the things they do and when
the defense has a chance to really close you out
and put you away.

Speaker 1 (01:24:14):
You know their gip.

Speaker 3 (01:24:14):
You know they say they twenty five yards off the receiver.
Well it's third and thirteen against the Packers. Why don't
you blisten Jordan? Look are you twenty five yards down
the field? Now you're trying to run and make a play.
But they pick up a first down, and you know,
and unfortunately for the Green Bay Packers, they weren't able
to cash in when they had those moments. But you know,

(01:24:35):
the Eagles will allow you to stay in the game
and maybe at some point in time he's going to
come back to haunt him. But right now, it's the
team that just finds the way to win. Yeah, the
addition of Jalen Phillips the pass rusher, was huge. He
was gigantic Monday night. That's a big, big add to
that defense. Howie Roseman does it again. The two seven
and two teams in the West meet tomorrow for the

(01:24:55):
first time. The Rams hosting the Seattle Seahawks. Seahawks have
been road warrior. I think they've won ten straight on
the road or something. They do not lose on the road.
But Stafford, we're talking about MVP candidates. Stafford's at the
top of the list right now. Everybody was concerned about
his back. He didn't play all training. Cap is at
the end of the road. He's playing at a level
that he's never played. And I'm fascinated by this game.

(01:25:18):
I am a believer in Seattle.

Speaker 2 (01:25:19):
I know they haven't beaten a lot of great teams,
but that coach knows how to coach defense. Jackson Smith
and Jigba is becoming a top five, if not top three,
if not best receiver in football.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
We talked about Darnold.

Speaker 2 (01:25:33):
Really interesting matchup to give the one team the top
spot in the West, and they'll beat again late in
the season.

Speaker 3 (01:25:39):
Well you might these two guys are playing as well
as any quarterback in the entire week, you know. And
Sam Darling may not may not get a lot of
MVP of votes, but I mean his name is in
a conversation for sure. Why that he's playing for Seattle
and he's in a good hairspace. He had the talent
coming out of the USC. He just went to a
bass situationation with the with the New York Jets, and yeah,

(01:26:02):
when you playing with with a bad team and a
rookie quarterback, you might see ghos okay, Yeah, but you.

Speaker 1 (01:26:09):
Know, he he found his I think he found his
groove in San Francisco.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
Yes, he kind of you know, didn't play a whole lot,
but he was able to be in a good system and.

Speaker 1 (01:26:19):
Gain some confidence and confidence.

Speaker 3 (01:26:21):
And now he comes here to play for the Vikings,
and you know, things break well for him, you know,
unfortunately for JJ. He gets heard Sam Downald steps in,
they win a lot of you know, close one score
games and and he's off to the races and that
is confidence is is as big as ever, and he
has a talented matchup and so he's in a good

(01:26:42):
situation to see others.

Speaker 1 (01:26:43):
So that should be a fun matchup to Yeah, if.

Speaker 2 (01:26:44):
You're someone like me that just wants to watch football
all day Tomorrow, you got Bears, Vikings or Packers, Giants early, Rams,
Seahawks late, and then Lions Sunday night.

Speaker 3 (01:26:54):
You guys need to win a football. He may not
play with, but you need to win that football. Packers
afford to losing. The Giants know they have three division games.
They got Vikings, Lions on Thanksgiving and Bears at Lambeau
the next three weeks. So Green Bay's got three division games.
They've got to get some momentum by going on the road,
and you got to be beating a bad team.

Speaker 2 (01:27:11):
Final minute. The Wolves will host the Denver Nuggets tonight.
They're done with the Jazz and Kings for after four
straight games. Now they get a good team. We don't
know who's going to play for the Nuggets. Jokic is
questionable with a wrist injury.

Speaker 1 (01:27:23):
Will he play.

Speaker 2 (01:27:24):
Christian Brown's out for six weeks, They've lost Cam Johnson,
he's out with an arm injury. You're not going to
get a full compliment of Nuggets, but assuming Yokic plays,
this is still a good litmus test the best opponent
they faced for a while. You know, he's the best
player lead not even close. Lastg long gap between him

(01:27:45):
and SG. If you missed our conversation earlier, you'll listen
later and figure out what we're talking about.

Speaker 1 (01:27:52):
It's a big week.

Speaker 2 (01:27:54):
We're in the middle of a four game homestand for
the Wolves, they got the first one last night, Nuggets tonight,
Mavericks Monday, Washington Wednesday. Those are the have not and
then four yep, and then that Phoenix Friday night, another
cup game. Chance to go three to zero in the
NBA Cup game or a cupcake game. I think it's
a cup game or Phoenix. Phoenix is playing. Okay, you're

(01:28:14):
gonna watch your boys play some hockey today.

Speaker 1 (01:28:16):
Are you not?

Speaker 2 (01:28:17):
Yeah, I afford to have hockey. Good luck with that,
Good luck with the boat to the boys. And I'll
watch Indiana play Wisconsin here at eleven o'clock and see
if they can get to eleven and oh that they
should be able to get to their thirty point favorites.

Speaker 1 (01:28:30):
So I do like their chances. Are you saying the
song now? And I you Yes, I know all the
words and everything.

Speaker 2 (01:28:37):
Yeah, I'll do that Enjoy your week for Trent Tucker,
for Brett blakemore I am Dave Sinek in. Stay tuned
the final episode of Fantasy Football Weekly, Say It Ain't
So It's next on the Fan Wild and Gophers coming
up later.

Speaker 1 (01:28:51):
Enjoy your weekend, everybody,