Minnesota Vikings Podcast: 11-6-25

Tatum Everett from VEN is back for the MVP!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome into the Minnesota Vikings Podcast. I'm your host, Tatum Everett,
and what a weekend it was. The Vikings walked into
four Field secured their first win there since twenty twenty
with a twenty seven to twenty four victory. Minnesota is
now two and oh in the NFC North and two
and oh in divisional road games. We've got a fun

(00:27):
show ahead for you if you're a Vikings fan line fan.
We've got the dynamic duo of Eric Nordquist and Ron
Johnson sharing their thoughts on the win and the game ahead.
The Vikings return to US Bank Stadium and hosts of
three and five Ravens, who are currently on a two
game win streak. This is only the eighth meeting between
these two teams all time, and is Baltimore's third trip

(00:50):
to Minnesota where they are oh and two. Look at
a try and make that ozho to three in Minnesota
is Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy, now making his four NFL start.
He's ready to keep building off the momentum created from
Sunday's victory.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
I feel like that always comes down to game planning.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
What do they do do well? What do we do well?

Speaker 2 (01:11):
And you know, how are they going to try and
stop us, How are they going to try and re
engineer our rules to make it in their favor. But
you know, I feel like there's a lot of things
that I showed with my feet, you know, just being
able to extend plays on that crucial third down in
the red zone, and I think, you know, just the
ability to progress on just like the little things outside

(01:32):
of the pocket with my throws and making sure, you know,
we get those reps in even though on the run
it was like one for seven based on last game.
They know that I have that ability, so I just
got to be ready when those opportunities come up. But yeah,
there's a lot of things that go into this game
plan that you know, I feel really good about. We
just got to go out and execute.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
It is now time to bring in Eric Nordquist Nordo
from nine to noon. I can't speak for you, Nordo,
but I'm feeling very well rested. I've got more energy
this weekend or this week. I think that's from the weekend.
I had such a pleasant experience at ford Field, my
first win ever there. It was just nice overall. I mean,

(02:12):
how are you feeling this week? You have to be
feeling revitalized as well.

Speaker 4 (02:16):
Are you kidding me? I mean, it's Thursday. I'm looking
ahead to this Ravens game. I got to celebrate a
super cool victory where a massive underdog got the win
on the road, a place my favorite team had one
and a half a decade.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Been a pretty awesome week, Tatum.

Speaker 5 (02:30):
I agree with you.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
As our resident roube for the Minnesota Vikings podcast, You've
got the feeling that just feels different about this team,
whether you listen to the head coach, the quarterback after
the game, the scrums you head into all of the
press conferences this week, there just seems to be some
life in there.

Speaker 5 (02:50):
How has a roub?

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Do you not overreact over this knowing there are still
you know, a half a season left to play?

Speaker 4 (02:56):
Well, it's a week to week league, Tatum, so feel
free to be emotional and overreact.

Speaker 5 (03:00):
No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
It's the first time since Week one that we got
to see some certain names on defense all playing together.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
How far is overreacting?

Speaker 4 (03:12):
You wanted a place for the first time in five years,
You were nearly ten point dogs, You were supposed to
get beaten down. You kept Jamir Gibbs, who has tortured
the Vikings in his short NFL career. You kept him
on an awful day, kept him out of the end zone.
First time you've done that against Jamir Gibbs. And you
sacked off five times, and you finally got to see
some of the things you've been waiting two months for.

(03:33):
So I think people should be really pumped about that.
Now it's what it's We'll do it again.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Okay? Was that an aberration?

Speaker 4 (03:40):
Was that just a little mid season fleeting moment of
bliss before the rest of this headache continues on?

Speaker 3 (03:46):
Who knows?

Speaker 4 (03:47):
You go out and you beat Lamar and Derreck Henry
in town at home on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (03:51):
Now you're onto something.

Speaker 1 (03:52):
Yeah, obviously it's all about carrying over to the next game. However,
this is the most complete team performance I have seen
in quite some time, I think from this Vikings team.
I love the fact that every facet of the game
showed up and in complementary fashion.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
Right.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
So that's just another way of saying what I wanted
to say three different times. However, I want to go
over what your favorite offensive, defensive, and special team performance
in that game.

Speaker 5 (04:22):
That's non quarterback related.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Ah, I know, can't just think JJ.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
No, No, we'll talk about JJ in a second as
he prepares to face three evens defense, but non quarterback
favorite offensive performance go.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
Okay, Well, it's Aaron Jones as a person that's been
begging to see more effective, more efficient, and just a
better focus on the run game. Him rolling out and
averaging almost nine to Carrey had the sweet catch and run.
I dig that although it was logged as a rush,
which I still don't understand, but all the same took
that stat away from the quarterback that I can't use

(04:57):
as an example here. I think Aaron Jones was terrific.
Really looking forward to him being able to continue on
with that. I think Mason Jordan Mason struggled mightily in
pass protection, which really then continues to speak to the
overall well rounded game of an Aaron Jones. So for offense,
it would certainly be Aaron Jones on Sunday against the kiddies.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
I love it. Defensively, what really jumped out for.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
You, somebody that you've spoken with this week could be
Blake Cashman.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
How about those fourteen tackles?

Speaker 4 (05:26):
He was everywhere and as a unit you can tell again,
Grenard and Van Ginkel as a tandem when both are
healthy and in the game. I think you know, and
it's not about trying to rag on Dallas Turner specifically,
but you can tell after having a start and play
as many snaps as he did, he jumps immediately back
down to like fourteen or fifteen snaps on Sunday. That

(05:46):
tells you how tough it is to keep Van Ginkle
and Grenard off the field with each other. That led
to maybe the best game in Purple for Javon Hargrave,
and all of that led to a free and expel
performance from Blake Cashman. Whether it was on the blitz
getting in there, putting hits on putting hits on golf,

(06:06):
or it was boundary to boundary that the tackles and
his closing ability on Sunday was well seen.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
Defense has got to be Blake, Okay.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
I love that he was so complimentary of everyone else
on the defensive front when asked about that performance. But
a couple of things that he said that I found
were really interesting was that he doesn't believe that Van
Ginkel gets the credit he should for being such a
smart player. That it's like having a second Mike linebacker
out there, which I thought was kind of interesting coming

(06:37):
from him because he just said, you know, there were
just so many pieces to what happened in Sunday's performance
that allowed him to play so free, and having everyone
back does not stress out the other players having to
play snaps in other positions and maybe playing too much
when everyone's healthy. They're really doing exactly what the game

(06:57):
plan was. But it was interesting because he talked a
lot about it was almost like reverse psychology, like the
Lions think we're going to do all these things. They
showed up and they did the exact opposite of what
the Lions were expecting of them. And he said, because
of all of that preparedness that they had done on
the front end with all their disguises, and they kept

(07:17):
it up throughout the whole game, that really was the
difference when it came to breaking Golf's rhythm and stopping
the run.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
I thought that was just really interesting.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
Well, sadly that this just proves that Blake Cashman doesn't
listen to Nine to Noon because Nine to Noon has
been giving Andrew Van Ginkel all the credit and then
some trying to return Van Ginkel's style into this defense.
But the health and you know the way that he
talked that out, he's dead on correct is is he
has a fantastic game, but it's not it's not a

(07:48):
singular performance. And I think you know after the game
hearing Josh mittelis talking about Levi Drake Rodriguez blocking that
that field goal attempt, which would be my special teams guy,
either him or Miles who Miles probably should have a touchdown.
But that's a Tavier Thomas conversation for another time. But
Blake doing his job. Mittel's talking about this as well.

(08:08):
Is okay, so defensive front, Javon Hargrave one of the
better games, maybe the best game he's had in Purple. Okay,
how does that impact what Blake Cashman is able to do?
Andrew Van Ginkel being back in the mix, How does
that affect what Javon Hargrave is able to do because
he'll he'll get less double teams because you worry about
these two primo pass rushers on the outside.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
You just think about how one.

Speaker 4 (08:31):
Thing leads to another, and in the end, you just
saw such a more well rounded performance for multiple people
that allow a Blake Cashman to be free and t
wreak havoc and then just some of the collective efforts
as a unit.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
We're spectacular.

Speaker 4 (08:47):
And you mentioned, you know, the defense and just it's
you know, inverting you you'd have you'd have both THEO
Jackson and Harrison Smith running up to the line.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
They kind of mug and then they back off pre snap.

Speaker 4 (08:57):
But you also saw a lot of static blitz disguise
is where Eric Wilson wasn't mugging up, he was just waiting.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
He was patient and then boom he goes. Another great game.

Speaker 4 (09:06):
By the way, Eric Wilson, Cashman, Rodnie Ivan Pace, you know,
maybe maligned in some respects if we're conversing, just which
has given Eric Wilson a better shot and more snaps defensively,
Ivan Pace was used really effectively in blitzes on Sunday,
just when good.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Things are happening.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
You can say, well, Blake Cashman and those fourteen tackles mattered.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
But how did he get him?

Speaker 4 (09:28):
Took some teammates and a collective effort to get there,
which is awesome.

Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, and obviously you mentioned Levi Drake Rodriguez. He's also
been really good on the line. But he just won
the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, which is
so good.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Love that guy.

Speaker 5 (09:43):
LDR.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
He obviously blocked the forty five yard field goal attempt,
then Isaiah Rodgers taking it back forty one yards to
set up the Vikings final scoring drive of the game.
And so just all these pieces coming together, it created
such a joyful experience for the this weekend.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
So now you face a different style of offense, Nordo.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
You've got Lamar Jackson, an extremely mobile quarterback coming off
a month long injury. He gets in his first game
since then all he does is score four touchdowns. So
for you watching the defense against Jared Goff, what do
you need to see from the Vikings now that they
face another really tough rushing backfield and Derrick Henry and

(10:26):
then Lamar Jackson being such a dangerous dual threat.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Well, I'm interested. He didn't run very much when he
came back against the Dolphins. Didn't have to. He has
like seven tight ends on the team, it feels like,
so we found them. And Henry had a really productive game.
I think two touchdowns from him potentially as well. I
know he got into the end zone once. But to
that end, just kind of looking at what the whole
thing looked like. It's maybe a similar conversation Lamar as

(10:53):
an athlete, we're not going to we haven't seen him yet,
we won't see him again at the quarterback position this year,
so how do you prepare for him?

Speaker 3 (11:00):
It's super unique.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
I think it's in a similar vein to what you
lost when when you saw Jalen Hurts and the and
the Eagles game and what you saw somewhat from from
Justin Herbert. But but all three of those qbs, Lamar,
now I'm looping in here. All of them have the
ability to bounce outside and buy themselves an extra couple seconds.
And what they do when they when that happens is

(11:22):
they allow you know, we saw it in that Eagles game.
I've used this reference a couple times. Josh mattelis trying
to guard AJ Brown. Well, that's cool for two and
a half seconds in his zone situation. But as soon
as Hurts bounces outside and they just play a little
street ball and he points at Aj towards the end zone,
it's over. That's what you're looking at here with with
Lamar Jackson. It's it's it's not always about time, and

(11:45):
it's not always about rhythm. It's about the QB is
going to buy some time until one of his seven
or eight twenty tight ends they have on that team
find a soft zone and he hits them for you know,
a twenty yard game and they're they're moving down the field.
So the combination of what we did to Saquan in
the run game, what we did to Gibbs in Montgomery
in the run game, you know, you want to see

(12:06):
this team very stout up front and stop Henry and
force Lamar to have to throw.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
It for three hundred yards on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
But when you do, having that tandem of Grenard and
Van Ginkel really playing contained and keeping that edge on
the outside so Lamar's not able to get out and
scramble a bunch and buy himself time. It sounds easy
for me just to be radio guy in a studio
saying that, man, they have a mountain to climb.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
It's a challenge. That's why he's a multi time MVP.

Speaker 4 (12:34):
So super unique situation and circumstances with this talent. But
if we can keep him from getting all the time
in the world, I think we got a shot at
shutting him down. There will be moments where Lamar gets
his and Dereck Henry gets his. It's how the kid
QB on our side responds that'll probably tell the story.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
All right, So let's hear it. I know you were
pumped about JJ's performance. I don't even know that. But
this Raven's defense is only allowing about thirteen points per
game in their last three contests.

Speaker 5 (13:05):
So, kid QB, what do we want to see?

Speaker 4 (13:08):
Well? I want to see just graduating momentum and progression
from what we saw here in the in the Alliance game.
The cool thing about JJ take two as we got
to see the decision making so much better. I know
he did throw a pick, but it wasn't a bad decision.
That ball just needed to be a little farther out
to Jalen Naylor. He didn't. He made a couple of

(13:29):
nice running attempts. What we need to see from him, though,
is more touch. I want to see more precision on
his passes. If this does get into a higher scoring affair,
we need those those third down conversions specifically, I think
there were four to twelve in that game. I need touch,
I need accuracy, I need decision making I need poise

(13:51):
and I need fewer than five sacks. Kids taking a
lot of hits, you can get points on this team. So,
but it all starts with the QB. I want to
see a turnover free performance from JJ. Let's keep it
easy with that. No takes for the Ravens defense, and
maybe that means the Vikings take a w on Sunday
at home.

Speaker 5 (14:10):
Let's hope. So I love it. Thank you Nordo for
your insight.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
As always, you can hear him after the games on
KIFAN on the fanline, and coming up next in our show,
we've got another guest. I know it's very exciting Nordo.
Your counterpart for Vikings Fanline, Ron Johnson is going to
be on the podcast this week as well. So looking
forward to get to that. Ryk for the sprink Say
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(15:11):
to you. Visit online at spelon dot com. Welcome back
into the Minnesota Vikings Podcast. I'm Tatum Everett from the
Vikings Entertainment Network. The Baltimore Ravens are rolling into town
to face the Vikes at us Bank Stadium for this
matinee matchup. To help us break down this purple showdown,
we have got Vikings analyst for Fox nine and KFN,

(15:34):
Ron Johnson. I just talked to your Vikings fanline co
host Old Nordo a little while ago. You guys had
a lot of fun on Sunday. Huh.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:43):
You know, whenever the Vikings win, there's two sides of
the fan line. It is either I'm all in or
my life has been ruined being a Vikings fan. My
whole life, it's always negative until they win these type
of games.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Let's talk about this about this upcoming matchup. Now, this
Baltimore Ravens defense earlier in the season was allowing thirty
plus points from these from these teams that they played.
Now in the last three contests, they're averaging thirteen points
per game, and obviously that's a reflection of.

Speaker 5 (16:14):
Their secondary getting a little bit more healthy.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
What should this Vikings offense expect to see when they
face this Ravens offense now having or excuse me, that
Ravens defense now that they're playing stronger.

Speaker 6 (16:28):
Yeah, So the biggest thing is Lamar Jackson changes the
scope of like what your team looks like. So if
you think about Lamar Jackson, how fast he plays, how
much time he can keep. Like I think it was
the Chiefs game there was a third and nine Chiefs
drop back in the coverage thinking like, okay, let's just
take away the pass. Lamar Jackson runs for twelve yards
like that that's the absolute Like I don't even know

(16:52):
acing the hole or Joker car, whatever you want to
whatever card game you play, like, he is that extra
piece of the puzzle where you're like, it's like playing chess.
All of a sudden he has two queens. You're like,
wait a minute, like where does other queen come from?
What that does is that allows them to move the chains.
The less the defense can be on the field, the
better for them. And you brought up a good point.
The last three weeks on third down, the conversion rate

(17:15):
has been forty six point two, which is pretty high.
But the biggest thing I'm noticing is the yards gained.
So the yards to go has been five point eight,
the yards gain has been four point nine on third down.
So it feels bad because they're bending, but they're not breaking,
you know, And that's the key to this. They're gonna
let you convert. They're gonna let you convert, and then
when it's time to kind of shut it down, they're
gonna give up field goals. Earlier in the season, they

(17:37):
were giving up touchdowns.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
So what can the Vikings take advantage of with this
t Yeah on third down.

Speaker 6 (17:42):
So what you have to do is you have to
be able to manipulate their defense with motion and shifts
on third down. They have to just attack the edges
like you gotta you gotta attack the edges. You gotta
make sure that you're putting enough guys out so you
can see the blitz like don't if you're gonna go
tight or nasty splits, have a plan for that. The
Ravens still do their rock and roll stuff where guys
are kind of round the line of scrimmage and they

(18:04):
don't they want to show you. It's almost Flori's esque,
you know, but they want to show you a different
look and they're try to blitz. The one thing about
the Ravens that I think they've been given away is
when there's a motion, they kind of give it away
pretty quick. You know, they kind of show you their
hand because one guy gets nervous and runs out or
another guy flinches, and so you can figure out who's coming.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
So is that is that going to be up to
jj McCarthy to see that at the line.

Speaker 6 (18:25):
Yeah, that's where Jajon McCarthy has to do that. Like
if you watch the Ravens Chiefs, the Chiefs do that
a bunch where they come up really late and they
don't allow Lamar Jackson like I think Chanelle did it once.
I forgot the other guy that did it, but they
timed it up perfect where they didn't move an inch
until right when the ball was like I had to
slow it down and slow mode to figure out when
did this guy flinch. He flinched when he saw the

(18:46):
center do that. And if the center fakes it, it's
a flag on the center. Right, But every other center
when they move the ball, they have to keep going,
even if it's like a late blitz, they have to
keep going.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
Let's stay on the topic though, of Lamar Jackson and
just he's back after an injury for a month and
he is responsible for four touchdowns in some which way
in his first game back. Right, So that's that's a
lot to handle. Means a quarterback who has a ton
of movement, a former MVP. What do you think this
defense needs to take away from their lion's performance in

(19:18):
order to.

Speaker 5 (19:20):
Disguise to confuse Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 6 (19:24):
Yeah, So the thing about Lamar Jackson is he can run.
You got to have somebody fast enough to run with him,
because once he gets going, you know, you don't want
anybody chasing him, who's going to pull a hamstring. You
gotta have somebody that can run. So usually it's a dB,
maybe a safety that's a little faster, but you gotta
spy him. You who do And I think I even
Pace is a good person to do it. Yeah, but

(19:45):
you got to keep an eye on Lamar Jackson when
everybody's going, make sure he's still back there, you know,
and you follow him. If he runs his right, run
with him. He runs was left in the minute he
starts to run, Go get him. That's the biggest key
to Lamar Jackson stopping him because understand he knows he
can run like so, so his goal is I'm just
gonna try to find some nobody's there. I'm taking off
and so you got to be able to get to
him before he can sit back there and get comfortable.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
How do you feel about this team being able to
get another win.

Speaker 5 (20:12):
This time at home against Ravens. What are your feelings?

Speaker 6 (20:16):
So my feelings are the defense for the Ravens is
not that.

Speaker 5 (20:19):
Good, So you think that's the key.

Speaker 6 (20:21):
I think that's the key. Taking advantage of it. It's
going to be I don't want it to be a shootout,
but as a fan, it's going to be fun for
the fans to see that, like you know, back and
forth scoring. I mean the Ravens third down defense, right,
so we're going against them they are kind of in
the bottom of getting stops, right, So I look at turnovers.
They're not doing a huge advantage of it, you know,

(20:43):
for touchdowns. They're giving up twenty four touchdowns on third down.
So it is a team that you can attack. It's
a team that you can go after. I don't think
you need to be afraid to go after them.

Speaker 5 (20:54):
So you just need to be aggressive, jump out early.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
Right correct.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
But then the flip side of it offensively with the
rape on third down, they are a team that's going
to continue to put it in play and their goal
so right now their goal on third down. They're kind
of a balanced run pass offense, you know, like they
don't just like most teams on third down if you
look at it, it's really pass heavy, you know, most
teams are like three fifty one and two fifty one.

(21:17):
That's Kansas City. So there's one hundred more plays in
the past game. In the run game, Ravens is two
forty three to two twelve. So it's a closer gap.
Like they do have a true run pass option with
Lamar Jackson, and so again that's where both teams it
can go back and forth. But in order to beat
the Ravens, I think you need to put them on
the offensive, like you have to make them want a score,
like when they are comfortable and they can sit back

(21:39):
and Lamar Jackson can have fun. That's when it gets bad.
But if you come out early, like JJ McCarthy comes
out early, deciphers the defense right away, I think the
Vikings should be fine.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
I love that. Thank you so much, Ron, I really
appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
We will see you at the game yea Fox nine
Game Day Live and.

Speaker 5 (21:56):
Uh yeah, can't wait to hear you on fan line
as well.

Speaker 6 (21:59):
Hopefully ITT's ever win.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
Thank you so much to Nordo and Ron for joining
us on this week's episode. The Vikings look to add
another to the win column on Sunday when they face
the Ravens.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
Kick off said for noon on Fox.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
We hope see you out at US Bank Stadium, where
the Vikings will honor our nation's military with the Salute
to Service theme all game long.

Speaker 5 (22:22):
We appreciate you listening and we'll be back again next week.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
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