October 31, 2025 • 22 mins
Tatum Everett from VEN gets you set for the Week 9 matchup against the Lions!
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into the Two Minute Warning, presented by three M,
the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. I'm your
host Tatum Everett from the Vikings Entertainment Network, and your
Vikings are gearing up to take on the Detroit Lions
in the Motor City this Sunday. There's been a ton
of player news this week, the biggest headlines centering around
roster updates at the quarterback position. Head coach Kevin O'Connell
(00:27):
announced on Monday that Carson Wentz will need season ending
shoulder surgery and is on injured reserve. JJ McCarthy is
now the starting quarterback this week. Coach O'Connell talked on
Friday to discuss the final injury news going into the
weekend and gave an update on his team's mentality as
they faced the Lions at Ford Field.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm really proud of our guys for the work of
the week of preparation that we had, with the extra
day on Monday and then pairing that with three really
good days. I feel really good about our team being
able to go compete a heck of a environment. Dan's
got a really good football team. We know well, they
know us well. You know, so just fired up. I
can tell the team's excited to get a chance to
(01:06):
go compete. Just a game status update. We'll have three
players ruled out c J. Ham, Jeff Acuda, and Josh Oliver.
We'll have four players questionable Andrew van Ginkel, Brian O'Neill,
Josh Mattelus who just had some foot soreness, and then
Christian dar saw right there. So other than that good
(01:28):
week of prep, all those guys that I just mentioned
as questionable were either limited or full today based upon uh,
based upon a fast Friday workload.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So open it up to you, guys. Yes, it was full.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Uh, by my eyes he was, and by the sheet
he was as well. Yeah, no, he's had a really
good week. Anticipate him playing J. J.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
McCarthy's full practice week. How did he look to you? Yeah,
it was.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It was great to see him, you know, fully kind
of look like himself on Monday, you know, he kind
of felt like he was set up to have a
great week, went out there and you know, had a
good day and then that rolled right into every day
this week and the best thing was just post practice,
you know, no soreness, know anything like that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So he feels one hundred percent ready to go. Think ankle,
if he plays, would you expect him to be on
a snap count.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Or I think I think we're going to talk through that.
I think all you know, with our defense as a whole,
one of the things we're pretty excited about was the
depth we did have and and getting back a little
closer to that original picture, especially in the front seven.
Dallas Turner's played a lot, you know, got gotten a
lot of valuable snaps and now getting ginked back. You know,
what it looks like could be based on you know,
(02:45):
situation down in distance or you know, as the game
kind of goes in the dialogue with the players.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And the medical staff.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
But I think, you know, he's full, he's ready to go,
and and and we'll see kind of what his workload
looks like.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I'm just excited to get him out there, Havin.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
With the Vince Simms to speed and able to go Sunday.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Ben Simms is up to speed, he's ready to roll.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
We're gonna, you know, evaluate whether you know that those three,
you know, with the game plan, we have what it
looks like for Sunday. Nick Finnett's always a possibility you know,
as a veteran player that's been working towards this. He
was up earlier this season and we still have his
elevations left as well as Bryson. So we'll, uh, you know,
all those guys kind of took some reps, different phases
(03:25):
of the game plan and we'll make a determination for Sunday.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
With the way they run the ball, what kind of
a challenge do they present?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
And you guys have seen them many times, but will
kind of a challenge the present try to get the
run defense?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, I mean it's I think you know their staff
and I know Hank's got a lot to do with that,
you know, Hank Freyley.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Scheme is very difficult.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I think they've got, you know, clearly one of one
of the best backs in football. And then and then
if you're counting David Montgomery as a as A one A,
one B, that's a heck of a group. I mean,
they are the best set of running backs in the NFL.
It's been that way for a while. And they both
do so many things at such a high level, whether
(04:06):
it's explosiveness, power, They both can catch the football, they
both can protect. Two totally complete backs that are a problem,
and you pair that with the personnel they have up
front and the tight ends that they have and their
ability to block on the perimeter with the wide outs.
It is an all eleven challenge and you got to
meet it. You got to meet it against this team,
especially when they played home, and we know the challenge
(04:28):
that it is.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I think flowing.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
The staff have a really good plan and the players
are excited about it and they just want to get
a chance to go compete.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Full week of preparation.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Kind of a lot of things in our rearview mirror
as far as circumstance limiting practices here or there, not
being able to practice, you know, in this country, and
things like that's all behind us. We just got to
go play and have confidence that we've had a week
of preparation.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Excited about it.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Despite his injured reserve designation, Curson Wentz spoke with the
media about his experience in Minnesota, specifically as a pro
je la where he pushed through the pain in hopes
of helping the team.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
It's been interesting a couple of weeks, but feeling good
with the ultimate decision that we've made collectively, and you know,
it's weird being done this early in the season. Been
on IR a couple of different times, but never this early.
So it's a bummer all those things. But life's a
lot bigger than this. You know, any minutes or day,
(05:25):
I'm about to have my fourth little girl and surgeries
on deck, so all the things that are so much
bigger than this are really occupying my mind in time.
But it is is a bummer. Obviously, it's a bummer
the loss, all the things.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
But yeah, I'm doing right in the game.
Speaker 7 (05:43):
Whether you're trying to decide whether you can or should
go back out there.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
It sounds like it's been reported kind of the situation
and how it happened against the Browns and all the things,
But the whole time, I felt I can still help
this team. You know, at the end of the day,
I knew what I was signing up for. It wasn't
like anyone was forcing me to go. I mean, this
is my tenth year in the league. There's a lot
bigger things in my in my life to worry about,
(06:08):
so I wasn't gonna do anything that would be detrimental
to my own health. So I knew what I was
getting into and knew there was a chance I'd be
playing with some pain and discomfort the other nights, and
I'd be lying if I thought it. I thought it
would be a little less than what it was. But
at the end of the day, it's it's pain. And
I felt like, Okay, the hit happened, and then I
could go on and I could still help the team.
(06:29):
And so it was never something and i'd be lying too.
I mean, as a competitor, like you never want to
take yourself out, Like, no matter what you're going through,
it's hard to remove yourself from the game. And you know,
I'm maybe optimist, too optimistic, like thinking we can still
mount to come back here, you know, all the things,
and that it feels crazy. Teams can score fast. We
have some dudes on this offense, and so scoring in
(06:50):
a hurry is a is a real expectation and an opportunity.
So I never once was like, yeah, I need to
be done.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
You know.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
It's like, yeah, that hurt, but you know, I'm optimistic.
I'm to get up and not get hit the next
play and we're gonna, you know, go score and all
the things. So that didn't really cross my mind. And yeah,
that's just kind of the way it was.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
A full extentity injury right after the Browns game.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
Yeah, And so you know, after the Browns game, we
knew surgery was in the future, which was obviously.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
A bummer in and of itself.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
You know, it's never fun. I've had more than I'd
care to have over my career, but it was one
of those things, Let's see how long we can we
can ride with this thing.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
You know.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
It was never anyone forcing me. It was never any
of that. We just knew let's see kind of how
we can hold up. And obviously, you know, the Eagles game,
it was definitely bothering me a little bit, but it
was it was bearable. I mean, it was doable. The
short week made it way harder. I'm not gonna lie,
and I think that game just obviously was kind of
icing on the cake for me to know, Like, you know,
(07:51):
I think the frustration that you might have saw on
the sideline was me knowing, like, yeah, I'm probably not
playing again this year. So there's a lot of emotions
there mixed with the pain and all the thing. So
we knew what was coming. We just didn't know when.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Quarterback JJ McCarthy will be back under center. This week
after rehabbing a high ankle sprain for the past six weeks.
McCarthy is excited to get back out there with his
Viking squad in a state where he's had a lot
of collegiate success. There are a lot of fond memories
for him in the state of Michigan, but he knows
that the Lions defense won't be welcoming him with open arms.
Speaker 8 (08:26):
Hello, everyone, just finish up a great practice. Felt like
there was a lot that you know, we did well
and a lot that we got to improve on this week,
and you know, got a tremendous opportunity in front of
us against a divisional opponent, really tough opponent. You know,
they've done a lot of great things this year and
it'll be great to see where we stack up against him.
And you know, we're just really focused on attacking each
and every day and making sure we're prepared as possible
(08:48):
going into this one on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So I'll open it up.
Speaker 7 (08:51):
How hard has it been being eighty ninety percent thinking
probably you could play, but having to wait until you
got that green light?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Really hard?
Speaker 8 (08:59):
Everything I pass, you know, how I went about things,
it was always like if I felt you know, ten percent,
fifteen percent. I was going to go out there and
give it my all, but understanding you know how this
league works and you know how everything operates. I was
just listening, you know, to my trainers and coach O'Connell
and you know, obeying orders at the end of the day.
But I think it was the smartest thing possible, And
I feel great. How was your amazing Ready to go?
(09:22):
I feel like myself again, feel like I, you know,
have those mobility things that I was concerned about, you know,
going into last week, in the prior weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So yeah, ready to go.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Po Jokana talking about how you guys went back and
watched your first couple of starts. What were some of
the main things you took away from those first two games.
Speaker 8 (09:39):
The biggest thing I took away was just how, you know,
we keep saying it, when we do the simple things right,
what does the outcome look like? So really just focusing
on my process is weak, you know, going through the reads,
making sure I'm taking the right footwork and staying you know,
kind of calm minded, and you know, duct mentality in
terms of you know, just how I go about each
(10:00):
play in each situation. So it really just came down
to the simple things and making sure we master that
going into each and every week.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
How confident do you feel coming off missing those games,
going back to Michigan and being able to play well.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
Extremely confident every time we step out there. You know,
it's the work that we put in every single week.
It's the trust in my teammates and coaches and all
of that's been at all time high. You know, it
sucks not being able to get the reps and you know,
be able to continue to progress all the fundamentals and
all the little things. But there was a lot of
areas that you know, I picked up and think I
be benefited from, you know, just watching and observing from
(10:35):
the sideline. So, you know, extremely confident and ready to
get after it.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
You're sorry.
Speaker 7 (10:40):
You know your EARLD teammate Aiden Hutchinson spoke about you yesterday.
Imagine the only contact you're hoping to up with them
is a handshake at the end of the game.
Speaker 8 (10:45):
That would be nice, that's for sure. But I'm sure
you know he's a great player, you know, fantastic leader,
and he's gonna have that defense rolling and you know,
we're we're not expecting him, but we're also expecting him
to make some plays because you got to give him
that credit. He is that good. So just being able to,
you know, take advantage of all the little details in
the game plan and make sure we execute, you know,
all the little things, and I'll give us our best shot.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
There's more coming up after a quick break, we'll hear
from a few of the players, including Justin Jefferson and
Jonathan Grenard. But first from the field to the roof
and everywhere in between. Three am. The official science partner
of the Minnesota Vikings is here. Visit Vikings dot com
slash skull Science to learn more. Minnesota needed a go
(11:28):
to source for everything high school sports. That's why the
Minnesota Star Tribune created Strib Varsity. Sign up now at
startribune dot com slash strib Varsity. Welcome back to the
two minute Warning once again. I'm your host, Tatum Everett,
and Ford Field has turned into one of the more
hostile environments in the NFL. One way to neutralize the
(11:49):
noise is to strike early and often to take the
crowd right out of it. One way, let's get Justin
Jefferson the ball. He's had success against the Lions with
six career performances of more than one hundred yards against
the kiddies. Justin spoke this week about his mindset heading
into this divisional battle.
Speaker 9 (12:06):
I feel like me and Ko's relationship has been great
with that and especially with how the defense have been
covering covering me and especially this exact team, So the
relationship and the communication has been, you know, a top tier.
It's just all about just going out there and knowing
that I'm going to get doubled, knowing the plays that
(12:27):
I have, knowing the ross that I have. It's just
going out there and still winning against that double team.
Speaker 8 (12:32):
Speaking of the Lions defense, do you feel like they
look similar to how they have in the past, even
with the coordinator change or different.
Speaker 9 (12:39):
A little mixture of both. I know the coordinator very
very well. You know, he played at LSU with my brother,
so the relationship has always been kind of there, and
you know, we always talked before and after the game,
so it definitely would be great to, you know, see
how he covered me, and especially with the past talks,
how he's been talking about how he's been covering me
(13:01):
throughout the game. So, uh, it's gonna be fun. I
love going against these type of matchups and especially their
division team. So h, the juices will be high. You know,
hopefully everybody else feel that juice as well. Uh, and
we're going out there and just play out ball.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Brother.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
It will be any advice how to attack. Uh, it's
gonna be physical. Just know that it's gonna be physical.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
You know.
Speaker 9 (13:26):
They of course they will try to get hands on Uh.
That's kind of what they've been doing in the past. Uh,
but you know, knowing this person and knowing how he
plays and he has that defensive mindset, I definitely will
be working against the press and the cover two man
and just getting hands on being pa.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
They do a lot of the same stuff they used
to do, and so putting their hands on you and
making you know, basically daring.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Officials to uh to make your power not.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
So how is your approach sort of evolved in terms
of how you deal with that, you know, knowing that
like that's it.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Was a lot of physicality.
Speaker 9 (13:59):
But yeah, I mean I kind of put that into
emphasis this past offseason, just working in the weight room,
getting stronger and kind of knowing that I'm going to
get those double teams, knowing I'm going to get that
cover two man where they try to put hands on
the kind of slow me, uh, slow the route process down.
So just kind of knowing that and working on my releases,
(14:22):
working on just being stronger, stronger throughout the route. But
you know, of course, you know, looking at it and
seeing the past games, they've been penalized, one of the
most in the league. So just trying to work on,
work on just getting off the hold. We know it's
going to happen, and it's not really something that we're gonna,
you know, complain about to the refs. It's just all
(14:43):
about playing through the contact and playing strong and physical
and of course making the kilt.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Edge rusher Jonathan Gernard has been a strong presence for
this Vikings defense all season long. He leads the Vikings
with thirty pressures in seven games and hopes that continues
against Lions core Jared Golf on Sunday. As a key
part of the Minnesota run defense, Grenard sat down with
me this week to break down how he self scouted
during the break and how the Vikings front seven plans
(15:11):
on stopping the Lions tough running back tandem. Jonathan how
was the mini buy the back to.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Back Yeah, I think that was like the most needed
part that we kind of didn't look forward to as much.
We knew that we're gonna come off of a short week.
We're coming into the show week on Thursday.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
But it was great.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I think that to just kind of get a little
small reset. On top of that, actually having a bye
week previously helped us out. You know, we obviously had
a little small injuries. I had a couple of little
small things and things, so everybody deafite benefited for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
When you have that time, how do you personally use
it to self scout?
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Yeah, really just to go back through the old film
that you've Arobady put out there, you know, just kind
of ask yourself, Listen, is this the best film.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I put it out there?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And I putting my best for four I'm not actually
using the techniques that I've worked in the off season.
So it was a good self reflection. I think it
was really good. Overall. We know that we have a
lot of things to work on, myself included, but we
also know that there's small things and I think the
smaller things are turning into big things now in this game,
and I think that's where I just kind of went
back to the table and kind of asked myself, you know,
am I doing those little small things right? And I
(16:12):
think everybody did that, So I think we should definitely
see a positive, you know result coming from that fishing.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
What is one small thing you learned that you want
to attack now that you're back in the in the
regular routine thing.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, I think ultimately the first things first is we know,
just got to stop the run. I think it's just
getting off blocks more violently, actually putting just that little
bit more effort into trying to get off the back
or making making that play because as we know, a
lot of guys in this league, I mean we're playing
some top back to literally every single week, and they're
not just going to go down on you know, one
guy grabbing them and one guy tackling them. We're just
(16:46):
trying to have that mentality to get everybody there. And
I think that's where we kind of challenge ourselves and
going to challenge ourselves this week is getting off the
blocks a little bit more violently so that way we
can kind of go make those plays so that we
don't give them the chance to make these spontaneous plays.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Face it said, really tough to punch backfield with the
Lions and Jamior Gibbs David Montgomery, what is the key
to slowing that down?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Ultimately just getting a living hats to the ball. Don't
give him any lanes, because as we know, Jimmie is wanted,
if not the fastest back in the league to make
that one cut and kind of stop and start at
times to be able to hit a gap when he
sees it. As we know, Montgomery has been a back
in this league and been in division. Obviously, what Chicago's
was that down to one cut guy who's their bruiser.
You know, you you really think that you're going to
tackle him or he's down, and next thing you know,
(17:31):
he's breaking two more tackles. I think he doesn't have
as much as the top end as Jimmier obviously respectfully,
but he can still take it.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
To the distance as well.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
So having a w onet two punch that can both
kind of take it the distance is something that we
basically got to throw them off by, like I said,
just being disruptive and having living hats a well.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
One of the biggest names covering the NFL is NFL
Network reporter and Minnesota native Tom Pellisero. Tom the Insider
has his finger on the pulse of everything happening across
the league. We brought him in the week to give
his thoughts on the biggest talkers going into the Vikings
end Lions game Sunday. We've got a lot of storylines
heading into this divisional matchup. Obviously JJ McCarthy returning Saturday
(18:11):
or Sunday for the game when he's under center, what
do you expect to see as he's only making his
third career NFL start.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Expectations are hard because we just haven't seen JJ McCarthy
play a whole lot of football. In my mind, your
hope if you're the coaching staff, if you're Kevin O'Connell,
is you see him function within the offense that you're
able to play within rhythm, the ball's going where it's
supposed to, the operation in and out of the huddle.
He's missed twenty two out of twenty four games so
far in his career because of injury, and he's missed
(18:41):
a ton of practice reps along the way as well,
and that's a big part of the driving force behind
why they gave him the full six weeks to get
recovered from the high ankle sprain. It wasn't just so
the ankle was healed, it was also have the time
to get him in a groove and really feel like
he's ready to go out there and play. Well, what
exactly does that translate to? I just got the phone,
Jamier Gibbs. It's gonna be loud. It's gonna be wild
(19:03):
in Detroit, like it always is every time in that stadium.
They're going to have to be able to come back
at the noise, come back at the challenges created by
the environment here. I'm sure the ko is gonna have
a great plan in terms of just trying to get
him some confidence nearly going some easy throws and things
like that. But everything's easier said than done when you're
playing a division game on the road in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, no doubt, forfield is one of the loud of
stadiums I know I have ever been to. When you
think of the offense, it's almost that it's healthy. It's
it's been this season. Heading into the game, what improvements
would you like to see from that?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Well, the first thing, just going back to the Thursday
night of game heins the Chargers, is life is hard
in the NFL, not just when you're playing with the
backup quarterback, but when that backup quarterback is behind your
fourth and fifth offensive tackles, which realistically Christian Dara saw.
He tried to give it a go, but three days
when you're not used to playing the full snaps like
he did against the Eagles, it's hard. And then Brian
(19:57):
O'Neil same thing, quick turnaround isn't able to go. That
creates just all kinds of a domino effect along the
offensive line and it just makes it harder to function
as a whole. They didn't run the football much more
effectively in that game. That's also a product of some
of the o line issues that they've had here. So
presumably we'll see exactly how this works out. But Christian
(20:17):
derris I was full in practice, so he should be
out there. You're hoping Brian O'Neil is able to get back.
You know, the last time that JJ McCarthy was playing,
Jordan Addison was still suspended, Aaron Jones got hurt. Jones
is now back. You'd anticipate that gets ramped up more
than Addison will be out there on the field. So
Ryan Kelly is still out. That's a big deal not
having your center, But all those other pieces of the
(20:37):
way you envisioned it in the offseason they'll be there. Now,
let's figure out if this quarterback who just hasn't played
a whole lot, is able to not just hold his
own but also potentially elevate some of those things that
the past couple of weeks just were really really hard
for the Vikings to do.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
In your eyes, how critical is this game for this
Vikings team?
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Oh, it's big, you know, try before the trade deadline.
One game shouldn't imping, but certainly psychologically there would be
a big difference between being four and four, two and
zero in the division and being three and five and
knowing we're gonna have to go on some kind of run.
We're gonna have to go seven and two, eight and
one the rest of the way to get into the playoffs.
Everyone is important. It's seventeen games. It's a longer season,
(21:19):
you know, than we had ever had as of a
couple of years ago. So there's a lot of opportunities.
But it does put you behind. I mean, you always
say two game win when it's in the division, especially
when it's the team up top. The Vikings right now
are in last place in the division. It's a really
tough division. The Bears have played a lot better. They
had won four in a row prior to last week.
The Packers right now would be the number one seed,
(21:39):
and then you got the Lions, who are right there
on their heels. To beat Detroit in Detroit, I think
would just be a galvanizing type of thing. Again, it
counts the same relative to being a division game, but
it would just feel like a momentous moment. You all
of a sudden have a ton of a ton of momentum,
as opposed to if you slog out of there and
you've lost, or if you lose badly. It's just going
(22:01):
to feel heavier walking back into this building and knowing
kind of the treacherous road that you got ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Sunday's game is a noon kickoff on Fox with the
A team of Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Tom Rinaldey, and
Aaron Andrews. You could also catch Pa Pete Bursich and
Mike Mussman right here on Sunday morning with the pregame
show beating at ten am on Kfan. It's the Vikings
and Lions live from Ford Field. Thanks for listening to
(22:29):
the two minute warning presented by three AM, the official
science partners of the Minnesota Vikings. Enjoy the game, and
we'll see you back here next week.
Welcome into the Two Minute Warning, presented by three M,
the official science partner of the Minnesota Vikings. I'm your
host Tatum Everett from the Vikings Entertainment Network, and your
Vikings are gearing up to take on the Detroit Lions
in the Motor City this Sunday. There's been a ton
of player news this week, the biggest headlines centering around
roster updates at the quarterback position. Head coach Kevin O'Connell
(00:27):
announced on Monday that Carson Wentz will need season ending
shoulder surgery and is on injured reserve. JJ McCarthy is
now the starting quarterback this week. Coach O'Connell talked on
Friday to discuss the final injury news going into the
weekend and gave an update on his team's mentality as
they faced the Lions at Ford Field.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
I'm really proud of our guys for the work of
the week of preparation that we had, with the extra
day on Monday and then pairing that with three really
good days. I feel really good about our team being
able to go compete a heck of a environment. Dan's
got a really good football team. We know well, they
know us well. You know, so just fired up. I
can tell the team's excited to get a chance to
(01:06):
go compete. Just a game status update. We'll have three
players ruled out c J. Ham, Jeff Acuda, and Josh Oliver.
We'll have four players questionable Andrew van Ginkel, Brian O'Neill,
Josh Mattelus who just had some foot soreness, and then
Christian dar saw right there. So other than that good
(01:28):
week of prep, all those guys that I just mentioned
as questionable were either limited or full today based upon uh,
based upon a fast Friday workload.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
So open it up to you, guys. Yes, it was full.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Uh, by my eyes he was, and by the sheet
he was as well. Yeah, no, he's had a really
good week. Anticipate him playing J. J.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
McCarthy's full practice week. How did he look to you? Yeah,
it was.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It was great to see him, you know, fully kind
of look like himself on Monday, you know, he kind
of felt like he was set up to have a
great week, went out there and you know, had a
good day and then that rolled right into every day
this week and the best thing was just post practice,
you know, no soreness, know anything like that.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
So he feels one hundred percent ready to go. Think ankle,
if he plays, would you expect him to be on
a snap count.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Or I think I think we're going to talk through that.
I think all you know, with our defense as a whole,
one of the things we're pretty excited about was the
depth we did have and and getting back a little
closer to that original picture, especially in the front seven.
Dallas Turner's played a lot, you know, got gotten a
lot of valuable snaps and now getting ginked back. You know,
what it looks like could be based on you know,
(02:45):
situation down in distance or you know, as the game
kind of goes in the dialogue with the players.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
And the medical staff.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
But I think, you know, he's full, he's ready to go,
and and and we'll see kind of what his workload
looks like.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
I'm just excited to get him out there, Havin.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
With the Vince Simms to speed and able to go Sunday.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Ben Simms is up to speed, he's ready to roll.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
We're gonna, you know, evaluate whether you know that those three,
you know, with the game plan, we have what it
looks like for Sunday. Nick Finnett's always a possibility you know,
as a veteran player that's been working towards this. He
was up earlier this season and we still have his
elevations left as well as Bryson. So we'll, uh, you know,
all those guys kind of took some reps, different phases
(03:25):
of the game plan and we'll make a determination for Sunday.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
With the way they run the ball, what kind of
a challenge do they present?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
And you guys have seen them many times, but will
kind of a challenge the present try to get the
run defense?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, I mean it's I think you know their staff
and I know Hank's got a lot to do with that,
you know, Hank Freyley.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
Scheme is very difficult.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
I think they've got, you know, clearly one of one
of the best backs in football. And then and then
if you're counting David Montgomery as a as A one A,
one B, that's a heck of a group. I mean,
they are the best set of running backs in the NFL.
It's been that way for a while. And they both
do so many things at such a high level, whether
(04:06):
it's explosiveness, power, They both can catch the football, they
both can protect. Two totally complete backs that are a problem,
and you pair that with the personnel they have up
front and the tight ends that they have and their
ability to block on the perimeter with the wide outs.
It is an all eleven challenge and you got to
meet it. You got to meet it against this team,
especially when they played home, and we know the challenge
(04:28):
that it is.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
I think flowing.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
The staff have a really good plan and the players
are excited about it and they just want to get
a chance to go compete.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Full week of preparation.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Kind of a lot of things in our rearview mirror
as far as circumstance limiting practices here or there, not
being able to practice, you know, in this country, and
things like that's all behind us. We just got to
go play and have confidence that we've had a week
of preparation.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Excited about it.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Despite his injured reserve designation, Curson Wentz spoke with the
media about his experience in Minnesota, specifically as a pro
je la where he pushed through the pain in hopes
of helping the team.
Speaker 6 (05:03):
It's been interesting a couple of weeks, but feeling good
with the ultimate decision that we've made collectively, and you know,
it's weird being done this early in the season. Been
on IR a couple of different times, but never this early.
So it's a bummer all those things. But life's a
lot bigger than this. You know, any minutes or day,
(05:25):
I'm about to have my fourth little girl and surgeries
on deck, so all the things that are so much
bigger than this are really occupying my mind in time.
But it is is a bummer. Obviously, it's a bummer
the loss, all the things.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
But yeah, I'm doing right in the game.
Speaker 7 (05:43):
Whether you're trying to decide whether you can or should
go back out there.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
It sounds like it's been reported kind of the situation
and how it happened against the Browns and all the things,
But the whole time, I felt I can still help
this team. You know, at the end of the day,
I knew what I was signing up for. It wasn't
like anyone was forcing me to go. I mean, this
is my tenth year in the league. There's a lot
bigger things in my in my life to worry about,
(06:08):
so I wasn't gonna do anything that would be detrimental
to my own health. So I knew what I was
getting into and knew there was a chance I'd be
playing with some pain and discomfort the other nights, and
I'd be lying if I thought it. I thought it
would be a little less than what it was. But
at the end of the day, it's it's pain. And
I felt like, Okay, the hit happened, and then I
could go on and I could still help the team.
(06:29):
And so it was never something and i'd be lying too.
I mean, as a competitor, like you never want to
take yourself out, Like, no matter what you're going through,
it's hard to remove yourself from the game. And you know,
I'm maybe optimist, too optimistic, like thinking we can still
mount to come back here, you know, all the things,
and that it feels crazy. Teams can score fast. We
have some dudes on this offense, and so scoring in
(06:50):
a hurry is a is a real expectation and an opportunity.
So I never once was like, yeah, I need to
be done.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
You know.
Speaker 6 (06:57):
It's like, yeah, that hurt, but you know, I'm optimistic.
I'm to get up and not get hit the next
play and we're gonna, you know, go score and all
the things. So that didn't really cross my mind. And yeah,
that's just kind of the way it was.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
A full extentity injury right after the Browns game.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yep.
Speaker 6 (07:12):
Yeah, And so you know, after the Browns game, we
knew surgery was in the future, which was obviously.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
A bummer in and of itself.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
You know, it's never fun. I've had more than I'd
care to have over my career, but it was one
of those things, Let's see how long we can we
can ride with this thing.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
You know.
Speaker 6 (07:30):
It was never anyone forcing me. It was never any
of that. We just knew let's see kind of how
we can hold up. And obviously, you know, the Eagles game,
it was definitely bothering me a little bit, but it
was it was bearable. I mean, it was doable. The
short week made it way harder. I'm not gonna lie,
and I think that game just obviously was kind of
icing on the cake for me to know, Like, you know,
(07:51):
I think the frustration that you might have saw on
the sideline was me knowing, like, yeah, I'm probably not
playing again this year. So there's a lot of emotions
there mixed with the pain and all the thing. So
we knew what was coming. We just didn't know when.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Quarterback JJ McCarthy will be back under center. This week
after rehabbing a high ankle sprain for the past six weeks.
McCarthy is excited to get back out there with his
Viking squad in a state where he's had a lot
of collegiate success. There are a lot of fond memories
for him in the state of Michigan, but he knows
that the Lions defense won't be welcoming him with open arms.
Speaker 8 (08:26):
Hello, everyone, just finish up a great practice. Felt like
there was a lot that you know, we did well
and a lot that we got to improve on this week,
and you know, got a tremendous opportunity in front of
us against a divisional opponent, really tough opponent. You know,
they've done a lot of great things this year and
it'll be great to see where we stack up against him.
And you know, we're just really focused on attacking each
and every day and making sure we're prepared as possible
(08:48):
going into this one on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So I'll open it up.
Speaker 7 (08:51):
How hard has it been being eighty ninety percent thinking
probably you could play, but having to wait until you
got that green light?
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Really hard?
Speaker 8 (08:59):
Everything I pass, you know, how I went about things,
it was always like if I felt you know, ten percent,
fifteen percent. I was going to go out there and
give it my all, but understanding you know how this
league works and you know how everything operates. I was
just listening, you know, to my trainers and coach O'Connell
and you know, obeying orders at the end of the day.
But I think it was the smartest thing possible, And
I feel great. How was your amazing Ready to go?
(09:22):
I feel like myself again, feel like I, you know,
have those mobility things that I was concerned about, you know,
going into last week, in the prior weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
So yeah, ready to go.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Po Jokana talking about how you guys went back and
watched your first couple of starts. What were some of
the main things you took away from those first two games.
Speaker 8 (09:39):
The biggest thing I took away was just how, you know,
we keep saying it, when we do the simple things right,
what does the outcome look like? So really just focusing
on my process is weak, you know, going through the reads,
making sure I'm taking the right footwork and staying you know,
kind of calm minded, and you know, duct mentality in
terms of you know, just how I go about each
(10:00):
play in each situation. So it really just came down
to the simple things and making sure we master that
going into each and every week.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
How confident do you feel coming off missing those games,
going back to Michigan and being able to play well.
Speaker 8 (10:12):
Extremely confident every time we step out there. You know,
it's the work that we put in every single week.
It's the trust in my teammates and coaches and all
of that's been at all time high. You know, it
sucks not being able to get the reps and you know,
be able to continue to progress all the fundamentals and
all the little things. But there was a lot of
areas that you know, I picked up and think I
be benefited from, you know, just watching and observing from
(10:35):
the sideline. So, you know, extremely confident and ready to
get after it.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
You're sorry.
Speaker 7 (10:40):
You know your EARLD teammate Aiden Hutchinson spoke about you yesterday.
Imagine the only contact you're hoping to up with them
is a handshake at the end of the game.
Speaker 8 (10:45):
That would be nice, that's for sure. But I'm sure
you know he's a great player, you know, fantastic leader,
and he's gonna have that defense rolling and you know,
we're we're not expecting him, but we're also expecting him
to make some plays because you got to give him
that credit. He is that good. So just being able to,
you know, take advantage of all the little details in
the game plan and make sure we execute, you know,
all the little things, and I'll give us our best shot.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
There's more coming up after a quick break, we'll hear
from a few of the players, including Justin Jefferson and
Jonathan Grenard. But first from the field to the roof
and everywhere in between. Three am. The official science partner
of the Minnesota Vikings is here. Visit Vikings dot com
slash skull Science to learn more. Minnesota needed a go
(11:28):
to source for everything high school sports. That's why the
Minnesota Star Tribune created Strib Varsity. Sign up now at
startribune dot com slash strib Varsity. Welcome back to the
two minute Warning once again. I'm your host, Tatum Everett,
and Ford Field has turned into one of the more
hostile environments in the NFL. One way to neutralize the
(11:49):
noise is to strike early and often to take the
crowd right out of it. One way, let's get Justin
Jefferson the ball. He's had success against the Lions with
six career performances of more than one hundred yards against
the kiddies. Justin spoke this week about his mindset heading
into this divisional battle.
Speaker 9 (12:06):
I feel like me and Ko's relationship has been great
with that and especially with how the defense have been
covering covering me and especially this exact team, So the
relationship and the communication has been, you know, a top tier.
It's just all about just going out there and knowing
that I'm going to get doubled, knowing the plays that
(12:27):
I have, knowing the ross that I have. It's just
going out there and still winning against that double team.
Speaker 8 (12:32):
Speaking of the Lions defense, do you feel like they
look similar to how they have in the past, even
with the coordinator change or different.
Speaker 9 (12:39):
A little mixture of both. I know the coordinator very
very well. You know, he played at LSU with my brother,
so the relationship has always been kind of there, and
you know, we always talked before and after the game,
so it definitely would be great to, you know, see
how he covered me, and especially with the past talks,
how he's been talking about how he's been covering me
(13:01):
throughout the game. So, uh, it's gonna be fun. I
love going against these type of matchups and especially their
division team. So h, the juices will be high. You know,
hopefully everybody else feel that juice as well. Uh, and
we're going out there and just play out ball.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Brother.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
It will be any advice how to attack. Uh, it's
gonna be physical. Just know that it's gonna be physical.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
You know.
Speaker 9 (13:26):
They of course they will try to get hands on Uh.
That's kind of what they've been doing in the past. Uh,
but you know, knowing this person and knowing how he
plays and he has that defensive mindset, I definitely will
be working against the press and the cover two man
and just getting hands on being pa.
Speaker 7 (13:45):
They do a lot of the same stuff they used
to do, and so putting their hands on you and
making you know, basically daring.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Officials to uh to make your power not.
Speaker 8 (13:53):
So how is your approach sort of evolved in terms
of how you deal with that, you know, knowing that
like that's it.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Was a lot of physicality.
Speaker 9 (13:59):
But yeah, I mean I kind of put that into
emphasis this past offseason, just working in the weight room,
getting stronger and kind of knowing that I'm going to
get those double teams, knowing I'm going to get that
cover two man where they try to put hands on
the kind of slow me, uh, slow the route process down.
So just kind of knowing that and working on my releases,
(14:22):
working on just being stronger, stronger throughout the route. But
you know, of course, you know, looking at it and
seeing the past games, they've been penalized, one of the
most in the league. So just trying to work on,
work on just getting off the hold. We know it's
going to happen, and it's not really something that we're gonna,
you know, complain about to the refs. It's just all
(14:43):
about playing through the contact and playing strong and physical
and of course making the kilt.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Edge rusher Jonathan Gernard has been a strong presence for
this Vikings defense all season long. He leads the Vikings
with thirty pressures in seven games and hopes that continues
against Lions core Jared Golf on Sunday. As a key
part of the Minnesota run defense, Grenard sat down with
me this week to break down how he self scouted
during the break and how the Vikings front seven plans
(15:11):
on stopping the Lions tough running back tandem. Jonathan how
was the mini buy the back to.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Back Yeah, I think that was like the most needed
part that we kind of didn't look forward to as much.
We knew that we're gonna come off of a short week.
We're coming into the show week on Thursday.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
But it was great.
Speaker 4 (15:27):
I think that to just kind of get a little
small reset. On top of that, actually having a bye
week previously helped us out. You know, we obviously had
a little small injuries. I had a couple of little
small things and things, so everybody deafite benefited for sure.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
When you have that time, how do you personally use
it to self scout?
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Yeah, really just to go back through the old film
that you've Arobady put out there, you know, just kind
of ask yourself, Listen, is this the best film.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I put it out there?
Speaker 4 (15:51):
And I putting my best for four I'm not actually
using the techniques that I've worked in the off season.
So it was a good self reflection. I think it
was really good. Overall. We know that we have a
lot of things to work on, myself included, but we
also know that there's small things and I think the
smaller things are turning into big things now in this game,
and I think that's where I just kind of went
back to the table and kind of asked myself, you know,
am I doing those little small things right? And I
(16:12):
think everybody did that, So I think we should definitely
see a positive, you know result coming from that fishing.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
What is one small thing you learned that you want
to attack now that you're back in the in the
regular routine thing.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Yeah, I think ultimately the first things first is we know,
just got to stop the run. I think it's just
getting off blocks more violently, actually putting just that little
bit more effort into trying to get off the back
or making making that play because as we know, a
lot of guys in this league, I mean we're playing
some top back to literally every single week, and they're
not just going to go down on you know, one
guy grabbing them and one guy tackling them. We're just
(16:46):
trying to have that mentality to get everybody there. And
I think that's where we kind of challenge ourselves and
going to challenge ourselves this week is getting off the
blocks a little bit more violently so that way we
can kind of go make those plays so that we
don't give them the chance to make these spontaneous plays.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Face it said, really tough to punch backfield with the
Lions and Jamior Gibbs David Montgomery, what is the key
to slowing that down?
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Yeah, I think.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Ultimately just getting a living hats to the ball. Don't
give him any lanes, because as we know, Jimmie is wanted,
if not the fastest back in the league to make
that one cut and kind of stop and start at
times to be able to hit a gap when he
sees it. As we know, Montgomery has been a back
in this league and been in division. Obviously, what Chicago's
was that down to one cut guy who's their bruiser.
You know, you you really think that you're going to
tackle him or he's down, and next thing you know,
(17:31):
he's breaking two more tackles. I think he doesn't have
as much as the top end as Jimmier obviously respectfully,
but he can still take it.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
To the distance as well.
Speaker 4 (17:39):
So having a w onet two punch that can both
kind of take it the distance is something that we
basically got to throw them off by, like I said,
just being disruptive and having living hats a well.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
One of the biggest names covering the NFL is NFL
Network reporter and Minnesota native Tom Pellisero. Tom the Insider
has his finger on the pulse of everything happening across
the league. We brought him in the week to give
his thoughts on the biggest talkers going into the Vikings
end Lions game Sunday. We've got a lot of storylines
heading into this divisional matchup. Obviously JJ McCarthy returning Saturday
(18:11):
or Sunday for the game when he's under center, what
do you expect to see as he's only making his
third career NFL start.
Speaker 5 (18:19):
Expectations are hard because we just haven't seen JJ McCarthy
play a whole lot of football. In my mind, your
hope if you're the coaching staff, if you're Kevin O'Connell,
is you see him function within the offense that you're
able to play within rhythm, the ball's going where it's
supposed to, the operation in and out of the huddle.
He's missed twenty two out of twenty four games so
far in his career because of injury, and he's missed
(18:41):
a ton of practice reps along the way as well,
and that's a big part of the driving force behind
why they gave him the full six weeks to get
recovered from the high ankle sprain. It wasn't just so
the ankle was healed, it was also have the time
to get him in a groove and really feel like
he's ready to go out there and play. Well, what
exactly does that translate to? I just got the phone,
Jamier Gibbs. It's gonna be loud. It's gonna be wild
(19:03):
in Detroit, like it always is every time in that stadium.
They're going to have to be able to come back
at the noise, come back at the challenges created by
the environment here. I'm sure the ko is gonna have
a great plan in terms of just trying to get
him some confidence nearly going some easy throws and things
like that. But everything's easier said than done when you're
playing a division game on the road in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah, no doubt, forfield is one of the loud of
stadiums I know I have ever been to. When you
think of the offense, it's almost that it's healthy. It's
it's been this season. Heading into the game, what improvements
would you like to see from that?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Well, the first thing, just going back to the Thursday
night of game heins the Chargers, is life is hard
in the NFL, not just when you're playing with the
backup quarterback, but when that backup quarterback is behind your
fourth and fifth offensive tackles, which realistically Christian Dara saw.
He tried to give it a go, but three days
when you're not used to playing the full snaps like
he did against the Eagles, it's hard. And then Brian
(19:57):
O'Neil same thing, quick turnaround isn't able to go. That
creates just all kinds of a domino effect along the
offensive line and it just makes it harder to function
as a whole. They didn't run the football much more
effectively in that game. That's also a product of some
of the o line issues that they've had here. So
presumably we'll see exactly how this works out. But Christian
(20:17):
derris I was full in practice, so he should be
out there. You're hoping Brian O'Neil is able to get back.
You know, the last time that JJ McCarthy was playing,
Jordan Addison was still suspended, Aaron Jones got hurt. Jones
is now back. You'd anticipate that gets ramped up more
than Addison will be out there on the field. So
Ryan Kelly is still out. That's a big deal not
having your center, But all those other pieces of the
(20:37):
way you envisioned it in the offseason they'll be there. Now,
let's figure out if this quarterback who just hasn't played
a whole lot, is able to not just hold his
own but also potentially elevate some of those things that
the past couple of weeks just were really really hard
for the Vikings to do.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
In your eyes, how critical is this game for this
Vikings team?
Speaker 5 (20:56):
Oh, it's big, you know, try before the trade deadline.
One game shouldn't imping, but certainly psychologically there would be
a big difference between being four and four, two and
zero in the division and being three and five and
knowing we're gonna have to go on some kind of run.
We're gonna have to go seven and two, eight and
one the rest of the way to get into the playoffs.
Everyone is important. It's seventeen games. It's a longer season,
(21:19):
you know, than we had ever had as of a
couple of years ago. So there's a lot of opportunities.
But it does put you behind. I mean, you always
say two game win when it's in the division, especially
when it's the team up top. The Vikings right now
are in last place in the division. It's a really
tough division. The Bears have played a lot better. They
had won four in a row prior to last week.
The Packers right now would be the number one seed,
(21:39):
and then you got the Lions, who are right there
on their heels. To beat Detroit in Detroit, I think
would just be a galvanizing type of thing. Again, it
counts the same relative to being a division game, but
it would just feel like a momentous moment. You all
of a sudden have a ton of a ton of momentum,
as opposed to if you slog out of there and
you've lost, or if you lose badly. It's just going
(22:01):
to feel heavier walking back into this building and knowing
kind of the treacherous road that you got ahead.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
Sunday's game is a noon kickoff on Fox with the
A team of Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Tom Rinaldey, and
Aaron Andrews. You could also catch Pa Pete Bursich and
Mike Mussman right here on Sunday morning with the pregame
show beating at ten am on Kfan. It's the Vikings
and Lions live from Ford Field. Thanks for listening to
(22:29):
the two minute warning presented by three AM, the official
science partners of the Minnesota Vikings. Enjoy the game, and
we'll see you back here next week.
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Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com