Vikings Fanline: Vikings vs Commanders 12-7-25

Eric Nordquist and Ron Johnson take your calls, texts, and talkbacks following the Vikings 31-0 win over the Commanders.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Time out for Vikings fan Line on the Minnesota Vikings
Audio Network, your chance to talk about today's.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Game with the Vikings broadcast team.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Joined the conversation on Vikings fan Line by sending us
a talkback through the iHeart app, text the studio at
six four six eighty six, call eight hundred and three
two oh five three two six, or send us a
message to any of our kfans social channels. Now it's
your turn. Vikings Fan Line starts now. DearS kfans, Ron

(00:34):
Johnson and Eric Nordquist.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
On the wrong side of a shutout a week ago,
on the right side of it. Today, the Vikings beat
the Washington Commanders at us Bank Stadium thirty one rip,
and they improved a five and eight in the season
on Nordo from nine to noon. Ron Johnson is going
to be with me shortly, but we're headed back to
us Bank Stadium. Among the victory parties going on, people

(00:59):
feeling better about themselves as a four game loss Street
comes to an end. Ben Lieber down in the locker
room with Javon Hargrave.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
All right, I'm down here with a smiling Javon Hardgrave,
and we were just talking about the big hustle play
as like bringing up again a big smile back on
your face. I mean, that was an impressive play, great
hustle down the field.

Speaker 5 (01:17):
Can you take us through that play?

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Really?

Speaker 6 (01:19):
Uh?

Speaker 7 (01:20):
I just seen a quarter quarterback take off?

Speaker 5 (01:23):
Show up? What's he given me a hard time about?

Speaker 7 (01:27):
I see the quarterback take go and I really just
ran out of the ball and I really don't know
what happened. I just know I went for the ball
and it came out and I made made a recovery
on the sideline.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Hold on, hold on, JG. Why do you give him
a hard time? Hey, he makes he makes a big
play and you gotta give him a hard time.

Speaker 7 (01:47):
Just inside joke, but nuh, Honestly, I really don't know
how it happened.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
That was Did you not even like feel the ball
come out?

Speaker 5 (01:55):
I did?

Speaker 7 (01:55):
I did, But I just can't believe a game out
like that, and it was just like the perfect mounts
and I was able to recover.

Speaker 5 (02:01):
I know.

Speaker 4 (02:01):
Did you know how close you were to the sideline?
I mean you were like inches away from the sideline.

Speaker 5 (02:05):
Show the show I did.

Speaker 7 (02:06):
I'm glad I ain't know that closer to ive seen
the review so I'm happy I put my hand down first.

Speaker 4 (02:12):
How much were you guys aware and how much pride
did you guys take knowing that you guys had a
possibility for a shoutout against offense like that.

Speaker 7 (02:19):
I mean, you know, once it was you know, fourteen zero,
we knew we had a chance. So you know, everybody
just really came to play. They was real closest going,
but we got turnovers at the right time.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
And those turnovers they do come in bunches like that.
I mean, it's pretty impressive to see you guys get
to take the ball away. But I want to reference
the last like three or four weeks, this defense has
really elevated itself in a lot of statistical categories. What's
led into that? Have you noticed a change? Is it
just you know, guys getting healthier? The execution? Maybe just
more reps? What goes into that that higher performance of play?

Speaker 7 (02:52):
This is execution we appreciate every week. We know it's
just been bad this year just overall as a team,
but we got great leaders. They tell us to keep
going and we just don't make no excuses.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
What is that conversation like during the week when these
last couple weeks have been pretty tough. But you guys
know that you guys have a lot of talent on
this team, especially this side of the ball.

Speaker 5 (03:12):
How are you guys able to keep your spirits up?

Speaker 7 (03:13):
I mean, nobody really care what we're going through. So
we know we got to come to play every week.
It's the NFL, we get paid, it's our job. So
I mean, it ain't really no motivation to it. It just
kind of you know, you got to show up every
week and play and give your best.

Speaker 4 (03:29):
I know that a lot of times as a defensive player,
really both sides of the ball, you try to focus
on what you guys can control, kind of the same
things that you're alluding to right now. But when you
actually look over and you see the offense functioning that
the way that they are not going three and out,
having long sustained drives, not turn the ball over.

Speaker 5 (03:45):
How good does that feel? That you guys are.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Finally, at least for one game, playing team team defense
and team offense.

Speaker 7 (03:51):
Man, feel good. We know they got a lot of
talent over there, and we expect them to do big
things every week, and just to see it come together,
you know, you just had everybody smunt on the sideline.
Now we was able to force some turnovers and we
just played a whole whole team game today, So it
was great to see what's.

Speaker 5 (04:08):
It gonna take to keep this momentum.

Speaker 7 (04:10):
I mean, we got a big week next week in Dallas,
so we gotta play even better. We got a better
team coming here, so we know we're going on the road,
and was Sunday night football.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
So yeah, I see that. I see that smile again.
You're you're You're already ready to go, aren't you.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 (04:26):
You love them type of games as a pro. So
we know it's a big week this week.

Speaker 5 (04:30):
Yeah, I know you can't say it, but I'll say it.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
Everybody loves to beat the Cowboys, especially in primetime, so
let's get it done.

Speaker 7 (04:35):
Yeah, we got we got a big game, so I
ain't going to appreciate it, no problem.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
All right, guys, back to you.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
It's Ben Lieber down in the locker room with Javon Hargrave.
A big fumble recovery for number ninety seven today, part
of three turnovers scooped up by the defense, part of
a thirty one to nothing win. Welcome back to fan Line.
I'm Nordo Ron Johnson is with me. Uh, the a
topic of the day are really through the the week,
culminating with the game today is simplifying the game plan

(05:04):
for JJ McCarthy. So as we just we box score
chase for a moment, kid goes sixteen to twenty three
bucks sixty three through the air seven point one per attempt,
which is a nice increase from living in the fives
and fours as he had been in the last three
or four games. Three touchdowns, no picks for sacks, buck
twenty nine rating. That's where we should start. As part

(05:25):
of this shutout today ron the quarterback play, specifically opening
with the opening drive touchdown and then this nineteen play
juggernaut marathon mix they had into the second quarter, twelve
minute drive that ended with a Jordan Mason touchdown.

Speaker 5 (05:42):
What'd you think of the kid today?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Well, I mean the biggest thing was because I kept
you all my tweets right up before the game. We're
talking about this simplifying the offense thing, and I don't
think you can simplify an offense in the NFL. I
think what they did was they took away a lot
of the pre snap stuff that he was trying to
get him to do okay, and again it was like
a lot right because you can motion, you can shift,
you can can you can kill. Did you ever notice

(06:05):
him come to the line and kill any play today?

Speaker 5 (06:07):
He didn't. There was no can can can kill kill
kill you.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Because he said he's the best pre snap quarterback he's
ever had.

Speaker 5 (06:16):
Wasn't working after the snap.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
So if you take that away from him and just say, hey,
read the coverage, here's the options. And what Kevin O'Connell
did was gave him layered options. Read from one to
two to three, one to two to three. So that
tight end throw to eighty nine, that was three right.
Justin Jefferson runs the corner route, he's not there. Let
me come underneath to my tight end. The next throw

(06:38):
the out route. This is the call here, the one
step to Justin Jefferson. That's my only option. I'm throwing
it there, you know, like the Favure oute to Justin Jeffson.
I saw the safety come down. So I think he
played great because you allowed him in that first drive.
They didn't face a third down in the first drive.
Why because he got the ball out of his hands
on first and second down and they ran the ball. Well,
whenever they were third and short, they ran the ball,

(07:01):
even out a shotgun.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
What even out of shotgun, they ran the ball.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
And I think that's the key, Like just do what
you're supposed to do and stop trying to trick everybody.
Your team is really good, you have weapons, your and again,
let's let's forget this. The Commander's defense is not good.
We talked about that on the pregame show. They're not good.
Like their third down defense was horrible, Their first down
defense was gross. Yeah, like their first down defense. They

(07:27):
gave up six point two yards per play this season.
That's thirty first twenty four percent of those plays resulted
in a first down. That's twenty ninth. Eighty four of
those plays were first downs, meaning on first down, they
gave up eighty four first downs. That's twenty seventh. So
what did the Vikings doing the first drive? Attack them
on first down? Like you're gonna get quarters or you're

(07:49):
gonna get some kind of split coverage with quarters to
one side, man on the other side, JJ figure out
where the safety's at and go to that side.

Speaker 5 (07:56):
I was watching.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
Specifically that also, I talked to a couple coaches on
the sideline before the game. I talked to a couple
front office people before the game as well, and like
everybody was on the same page. The stuff is implemented
into this game plan. If Kevin O'Connell calls it, JJ
has to run it. If he doesn't run it, he's
not the quarterback. And he ran it.

Speaker 5 (08:15):
He went with the quick game stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
He was able to get his shoulders turned and his
feet right and his arm set right.

Speaker 5 (08:21):
He didn't have to think the corner route to Addison.
What do you do?

Speaker 2 (08:25):
You put a piece of meat in front of a tiger,
which is Justin Jefferson. Justin Jefferson ran a little hitch.
The cornerback not only didn't stand between the two, he
ran up and tried to tackle Justin Jefferson without the ball,
which left Jordan Adison wide open on the corner route.
But again that's just bad football by the Commanders. They
are bad when it comes to that coverage, like for
some reason when they're in quarters, they're not figuring it out.

(08:47):
So I think JJ McCarthy did great. Now again, this
is one week. They're thirty one, you know, thirty one
and nothing to win.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
We got to see this next week.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
You and I are going to sit down next week
and we're going to see if we're having this conversation
or if we're like.

Speaker 5 (08:58):
Why couldn't Vin o'connen just do it last week?

Speaker 3 (09:01):
So how do you level that out?

Speaker 5 (09:03):
Then?

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Where I do think that JJ McCarthy took steps today.
I think that he looked more calm and just kind
of had his wits about him in terms of decision making.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
Processing the reads.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
I don't know if you as you were walking in,
if you heard the full conversation with Lieber and Aaron
Jones prior to fan line beginning, but even Aaron Jones
kind of mentioned it seemed like the kid was reading
it a little bit faster today. He's quick, and so
that's a good sign.

Speaker 5 (09:28):
How much of.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
It is also, well, half the freaking commander's defensive unit
is injured. They really just from a body standpoint, and
they talked a bit about it on the TV broadcast too,
but it was pretty evident just watching the game they
weren't going to send a lot of extra guys. They
were kind of going to sit in the zone and
just kind of try to muddle everything up with as

(09:49):
many bodies.

Speaker 5 (09:50):
As they could.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Back there, that's what they do and then just gang
tackle and so in some ways it's like, Okay, JJ
looked better today, but it was also against a defense
that was very much in the realm of gettable, should.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
We say, Well, dan Quinn took over to play calling, right,
so part of his thing was I'm gonna rush four
and I'm gonna do different stunts and twists with these four,
which means, one, the run lanes are open to run
the ball because there's only four guys in a line
of scrimmage, they're gonna run quarters or some type of
single high. But that single high safety has a shade side,
so he was shading Justin Jefferson most of the game,

(10:25):
probably eighty percent of the game.

Speaker 5 (10:27):
They were going to Justin Jefferson.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
For all the fans like why are you doing to
JJ because he's being double covered, Like it is what
it is.

Speaker 5 (10:32):
They were double.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Covering him, and they were saying, beat us with Addison,
beat us with Naylor, beat us with Hockkinson, like that's
what this team is doing.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
That's why you know when.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
You look at some of those throws like even well,
I mean there's in the game and just Jefferson's out.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
But even the one step.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
To typ Felton, the dB was eight yards down the field.
They to give him that all day he was scared
of type Felton. No, he's not scared of Tyfelton. That's
just bad covers. That's just like he's like, all right, defenses, dude,
I got quarters.

Speaker 5 (10:57):
Let me just back up.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
At the snap? Why are you backing up? Quarters means
you watch the quarterback, and you watch the guy and
you stay the deepest in your quarter. There's nobody threatening
you deep, So why are you going back for no reason?
And Pete versus and when we broke it down in
the pregame, like that's the one thing we both noticed,
and he noticed it right away. I sent him the
plays and he's like, oh, he's like, where's thirty one going.
I'm like, I don't know. Nobody's back there. But he

(11:20):
just takes off. And that's kind of the key to
this defense is like Kevin O'Connell figured it out. But
when you you know, if we want to fast forward,
and it's probably not time yet, when we fast forward
to the Cowboys, that's what we're gonna look at. How
are the Cowboys corners going to play this is he
gonna take the same approach because the Cowboys won. They
don't have Michael Parsons, So how are they getting after
the quarterback?

Speaker 5 (11:40):
And then can you replicate what you just saw?

Speaker 2 (11:42):
But yeah, the Commander's defensive backs were just I mean,
I don't know what they're taught, but they back up
way too quick and it made it easier for JJ
to read it.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
The I just got a text from from a Turk
Nordo Turk at sixty four six eight six Brad Shawn
Bryant KFA text line, Nordo, don't be neg oh. In
terms of negative, I'm not trying to be negative. I
think the kid took steps today, But I'm just trying
to figure out in terms of grand scheme of things
when you're again this time of the season, man, I

(12:12):
mean Washington, we were.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
Joking about it on the Friday Feast.

Speaker 3 (12:16):
The Commanders basically have like a twenty seventeen All Pro team.
I mean Bobby, I mean, just look at the age
as some of these guys. You got Bobby Wagner still
trotting around Von Miller.

Speaker 5 (12:26):
Sixteen game, yea out there, He's still making plays.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
It's just a three win operation veteran laden team and
Jayden Daniels who made the effort to play this week
like he still wants it right and and he did
his thing until he got smashed. He should have not played.
He probably should not have played. But it's just at
what point in that game, I just wonder, you know,
did did some of those old vets just kind of

(12:52):
say yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
It's just I think of that nineteen play drive. I
think they were playing, they were like, man, what is
going on? I mean, and Kevin O'Connor to be that patient.
Remember we have been saying this to you all season.
He had a twelve play in the nineteen play drive.
That's patients to just matriculate or triculate down the field
or matriculate I think I don't know which one is right,
but to just go three yards seven yards, three yards,

(13:15):
eight yards, five yards, four yard, like you don't have.

Speaker 5 (13:18):
To go chunk for chunk for chunk.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
And I think that's the key because again, let's fast
forward to the Cowboys. Right first down, the Washington Commanders
have given up six point one yards per play the
Dallas Cowboys, And I don't know if this has the
lion stuff in there yet. But the Dallas Cowboys have
given up five point seven yards per play on first down.
So again that's all that is is on first down,
they're playing very basic coverage to say, sit back and

(13:41):
let's see what this team does. Unlets's force them in
a second and long. Don't give up anything take that
six yard route. And that's the problem. Some quarterbacks can't.
Some coaches can't, you know, talking to Drew Brees about it,
talking to another quarterbacks coach that was on the sideline,
another you know, offense.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
According to the sideline, I.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Was just acting all kinds of people, like what is
it about the quick game that we did in the
nineties because these are all older Santana Moss was there,
you know that these guys aren't doing now. And it
comes down to can the quarterback read it quick? And
I think you said it. Aaron Jones brought it up.
He was reading it quick today. If he reads it quick,
you can run quick game. And I didn't even think
about that. To me, it felt like quick game is simple.

(14:19):
But it's like no, quick game just means you have
three steps and you got to get the ball out right,
So you got to think quick. Maybe that was part
of the problem, like he wasn't thinking quick and maybe
he's living in that seven step drop gave him time,
but what it also did was made him think slower,
like some of the throws he made were slow.

Speaker 5 (14:34):
Late today he was quick.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well, there's one thing, and we got to pause and
then we'll come back and continue.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
Vikings fan line.

Speaker 8 (14:40):
Vikings win thirty one nothing today at home against the.

Speaker 5 (14:43):
Commanders, Packers and Bears.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
After it, Jordan Love threw one of the worst and
dumbest interceptions you'll ever see. And I'm just happy to
provide that information to you Vikings fans because we're not
Packers fans. Although the Packers in the end probably will
beat the Bears today, they're a Lambeau.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
I hope not. I think the can get this one.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
And I think we're actually going to begin airing the
game at their conclusion. I go for women's sports on
the plus ninety six to seven. You'll be able to
catch that and Vikings overtime will keep you in the
mix as well. But when we returned, I want to
continue because you mentioned first down yards per play, But
there was an element to JJ's game today when it
comes to simplifying maybe the pre snap that led to

(15:23):
some incredible third down moments of success today as well,
we're going to continue that conversation. It's Vikings Fan Line,
a bunch of talkbacks, loaded and ready to rock. Eight
hundred three two zero five three two six if you
want to call in and chat with us about your
five win Vikings team.

Speaker 5 (15:40):
Okay, we're pulling.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Some positives out of an overall difficult season, and that's
where the conversation is going to lead us. With Ron Johnson,
I'm Noordo from nine to noons Vikings Fan Line. This
is Minnesota Vikings Football.

Speaker 9 (15:52):
Your home for all things Purples cod Yes FM one
Pint three KFA.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
N the fan.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Welcome back Vikings Fan Line. Let's jump into the talkbacks
here free iHeartRadio app. Hit that microphone, give us up
to your best thirty seconds. Let's listen to a few.

Speaker 8 (16:20):
All right, This is Mike fa Okay opening drive techdown.

Speaker 6 (16:25):
Yeah, third and one and we've run it.

Speaker 10 (16:29):
Waiter a fourth and run and we run it all right?
Come on, someone else is calling the place today.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
Let's find out who that was and keep from doing it. Oh,
I like it.

Speaker 11 (16:43):
This is well done and Knockna tol me again.

Speaker 5 (16:46):
Yeah, these two weeks all.

Speaker 11 (16:48):
Right, exactly why it's impossible to be a Vikings fan.
Like last week we couldn't have beaten Polytechnical Institute for
the Blind, and now we look unstoppable, like come on, yeah,
can you comment maybe inconsistency and coaching and I don't
know the socioeconomic status of Europe.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
I don't know about the socioeconomic status of Europe. I
mean we got certain groups and some fraud situations here
locally that are kind of captivating my attention there. Consistency,
welcome back to Vikings fan line, Ron Johnson. Consistency is
something that mediocre teams struggle with and that's why they
find themselves five.

Speaker 5 (17:29):
And eight am I right?

Speaker 3 (17:29):
I mean just in the end, whether you know Dearrisov
by the way, I think he leads the offense and penalties.

Speaker 5 (17:34):
He had another false start today, But.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
You think about the penalties, you think about the injuries,
you think about what we've seen out of JJ McCarthy.
I mean, consistency is really just an unattainable dream at
times with this team.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah, and again getting shut out and then shutting the
team out back to back weeks. Like, it makes no
sense to when you look at the take get or
not take? Oh yeah, even the take give you know
what four was it two interceptions or three interceptions today?
Two interceptions in a hard fumble, yeah or sorry, and
the other one got the other fumble got taken away
because of too many men on the field. But when

(18:07):
you when you look at that four interceptions last week,
this week, now you got two interceptions in the fumble,
you know, thirty one points by the offense, twenty six
given up last week by the defense. You know, it's
just I don't know if the guy's right about saying
this is why you can't be a Vikings fan. I
think this is why you're a Vikings fan because of
the hope.

Speaker 5 (18:23):
Well, I think that's why. Here's hope. It's it's why
you tear your hair out.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
It's why muss is en route from from US Bank
Stadium to his garage to drink Miller Lights due. It's
that that is the essence of a Vikings fan. The
first shutout by the way the Vikings have offered their opponent.

Speaker 5 (18:39):
He's a nice Blanton's old fashion, oh us upgraded? How
good would that be?

Speaker 1 (18:43):
Man?

Speaker 5 (18:44):
I beant he's got Blends in them. He's got it,
he got it, something like that.

Speaker 8 (18:46):
Remember that three nothing like this, This is the Blendon,
This is a Blends Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:51):
Remember that three nothing shut out? Oh yeah, that was
barn Burner in Vegas. Prior to that, twenty seventeen sixteen
nothing at Green Bay, and I think that was Tyler
Huntley playing.

Speaker 5 (19:02):
Potentially it was a backup. Soon that was just Dobbs.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Yeah, twenty twenty three was Dobs. Twenty seventeen I think
Rogers was out. I believe. I think that was the
collarbone season. Oh, when Anthony Barr chucked him down.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Yeah, they changed the whole rule of the game. And
then the bar was here today, by the way.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
So that's the three shutouts the Vikings have have had
on the winning side of it since nineteen ninety three,
when they shut out the Bucks and the Lions in
the same season. So shutouts are rare for your favorite
football team. Continuing the conversation, and then we'll jump back
into some more talkbacks after I get your thoughts on this.
You mentioned, you know, if simplifying the offense, it's not

(19:44):
like they're running completely different plays, But what are they
asking of JJ maybe the pre snap well, and maybe
that led to success on third down. But in particular,
how about this third and six. On that nineteen play
twelve minute drive, third and six, he scrambles for seven,
third and nine, finds Naylor for twelve, third and eight,
Addison for twenty one, third and twelve, Jefferson for thirteen,

(20:08):
and then as as you heard from that talkback, as
he was joking about the third and one, Mason runs
it in from the eight for a touchdown. The third
down success is today, and you think about how different
I mean, that drive ends if he doesn't find his
way to scramble third and nine. I mean, these weren't
just despite the running success potentially later where we started

(20:30):
to see chunks. Specifically on that nineteen play drive, he
had to complete four third downs of six or longer
and really did so confidently. I didn't feel like this
was just throwing it up and hopefully one of your
guys is on the other side. He stepped back quick decisions,
smart decisions, good connections, and he was moving the chains.

(20:51):
I think maybe that success could speak to some pre
snap changes with number nine.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
Yeah, and the one that justin Jefferson, you know that's
a designed to play. You know, he ran like a
fake bubble and then kind of ran back like an
arrow route, and he was you know, had blockers down
the field, which you know, technically I was watching him
like they might have been blocked it a little bit
too early down the field. But those are play designs,
like he had some good play designs. Again, the corner
route to Addison, that's justin Jefferson holding the corner back

(21:20):
and then him trusting if you see this corner sit
throw it.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
Now.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Even that was a little bit late, but again it's
he's learning, right, These are learning opportunities for him to say,
okay when he watches film. Okay, I see you was just saying, Coach,
I could have thrown it a little bit sooner. I see,
he was just saying I could have thrown it a
little bit sooner. Because even the touchdown, if you go
way back to the Bears game, that go route on
the left side touchdown, that was a late throw. The
guy in the scene had already run the post route

(21:47):
and took two steps to the post and then Jaj McCarty.

Speaker 5 (21:50):
Through the ball the minute that guy is.

Speaker 2 (21:53):
Running the scene, and you see, I think it was
nay Sean Wright still in the middle.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
You throw the ball now, you don't wait for.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
The guy to break on the post, because that means
he's trying to rob the polls. He can't turn his
back and get back to the out route. He never
made it back over there, even though JJ threw it late.
But again, is just trusting what the coach tells you
in the practice, trusting what he's telling you the play
he's gonna do, and then when you see it, you
just execute it. This is what game seven or seven
or eight for JJ McCarthy, you know. Drew Brees said

(22:20):
it took his fourth year for him to be good.
Like his first year he got to sit behind Doug Flutie.
His next year, his second year was his year playing
He did okay, he said. By his fourth years when
he felt like, okay, it's clicking. I got this figured
out now it as a fan, you know, it's tough
for people to be that patient to think away we
have to wait for one more year for this to work.

(22:41):
But again, it's gonna come with time. He's got to
learn how to play fast, but he was playing fast today.

Speaker 5 (22:45):
I can't.

Speaker 3 (22:46):
I don't know. I have an issue not an issue
with what you're saying in the grand scheme of things.

Speaker 5 (22:51):
Totally get it, Totally agree.

Speaker 3 (22:53):
But JJ has looked historically bad for the most part.
I mean it's not just he was okay and it
took until you know, like Breeze didn't look anywhere nearly
as inept and just generally uncomfortable with the idea of
playing quarterback as JJ McCarthy has looked at times.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
But also remember Drew Brees through the ball a million times.

Speaker 5 (23:13):
At Purdue, like JJ white Well, and.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
That I personally watched it from the sideline of four
hundred and like fifty six yard outing and like I
think a five hundred and eighty six yard offense output
for Purdue against Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
I think Army threw the ball more than JJ McCarthy
in college.

Speaker 5 (23:30):
Somebody can look that up. It might be hyperbolic, but all.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
The same, Yes, he's he's getting these reps now, he's learning.
He's looked terrible, but he absolutely took steps today, right,
and I'm getting I'm interested to know. I mean, frankly,
you know, Breeze comes into the league. Who was that
Shotenheimer's team.

Speaker 5 (23:46):
Back in the day. I think Chargers I think that's
so was was he asked?

Speaker 3 (23:50):
And then I'm also kind of curious like how we develop,
you know, I mean we see you know, were you
asking the same of Drew Brees and against you know,
now it's our He've been twenty some years, right, so
it's difficult to even speak to how similar the offenses
would be.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
But are you asking the same of a young Drew Brees?

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Are you asking the same of some of these first
and second year qbs that maybe our guy was asking?
And I would ask if I was able to why
did it take huntil fourteen weeks into the season. Are
now through seven full games or six games into the
seventh to decide, you know what? I think we're going
to stop asking some of those pre snap things. I

(24:29):
think we will, you know, quote unquote simplified again, We're
we're working with ambiguous terms because we're not in the
room and we don't know exactly to the extent of
which it was simplified.

Speaker 2 (24:37):
So and here's what Drew was talking about though, because
we played them my rookie year, right, we went out
to San Diego. That's back when I think there was
like a hurricane to Baltimore. My second year or third year,
we played them both times we went out there. One
he had David Boston, who was absolutely I think They've
or Da've Bolsto might have been in Miami at that time,
but that was the HGH years when David Boston was
absolutely ripped up. But Drew Brees threw seventeen touchdowns and

(24:59):
was he good at os Oh?

Speaker 6 (25:00):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (25:00):
That was so.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
I remember the fight like that was my senior year
in high school watching him in Charles Woodson fight because
I was getting recruited by Michigan.

Speaker 5 (25:06):
But when you think about this.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Seventeen touchdowns, sixteen interceptions, eleven touchdowns the next year, so
his third year he had eleven touchdowns and fifteen interceptions.
When was your rookie year two thousand and two. That
was Drew Brees' second year.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Okay, so in three he was in Arizona and O
two and then he was in San Diego and three
Boston was.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Yeah yep, so yeah, yeah, so we played him. Yeah,
that was the HGH. Like I just remember, I just
remember David Boston coming out there and I looked at
him and he looked like a horse, like his neck,
his head, he just was huge. I remember Gary Baxter
and Chris McCallister got like man coverage was called and
literally Gary Baxter looked over the DV coach and said,
if you don't fing, get somebody to help me with
this guy. He was like two hundred and forty eight

(25:50):
pounds playing a receiver and still ran a four to
three like he was huge.

Speaker 5 (25:54):
He was huge.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
He took like forty pills a day though, like he
said or something like that.

Speaker 5 (25:58):
Because of the HGH.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
This before was banned by the way people listening, Everybody's like, wait,
what he took it legally?

Speaker 5 (26:03):
Yeah, nobody knew what it was. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
Back in you could take dear dear, dear antler spray.
Remember that was legal. Two ray Lewis, Yeah, ray Lowis.
Remember these staid the arm. He said he had deer
antler spray. It's what he used to get healthy for
the for the game. But anyway, anything it takes eleven
touchdowns that next year, his fourth year, and again he
said it today on the broadcast, so Drew's not lying
about this. His fourth year was when he had one

(26:26):
hundred plus passer rating. The years before that he was
seventy and sixty seventy a second year, sixty is third year.

Speaker 5 (26:33):
Now I'm not saying it's wrong, but like he's saying, like.

Speaker 2 (26:37):
It's fast and depending on what they're asking of you,
how can you figure it out?

Speaker 5 (26:41):
And he kind of bought that.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
Up with McCarthy today is they went quick like and
McCarthy figured it out, like, here's where I go in
quick game. Here's how like every I was watching his feet.
It would be one two three throw from the shotgun.
It's a delayed three, so it's five technically, but it
was get the ball one two, three go, and he
was getting the ball out of his hands to the
right Reid and he made the right read. Now our

(27:04):
team's going to play him different because the're like, Okay,
this guy is reading quick. Now do we try to
trick him and do something else? But again, getting into
the tight end quick, knowing justin Jefferson was covered in
the corner route, that's perfect. That's what you're asked to
do in the quick game. Yeah, you know, getting it
out to Naylor quick on the sideline, that's what you're
asked to do. Even the Hockinson one where he went
out of bounds, you know, he tried to make the throw,
but hawk on the out route one on one, you

(27:25):
make that throw. That's the stuff that you know, we
didn't see early on from McCarthy because it felt like
he was being asked to go forty yards down the field.
That might not be his game right now. Well I
don't think it's his game right now.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
Drew Brees, by the way, in two thousand and two,
he just had you know, this cat named la Damian
Tomlins to work with as well. My point being is,
I think I think when we start making these comparisons,
it's like what is KO asking of J. J. McCarthy,
true versus what are other young qbs asked of?

Speaker 5 (27:56):
In you go to the presser and ask them, Well,
we're not not in the room. I get that.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
But but today shockingly plays his best game. By the way,
finally a game without an interception. Oh yeah, finally a
game without an interception.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Think about this. Three touchdowns thrown yes, none to receivers. No,
that right there was frustrating alone. I mean, good, we like,
But as a receiver, I'm sitting there like, god lye, come.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
On, we'll get to you.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Can you get it?

Speaker 5 (28:27):
Can you get it to Addison or Justin Jefferson. Can
we get a gritty at US Bank?

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Are we gonna get a gritty in twenty twenty five
at US Bank Stadium?

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Can Addison holds a score.

Speaker 5 (28:34):
A touchdown at US Bank this year? Can I just
hold onto the easy thirty corner route? Yeah, my goodness.
Here's what we're gonna do.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
We're gonna continue fan line momentarily, but first we're gonna
pause for station identification to all those in the beautiful
Vikings audio network. This is Minnesota Vikings Football.

Speaker 9 (28:55):
Minnesota Sports follow the Leader. Minnesota Sports Leader is FM
one hundred point three Ethics and FF the Fan.

Speaker 3 (29:05):
So we agree, Welcome back to Minnesota Vikings fan line
thirty one to nothing in the final a US Bank Stadium.
We're in agreement that the quarterback took steps today. We
dig that.

Speaker 5 (29:16):
But I had to almost.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Rub my eyes as part of this lopsided victory here today,
Ron because you know we were talking. You know, whether
they play zone, they don't send an extra guy. How
about this rushing attack, I mean, thirty four attempts today
technical well twenty eight, I should say, by running backs
six scrambles in total for nineteen yards for JJ McCarthy

(29:38):
so you got twenty eight carries for a buck forty
three on the ground. That is how we help number
nine take steps. Ron, That's how we can see measurable
success despite being a frustrating season.

Speaker 5 (29:51):
Run the freaking ball and we did.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, and Aaron, I mean the fact that the commanders
stay with four in the front like it makes it
easier on the offensive line. You could you could see
the run lanes, you could see the combo blocks getting
up to the second level. Anytime your guard, which is
Donovan Jackson, can get to the second level to seal off.

Speaker 5 (30:13):
A linebacker, you're gonna have gaping runs.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
And I think that's what we were seeing today is
though seven, eight, nine, ten eleven yard runs from Aaron Jones.
It was good to see that, you know what I mean.
It was good to see him kind of feeling like himself.
I mean, pregame, I saw him on the field and uh,
he came over there, you know, said a quick what's up?
And then he like jumps and dunks the goal posts.
So I'm like, he's feeling good today. Yeah, Like, I
don't know if I definitely I don't think I can

(30:37):
probably touch the gold post. Maybe I could I don't.

Speaker 8 (30:39):
Know, but like he's he don't think you could jump
up and touch I don't know that's ten feet.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, I mean I know I can. I think I
can still touch a room. I'ven't tried to touch a
rim in years. I'm scared to come down and hurt myself.
Like I'm just old. I can shoot three still, I
can still take it to lane.

Speaker 5 (30:54):
You know what to do? Max, what's gonna do?

Speaker 3 (30:57):
He's gonna save that audio, is what he's gonna do.

Speaker 9 (30:59):
What.

Speaker 5 (30:59):
I don't know what I say, Man, I just picture
you and the YMCA gym. That's all. But yeah, I'm
at a button bar run.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, but you know, I think you know seeing him
jump to he just looked happier today. He looked healthier today.
He looked a little bit like he looked younger, you know.
But I think all the guys, like when you could
see their faces, it was kind of like, Okay, this
is a new beginning. We're gonna our coach is putting
a different offense in. We're gonna be quicker today. We're
gonna run the ball a little bit more like everybody.

(31:26):
It didn't look like a fourig and eight team walk
into the building. We've seen some four and eight teams
walking buildings and they're just there to get a paycheck.
It didn't look like that for the Minnesota Vikings today.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
That's Ron Johnson, Domnordo from nine to new. Max Fuller
is here. Vikings fan line is going to continue for
about the next hour and then the baton toss to
Saucer and Max as they continue with Vikings overtime. They'll
keep you posted on all the scores and maybe a
little sneaky checking depending upon where this Packers Bears game
goes later on NFC North Division collision right across the border.

(31:57):
We don't like either team in particular, but it matters.
It's the North, so we're going to pay attention to it.
Vikings win thirty one to nothing. They handle their part
of the business today at US Bank Stadium. They got
shut out last week. They do the shutting out this
week and we'll continue this conversation. Next to this is
Minnesota Vikings Football.

Speaker 9 (32:16):
Your home for all things Purple cod Yes FM one
hundred point three Kfan, the fin.

Speaker 3 (32:28):
Talkback Machine, Free iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 12 (32:31):
Of course, our Vikings would show up now that we're
not in the playoff hunt. Of course, our Vikings would
beat up on a meaningless team and win a meaningless game,
so that way next year's draft is even worse.

Speaker 13 (32:43):
Of course, as expected, the Vikings do the most Viking
thing that they could possibly lose and win a meaningless game,
so we can continuously be the most mid.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
Team in the NFL.

Speaker 14 (33:00):
Results, mid draft picks, mid records, spinning the tires like
we've been doing for twenty years. Thank you.

Speaker 15 (33:11):
You know, everyone's complaining that the Vikings now have a
worst draft pick with this win today, So we need
to compromise and find a way for JJ to keep
improving every week and still ball out while still find
a way to lose out, so we still finish with
a five and twelve record and a top ten pick.

Speaker 5 (33:27):
It's kind of threadning the needle here.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
I had received I had received a text message, welcome back.
It's Vikings fan line. The Vikings won a game. Maybe, yes,
more of the meaningless nature, at least as it pertains
to the postseason.

Speaker 5 (33:42):
Unless they win them all. I fell dub even say
that unless they win them all and.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Sneaks into the playoffs. Unless they win them all, it
wins the Super Bowl. Like the Giants. They were six seed.
We'll see.

Speaker 8 (33:58):
No, I'd actually add to Eli Manning, I don't think, well,
a defensive ends, you know, they couldn't get after a
quarterback they win them all. Ron oh me, you said whatever,
how you say his name? So I received, I received,
get that one wrong. I received a text. Uh looks
like an Iowa area code.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
Is there a chance that commanders were not trying because
they know losing potentially got them a better draft pick
next year? No, I responded the players, Well, first of all,
I don't think most players actually care about the draft
crestatus as much as they care about their own money
and their bonuses.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
And yet like, yeah, you don't trot Jaydon Daniels out
there if you're trying to lose.

Speaker 5 (34:40):
Probably not No, which again was just dumb.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Right after that repaired arm, he just got back.

Speaker 5 (34:45):
Yeah, he was.

Speaker 3 (34:46):
He was uncomfortable with the brace. It looked like the
entire time he was playing as it was.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
And then he landed right on it right.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Yeah, when he got hit by Isaiah Rodgers because we
couldn't they didn't replay it, but we saw him get
hit and fall.

Speaker 5 (35:00):
He got crumpled up.

Speaker 16 (35:01):
Ye.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Not good for him, probably quite painful. But then so
to that end, I don't think the players care about
the draft picks. Secondly, to that end, I have heard
a lot of that, and I'm sure as they arise,
I'm going to find more talkbacks saying the same.

Speaker 5 (35:16):
Thing is you want a meetingless game.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
It doesn't matter now the team's going to get a
worse draft pick for me.

Speaker 5 (35:24):
I think this is an easy conversation.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
Ron.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
The development of the QB is paramount and supersedes the
idea of getting the best possible draft pick, because he
is your draft he is, yeah, and you're talking about
where was they talking about mid playoff results, mid draft picks.
If your number ten pick turns out to be a
franchise QB, well, this win meant a lot in terms

(35:51):
of the kid taking steps. And so players don't care
about the draft picks in the first place, and coaches
can really only look exactly what's in front one of them.
But the absolute a topic for this team right now
is not finishing five and twelve Ron. It's determining whether
number nine can actually be the guy, which would impact

(36:12):
By the way, let's see where they're at right now.
I got NFL Tankathon up here. They are currently slotted
after today eleven.

Speaker 5 (36:20):
Yeah, yes, Saucy, oh hi, yeah, nobody. They went the
eleventh overall pick. They didn't lose any ground by winning.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
No, but nobody's more into the idea of tanking for
the draft than is.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
But but because he's a draft knick. But for Sauce
to say that, who who would they who?

Speaker 17 (36:36):
Like?

Speaker 2 (36:36):
What position would they want?

Speaker 5 (36:39):
Because when you look the safety from Ohio st.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
To safety but when you bad Yeah, okays, I can
see that because I say when.

Speaker 5 (36:46):
Eating right now, yeah, looks good because I'm.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Saying for like offensive offensive guard for instance. You know,
like if you're like, hey, we're gonna move on sorry, center,
if you're gonna move on from Kelly, You're like, okay,
we want to get a Ciner. You can find a
good sin in the second third round, like right now,
like none of these guys are there, but you're right
on the Caleb downs like like like he's from Alabama,
you know, transferred to Ohio State for a better opportunity
and he is one of the top players, So could

(37:12):
you still probably get him. There's a chance he still falls,
you know, Like I don't know where the you know,
these guys are going to slot after more guys are
coming up and more guys trying you know, test out,
and the combine all that stuff.

Speaker 5 (37:23):
So it still can work out.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
But I mean, I get it, but I don't know
if Caleb Downs is gonna fall to even eleven, like,
you know, unless it just completely falls off the rails
with who needs to get picked, because quarterback wise, I
feel like every team right now has a quarterback.

Speaker 5 (37:38):
That like sucks. Well you look at the team, yeah,
well I don't.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
I don't think that the Vikings would be drafting at
QB with their first round pick, would they know?

Speaker 2 (37:48):
I'm just wondering, like, I feel like where they want,
they'll be okay. But if you're if you look at
who you could get like Caleb Downs, you know there's
other safeties out there, do you then still go try
to win? You know, looking at the playoff picture, right,
I think that's the you know.

Speaker 8 (38:04):
Well again, I think the a topic is getting JJ
McCarthy better.

Speaker 5 (38:07):
Like I think, I.

Speaker 8 (38:08):
Don't even think they're thinking about Caleb Downs in this moment.

Speaker 3 (38:11):
I'm sure the scouting department is, but in terms of
the team themselves, they're trying to figure out is this
just one, you know.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
Proficient and competent game from JJ.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
McCarthy, and can he now do this against the Cowboys
next week? And then what can he do against the Giants?
And then you know, we got a couple against the
kiddies and I think the Packers right, and then we
say cion art of the season.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Crazy because they could beat the Cowboys and the Giants.
But yeah, those last two, that's probably gonna knock them
out there. I mean not saying it will happen, but
that's the chances of getting knocked out the playoffs for
those two right there, unless they win them all.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
It just makes me laugh just saying that I want
my team to win every game Vikings fans, I do,
But my goodness, Pier's defense looks really good right now though.

Speaker 5 (38:54):
Ye no kidding.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
Tony and Wisetta Tony, welcome to Vikings fan Line.

Speaker 5 (39:00):
Hey you guys, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 17 (39:03):
I was just listening to what you guys were saying,
and I'm gonna start off by saying, there's absolutely zero
chance we're going to go for a quarterback in the
first round next year. Zero.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
That's my opinion.

Speaker 17 (39:15):
But first off. I originally called in to talk about JJ,
and I have a question for both of you. I
guess Ron, do you think that, given we had a
weaker defense, that JJ was able to step up and
excel in his game based off of the fact that
we had less or little to play for with this game,

(39:39):
kind of getting the pre anymore off of his shoulders. Secondly,
do you think of the fact that being we played
a weaker team, that that was the difference maker? As in,
let's say we played the Packers or a wrong defense,

(40:01):
would we have had a similar quality of play or
do you think that it would have done completely different
in the other team's favor. I appreciate the call. I'm
going to hang up and listen.

Speaker 8 (40:13):
Yeah, thank you, Tony. You called us, so we appreciate
your Oh nice throw. So I was gonna say, Nordal
when you when he.

Speaker 2 (40:21):
Just talked about that, right, if you just watched that
play the Packers, you know handle the blitz perfectly from
the Bears.

Speaker 5 (40:27):
That's what we didn't see from the Commanders today.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
You're not going to see an all out jail house
blitz from the Commanders. Cowboys similar they kind of do
like a five man pressure, six man pressure. Packers are
gonna look at let me look at that Nordo like
you don't know who's coming. Everybody's at the line of
scrimmage and the dB drops out, you know what I mean.
And so that kind of the offensive line handled it.
It's less about our quarterback in that situation, you know,

(40:51):
cause we're gonna see that probably against the Lions.

Speaker 5 (40:52):
We're going to see that against the Packers.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
Well, I don't know if it's a line handle that,
you know, I mean, that's where it Like, what are
what does the quarterback learning pre with that type of look,
because we knew the Commanders are going to be four
up and they're not really sending a bunch of guys,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (41:06):
Like it wasn't like that.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
Dan Quinn is more of I'm going to confuse you
and make you throw an interception to the wrong guy.
But his dbs just bail out too much. And like
you said, there's a lot of injuries. I think part
of it is that it wasn't a lot of pressure
on him, you know, and when it was, he got
out of it. You know, he ran pretty well.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
I mean I still think he made there were two
times where he actually worked technically because he was sacked
four times, but.

Speaker 5 (41:29):
I think it did the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
Yeah, I think two of them were him actually kind
of evading and really not realizing where the line of
scrimmage was. Just throw the ball, should have gotten rid
of it.

Speaker 8 (41:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
So but in the end, yeah, the fact that the
the fact that the commanders are hideous doesn't it doesn't
hurt the conversation.

Speaker 5 (41:46):
But the other thing I would say is is did
you see the Lions Cowboys? Cowboys aren't great either. No.

Speaker 9 (41:52):
No.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
The ib refluce is we could put thirty out of
your refluse. Now the problem is that offense could although
the defense was was opportunistic today.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
Now, one thing I'll say about Dak is if you
leave George Pickens manned up, he's.

Speaker 5 (42:06):
Going to George Pickens.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
So that's the one thing that Flores has to figure out,
is how am I going to.

Speaker 5 (42:11):
Defend George Pickens?

Speaker 2 (42:12):
Because I think Cede Lamb's gonna be out right, he's
good a concussion.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Yeah, so it's Picky also has a little extra time
now with the Thursday game. True, depending upon the severity
of it. So we'll see let's pause. Actually, I do
have a wide receiver talker for you and we can
bring up Pickens as part of that conversation. That's Ron Johnson.
I'm Nordo from nine to noon. It's Vikings fan Line.
Vikings a five win team, and as you heard it
from a visiting guests and host of co host of

(42:37):
Overtime meets us, Paul Lambert, they're slated to pick eleventh
and if that means a lot to you, let us
know via the talkback machine iHeartRadio app text line six
four six eighty six, the phone number eight hundred three
two zero five three two six. We'll continue the conversation next.
Vikings fan line on Kfan and the Minnesota Vikings Audio Network,
the Twin Cities home.

Speaker 9 (42:57):
For Vikings cootch from one hundred points.

Speaker 6 (43:00):
Ksaen Jack from Woodbury.

Speaker 18 (43:13):
As expected, here come the Jackals, upset that the Vikings
won thirty one to nothing when our second year oft
injured in consistent quarterback actually put up a nice game
today with some better play calling by the coach. But
they're upset that our team isn't garbage enough around the
quarterback to have to pick first. So that apparently they'd

(43:35):
become much better nonsense free.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
iHeartRadio app talkbacks.

Speaker 5 (43:42):
Oh hang on, there we go. Hey, my name is
Dan from Burnsville. Thanks for the show.

Speaker 12 (43:46):
I just wanted to say I don't think the win
is meaningless.

Speaker 17 (43:50):
Yes, I know it doesn't matter for the playoffs, but
keeping the motivation.

Speaker 11 (43:53):
Up for the team is really important.

Speaker 5 (43:55):
Who knows.

Speaker 17 (43:56):
Maybe that means guys are more likely to stick around
if we see some positive motion for the team.

Speaker 19 (44:02):
H yeah, you hear a lot of people talking about
the fact that this win. Heard our draft pick, Well,
what good's the top draft pick if you got the
same GM making the pick. And clearly that's where he struggles.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Oh no, quacy, Quacey fair point. I suppose welcome back
to Vikings fan Line. Final segment. Vikings fan Line, at
least via the KFA and Minnesota Vikings Audio Network will
continue on the flagship one hundred point three FMS to
stick with us.

Speaker 5 (44:33):
Fore ihear radio app. You can listen to us wherever
you are. Thank you for the talkbacks, Thank you for the.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
Calls and texts as well the wide receiver situation. So
justin Jefferson, a lot has been made of like his mentality,
and we just kind of picked this stuff apart of course.
I mean, we don't have a lot else to do.
The team's losing four in a row and everything's negative.
But in a day like, how do you find excitement today?

(45:02):
If you're justin Jefferson where the losing streak ends, you
win thirty one nothing, but you have just two catches
for eleven.

Speaker 5 (45:10):
Yards, Jefferson is negative too.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Yeah, that was I think I think it was as
a matter of fact, yes he had along of thirteen,
but he only told eleven yards.

Speaker 1 (45:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (45:22):
The screen just never worked from the start.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Like we joked about the one step to Jefferson, but
Jefferson should have gotten the ty Felton one, Like that's
what Jefferson, give me off coverage, they get it out
to me, don't give me it.

Speaker 5 (45:33):
I mean, give me a screen.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
Great, but it just it was too like, Okay, we're
going to Jefferson on within.

Speaker 5 (45:38):
We have to get him there.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
Yeah, and everybody, everybody in the commander's side was like,
oh wait, this is definitely going to Jefferson, and the
DV just jumped it like it's just it was just bad.
He could almost run like a fake to Jefferson. And
thrown it to anybody else in a different area because
everybody was looking that way.

Speaker 5 (45:54):
But yeah, like he's definitely frustrated.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
You think number eighteen's finding some positivity out of the victory,
So yes, signs of life maybe from the QB.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
So here's a human natures out of there. Right, it's
a win, but it's a five and eight win. You know,
like how much of that win really matters in the
grand scheme?

Speaker 20 (46:12):
Now?

Speaker 5 (46:12):
Is he happy that nine look better today?

Speaker 6 (46:14):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (46:14):
Yeah, one hundred percent?

Speaker 2 (46:15):
Because then it's like, Okay, how do I get involved
in this offense? Because I saw him in the slot
a couple of times, but he sent him on the
go route versus him doing the sit route. Maybe now
it's time for him to start doing more of what
he did the underneath stuff, the sit routes, Like, don't use.

Speaker 5 (46:31):
Him all the time as the deep guy.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
And I think that's where the next phase of this
justin Jefferson versus the Cowboys and the perfect Thing.

Speaker 5 (46:38):
Is a night game.

Speaker 2 (46:39):
We get to sit back, Nord oh and just watch it.
There's nothing else that's gonna be bothering us. Our kids
should be sleep by the time it's time for fan
line hopefully, And that's what I want to see this
next step, because Kevin O'Connell now has five days, right,
five days to get nine's feet and shoulders in head

(47:00):
in the right direction on quick game. He has five
days to say, Okay, how did they cover Justin Jefferson
and how do I make sure I keep eighteen involved?
Because AJ Brown was getting similar over the top. I
mean we heard the micd up AJ Brown cursing out
DBS because they're saying XYZ's like, dude, you got help
all game?

Speaker 5 (47:18):
Shut up?

Speaker 2 (47:19):
You know, Like that's when it's like, okay, the minute
you notice Man go to it.

Speaker 5 (47:23):
And I will say today I.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
Kept trying to look for Man every time I saw
that safety creep into the box, and like Justin as Man,
he did throw it to him, but like the fade
route with Santa Strill back there, it just kind of
was a weird throw. It looked like he kind of
rushed it and through it too far versus throwing it
to his back shoulder, like towards the sideline or the pylon.
Because I think he makes that catch. Sant Astria could

(47:44):
have made it over there. So again, that's just the
kid learning, like, hey, great throw, you recognize man coverage.
You knew Justin Jefferson gonna be down the field one on one,
But you got to throw it outside the numbers like
he threw it inside, and so again that's just learning.
It went quick for him. He caught it, but it
was just throw it inside and those sometimes really good safeties,
like good things.

Speaker 5 (48:04):
Santatro didn't see the ball. That's a pick. It's a pick.
So well, we've seen him throw picks. I think, at
least I think.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Santasdro being a Michigan guy too, though he didn't want.

Speaker 5 (48:13):
To pick his boy out. That's probably what it was.
He's like, you know what, let me keep this game.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Connor Stallion's text me and said if I don't intercept this.

Speaker 5 (48:18):
He'll pay me. Let me relax.

Speaker 3 (48:21):
I think he's had a couple of interceptions just like that.

Speaker 13 (48:25):
Throw.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
We talked about it like whatever games ago. Yeah, he's
throwing it inside the numbers or inside the scene versus outside.

Speaker 3 (48:31):
One specifically against the Ravens, that one that Malachi Stars
had enough time to basically run across the.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
Same it's the same Max Broseman interception though the same
exact one He threw it inside, and that's not the throw.
You go to the other side to Justin Jefferson. He
had man coverage. So because they went split, they went
split coverage. They went man to the field and quarters
to the boundary. If they go quarters to the boundary,
that number one corner can guard one and two going
up the scene and.

Speaker 5 (48:58):
Up the hash or sorry, up the side line.

Speaker 2 (49:00):
So you go the other way to Justin Jefferson manned up, Like,
you know, it's like Tom Brady if I got Randy Moss,
remember he said this, if I got Randy Moss, I'm
just throwing it right and say, hey, go get it.
Like that's the mindset you have to have when you
got Justin Jefferson manned up. But again, this is a
rookie and Max Brosman and this is a rookie and
Justin and JJ McCarthy, Like Drew Brees through sixteen picks. Yeah,

(49:23):
you know, like this because the thing if we didn't
if we had Twitter in two thousand and two, just
imagine what people were saying about Drew Brees back then.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
He was a first round pick and.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
They our second round maybe I think, but you know,
they probably hated Drew Brees with that eleven touchdown sixteen interceptions,
Like we be killing our quarterbacks.

Speaker 5 (49:42):
If that was the case, be good. Yeah, so you know,
maybe let's just see what happens.

Speaker 3 (49:47):
Let's take a call here, well finish to sow patients
for JJ McCarthy.

Speaker 5 (49:51):
Up Bears, Packers fight. I'm getting after it.

Speaker 3 (49:54):
Packer's up seven to nothing late stages of the second quarter.
George Pickens, you mentioned him next opponent. Did you see
kind of anything going viral after that game in terms
of there were he's getting ripped on for not running
routes where he just kind of he was kind of
just lackadaisically, just kind of running as if he was
not expecting to get the ball. I think they're I

(50:16):
think they're kind of highlighting.

Speaker 5 (50:17):
And overplaying it a little bit.

Speaker 20 (50:18):
Yeah it is.

Speaker 5 (50:19):
I mean, here's the thing.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
This is a kid that when he got drafted, he
was too took a picture in a poosh heisty in
front of his TV getting.

Speaker 5 (50:26):
Drafted the NFL. So I don't know what a poos
shisty is.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Just google it, but he had a shisty on is.

Speaker 5 (50:32):
That appropriate for the work computer?

Speaker 2 (50:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (50:34):
Oh yeah, shisty Yeah, it's just a mask. It's just
what the.

Speaker 2 (50:36):
Kids call it because a rapper poos sh heisty. You know,
he wears one, and the kids were shaty, pooh shisty.
Yeah it's a rapper. Yeah, OK, just like forty two
Dug and all that hip hop, hip hop stiff.

Speaker 5 (50:48):
But when you when you look at where you look at.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
Uh, you know George Picktens, like look at the what
was it the Steelers?

Speaker 17 (50:57):
Right?

Speaker 5 (50:57):
His first goal? At it with Ike? Not Ike? What's
the young Porter junior?

Speaker 2 (51:01):
You know, Joey Porter catches a fade route on him,
hands him the ball.

Speaker 5 (51:06):
This is your teammate and you're trying to show.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Him up in practice, you know, Like that's just George Pickens.
You know he stood what he did on the sideline.
He went to the sideline, didn't want to go back
in the game.

Speaker 5 (51:14):
Like that's Pickens. Like he's gonna give you great moments
and he's gonna give you that. So I think you
take the good with the bad.

Speaker 2 (51:20):
The biggest thing for him is a team is gonna
have to decide is he worth whatever he's gonna ask
for this offseason?

Speaker 5 (51:26):
Is he worth eighty million or seventy million.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Can he keep it together, you know, because he's not
off the field problem person, he's an on the field problem. Like,
if you ever want to laugh, just google George Pickens unhinged.
It is the funniest plays in football I've ever seen.
Like one time a dude's just land on the ground,
George Pickens runs by and wwe jumps in the air

(51:48):
and elbows him, like why what are you doing?

Speaker 5 (51:53):
He just loses it every once in a while and
he's unhinged.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
But if you can keep him controlled, which eighty eight
has been doing, Ceedee Lamb has been doing, he's gonna
give you production, which ends up being one of the
best receivers in the game right now next to Jackson
Smith and Jigbu you know. Yeah, But again, can he
hold on to that long term? See, I think they're
gonna blow it up because that's what Pickens has been.

Speaker 5 (52:12):
His pass has.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
Been murky and funny and just quirky. But he gives
you those plays like last week that one on one
fade where he toe tapped on the side. That's beautiful.

Speaker 5 (52:21):
It is beautiful.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
But then every once in a while he'll do the like
it's not coming to me, I'm just gonna skin, chill out,
jog down here and do my thing.

Speaker 5 (52:28):
Yeah, like West Energy.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
At this rate, we're gonna say goodbye to the Greater
Vikings Radio slash Audio Network. Vikings win today thirty one nothing,
their first shutout in two years. We dig that next
up for the Minnesota Vikings, it's a road affair. The
Minnesota Vikings are at the Cowboys and as of now,
I don't think it's subject to change. Maybe Sunday night

(52:51):
football at Dallas Stadium, the five and eight Vikings facing
the Cowboys, be an hour before kickoff and the boom
than fan line and maybe a six win team. What
are the next steps for JJ McCarthy. If you are
listening to the free the Greater Audio Network, jump on
over to the flagship one under.

Speaker 5 (53:11):
Point three FM.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
The Fan will continue Vikings fan Line. I got calls
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The Fan live in local tomorrow at five point thirty
with the Power Trip pumping up a montage nine to noon.

Speaker 8 (53:26):
This has been Vikings fan Line on Kfan and the
Minnesota Vikings Audio Network.

Speaker 5 (53:31):
Have a great Sunday night.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
Vikings fan Line now continues on FM one hundred point
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(54:02):
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Speaker 3 (54:25):
Quist thirty one to nothing the final at US Bank
Stadium today the Vikings beat the Visiting Commanders and improve
to five and eight In the twenty twenty five season.
ONNRDO from nine to noon, Ron Johnson is here, Max
Fuller producing Max by the Way, and meets us Paul Lambert.
They'll be taking you through Vikings overtime right around the

(54:45):
top of the hour, so stay tuned for that. Texts
and talkbacks and calls. Galore, So let's just jump right
into it. A shut out at US Bank Stadium after
being shut out a week ago in Seattle. We'll check
in with Nathan Inatseigo. Nathan, welcome Vikings fan line.

Speaker 20 (55:02):
Hey, I appreciate the time. I do take issue with
one call you've made already, and it's not a WWE elbow.
That's either the people's elbow or that's oh yeah, macho
man coming off the top rope. So there's two elbows
you gotta mention, fair point.

Speaker 21 (55:17):
Absolutely yeah, absolutely so out here on Seago and Rogers area,
in between playing an initial game at local bars, even
breaking on tape.

Speaker 20 (55:27):
Of Peyton Manning, and I'm telling you we're in the
virtue with this kid, just giving time and he'll stand
up and become our quarterback in the future for the
next ten years.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
I love it.

Speaker 5 (55:41):
Thanks for the call, Nathan. I appreciate it.

Speaker 4 (55:43):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (55:43):
JJ heading in the right direction. So in terms of
takeaways at this stage of the season, yeah, it's the
play call to doo though unless we win them all.
Unless we win the all call. A topic is building JJ,
the simplification. I believe what we talked about about an
hour ago, playing maybe into some of the six yes today.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
So I hate to be an antagonist too, because we
got these calls last week.

Speaker 5 (56:04):
At what point do we call them the quick game?
Quarterback whisper? Again, I'm just.

Speaker 8 (56:09):
Saying, did we ever call him the quick game? And
that's a new one. It was just a QB whisper.
It's just a lot, I know, it's it's a lot
of it's a lot, and it's a lot to fit
on a business card.

Speaker 5 (56:19):
Well, but today you.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Got it figured out today, no interceptions, three touchdowns.

Speaker 5 (56:23):
So I I mean, I would just imagine then.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
That this is the this is the playbook moving forward
that we are working and maybe now now the coaches
the coach's task is to figure out how do I
slowly start to re implement some of the things that I.

Speaker 5 (56:38):
Was asking him to do before.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
So, yeah, you led me right into that one, right.
So here's here's where I'm nervous. Right, So I tweeted
this's three Ron Johnson on Twitter. By the way, it's
three Ron Johnson. So I tweeted out a video of
Dave Chappelle. You remember the Chapelle Show. I know maximum
Corse Sauce does.

Speaker 8 (56:51):
But remember when he was acceptable for me to laugh
at the Chapelle show, am I allowed to to think
of start?

Speaker 3 (56:56):
Thank you?

Speaker 21 (56:57):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (56:58):
Remember when he was Tyrone the crackhead, right, and he
went to the like he went to the meeting and
he thought he was getting free crack, but it was
actually intervention.

Speaker 5 (57:05):
Intervention. Yeah, and he's like which one.

Speaker 8 (57:07):
He you know what?

Speaker 5 (57:07):
He's scratching his neck and he's like, which wenty are
total me? You know whatever.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
That's how Koc I feel like he was in the
school that one.

Speaker 5 (57:14):
He like rob the kids, don't tell nobody, shut up.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
The lady for a car.

Speaker 5 (57:24):
He knew her so good, so good. But when you
think about.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
That, right, it's like Koc, it's like a fix, right,
I gotta go deep. I gotta go deep. But it's
like no, just like, let's wean you off of that.
Let's stick to this. Let's go quick game. Let's run
the ball. Let's go quick game. Let's run the ball,
you know, Let's get a big lead and then we'll
let you get a hit. We'll let you go deep.
Like we'll let you go play action. Roll out to
the left opposite the quarterback, strong suit and just throw

(57:49):
the ball as far as he can throw it.

Speaker 5 (57:50):
We can do that.

Speaker 3 (57:51):
But what happened, like Mark Wilf, who else, I mean,
who who else is in there? McCown, west Phillips in there,
JJ's in there.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
It's all like Kevin O'Connell's friends, his wife and kids
are even in there and and knowing and his son's
like dad, like it's it's okay, you can. You can
put the third and one deep balls down.

Speaker 3 (58:13):
But here's the problem is is after there's an emotional moment,
there's hugging, there's all of those things, he walks out
of the room and he's kind of feeling good, he's
all right. And then Jefferson's sitting around there in that
dark alley.

Speaker 8 (58:22):
I don't know who said this. He's got the bag,
he's full of deep plays. Somebody said there some go
with the with the trench. Cody opens it up, correct, yes,
and a light shines and he looks at it all
of a sudden, it's the it's actually so somebody joking they
said that the play sheet you know that he has
with all the deep balls on third and one. Yeah,

(58:43):
somebody saying, like west Phillips just cut it off.

Speaker 5 (58:45):
And then.

Speaker 2 (58:48):
So third what he got to He says, oh, what
do I call here?

Speaker 5 (58:50):
You just got to run the ball coach, all right?

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Like, but but I go with this, like you know
he's gonna have to implement it, right because you you
you have to allow him to maybe can a play
kill a play to get to a better run play?

Speaker 8 (59:02):
Well it's not long term sustainable, correct, But you have
to simplify maybe how he's doing it. So the simple
way I used to learn how to kill a play
was the alignment of the guy over the center first right,
So you start where you count with him, and you
look to your right.

Speaker 5 (59:14):
How many guys are my right? How many guys in
my left?

Speaker 2 (59:17):
If I have a run play called to the right,
but I got four over there and I got three
to the left, I'm gonna just kill it, kill it,
kill it, can can can? I'm gonna go opposite right.

Speaker 5 (59:24):
That's it. You keep it simple.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
You don't allow him to kill it and then call
another play. And that's where I think maybe it got
a little tricky, is where he had maybe a couple
plays in his headset, like Peyton manning right. Tom Moore
would say he would give Peyton three plays, two to
three plays and then Peyton got to choose well on
each of.

Speaker 5 (59:41):
Those plays might have six variants, I mean correct, like
we did the same.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
I remember like when I was learning the coach playbook
as a young coach, I could not believe how complex
it was. And then after about six months, I was like, oh,
this is simple as a receipt least. I don't know
about the offensive line. I'm like, I see why jeff
Saturday and Peyton Gotten do it so much. But from
a receiver, I'm like, it's pretty simple. We're running the

(01:00:07):
same concepts. We're just lining up in different places and
it's the same stuff. And I think that's where maybe
JJ has to forget about, like where's Justin Jefferson or
where's this player who is this supposed to go to?

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
And just say what's the concept?

Speaker 2 (01:00:21):
And I think that's when he said, I'm keeping it simple,
like I just want you to learn the concept. The
concept of this is Justin Jefferson has a corner route,
the tight end has the hitch underneath, the hook behind it.
The minute you see Justin go, if the linebacker scatter,
just throw the hitch. Don't even look at Justin no more.
And I think that's what happened today. He stopped trying
to feed the ball into the deep spots and said,

(01:00:44):
let me just take this six yard route here. And
the minute he did that, then the commanders had to
honor the short stuff. That's when you saw the cornerby,
you know. So it's like you got to I think
he's teaching him how to play quarterback, which he didn't
do in college. Let's be real, like against Penn State,
they didn't run, didn't throw the ball in second half
right literally because we know we know Harbo had his phone,
he had a burner on him and he was texas

(01:01:05):
your own more from the hotel. Hey, just run the ball.
Penn State can't stop the run. We got the best
running back in the country. Run the ball. So that's
where I think Jay's learning. And Kevin O'Connell, like he
could say all the stuff, shoulders, feet toes. It's just basically,
I'm teaching how to play quarterback again, and it's it's
okay to be in that spot.

Speaker 5 (01:01:22):
Now that we understand what he's doing.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
Let's take another call and then we'll pause. Tyler and
man Cato. Tyler, Welcome to Vikings fan line.

Speaker 10 (01:01:31):
Hey guys, thanks to stay. McCall I just had a
couple of points to making them that question. So I'm
looking at u stats from Caleb Williams and Drake May
and their rookie season. Drake went three and nine before injury,
h and Caleb went five and twelve.

Speaker 1 (01:01:54):
Last year.

Speaker 10 (01:01:55):
JJ is now three and four and turnovers Really aren't
that just similar? Except for Caleb was pretty good on
touchdowns versus interceptions, but got sacked sixty eight times and
lost five fumbles. I don't really see that much difference
between those three quarterbacks in JJ's first year leading the

(01:02:19):
Helm here. I just think that we just have such
a smaller sample size of him, and we put them
up against those guys now in their second year who
are both doing very well. Don't don't you guys feel,
or at least I do, that there should be a
room for optimism and and JJ and and progressing through

(01:02:40):
the rest of this season, in the in the next
and through a full healthy offseason.

Speaker 5 (01:02:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
I appreciate the call. Tyler again kind of back into
the comparison game. I'm not necessarily I mean, the Drew
Brees thing still kind of it gets me a little
bit wrong. But in the end, it's fair to make
those comparisons we've talked about in nine to noon. I
personally in terms of optimism, whether it's Tyler or everybody
listening to fan line right now, I need to see

(01:03:07):
this repeated. Yeah, so today's Today's really fun like before
weeks feel good, you know, in terms of you know,
if you're not going to be they're curmudgeonly scrooge of
sorts complaining about a team winning at this stage of
the season. Again, you're free to do that too, but
if you want to find positives in the game, we
just watched JJ McCarthy play the best that we've seen

(01:03:28):
him play in the NFL.

Speaker 5 (01:03:29):
So that's cool. I need to see it again though,
you know what I mean, I mean, good things happen today.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
That's all good. Now is this needs to be the floor,
you know what I mean, if I'm going to be optive,
if I'm going to be optimistic into twenty twenty six,
performances like what we saw today, where he was more accurate,
the decision making was good. Now, that doesn't mean that
he has to be perfect from here on out. He
finally win a game without throwing a pick, that's cool.

(01:03:54):
Dig that need more of that. But in the end,
I just think that this needs to be repeated in
terms of he's definitely going to make more mistakes. He's
going to take a lot of sacks. I mean, how
many he was sacked four times today? Okay, A couple of.

Speaker 2 (01:04:08):
Them were like running the ball though and getting stopped
at the goal line or the whatever, the line of scrimmage.
So it's a zero yard gain sack.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
So still okay, But still technically if you if you
so twenty four times through seven games, that would if
you bring that out on the average over it's fifty
eight sacks.

Speaker 8 (01:04:26):
That's too many sacks. So again, a lot of things
to improve. I think what Caleb was, what was it
like sixty something sixty eight?

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
Yeah, yeah, but in the neighborhood, so a little less
than yeah, what is that point seven ish extra sacks
a game that that Caleb took over what we're seeing on.

Speaker 5 (01:04:41):
The one sack too many from being iconic.

Speaker 3 (01:04:43):
Indeed, So, but but to that end, I need to
see this become more of the standard than an anomaly. Yeah,
and that that would bring me the optimism into twenty six.

Speaker 2 (01:04:54):
I still got to go back to the to the
to the to the quarterback room. You know, you got maccown,
you got West Phillips, you got KOC. You know, at
the end of the day, they're gonna implement what Kaos wants.
They're gonna practice it. You know, Keenan McCardell is gonna
get the receivers running the routes that KOC is requesting. Yeah,
and then from there their job is done. Right on Sunday,
it's just Kevin gonna call the plays that they just

(01:05:16):
worked on. Is he gonna let JJ do what he
said he's gonna do, which is I'm gonna keep it
simp before you. I'm not asking you to change the
theory of oxygen inside of a balloon. You know, just
go out there, read high low, be done with it.
High corner, low, hitch, get the ball out of your hands.

Speaker 5 (01:05:33):
That's it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
Don't worry about this, this, this, and this. Just go
high low, high low every time. And if you can
do that, you can win. I watched Sam Donald I
broke it down a bunch of Seahawks film and this
week even in our like ken JJ McCarthy do this.
One of our plays was Sam Darn. Two of our
players were Sam Donald versus this team. The Commanders Sam
Donald high low every time, and his high was Jackson

(01:05:57):
Smith and Jig Bowing to dig route. His low was
an outroute to the tight end. The Commanders were so bad.
He had both options, but he took you know, he
took the high ball. You know, they went court cover four.
He had the out route, you know, the Lions. Sorry,
and I'm going to Jared Golf now, out route to
test law, not Tesla, but test law right cover four

(01:06:17):
guys back, twelve yards.

Speaker 5 (01:06:19):
Just throw the out route.

Speaker 2 (01:06:21):
Like that's the things that I think Kevin O'Connor was noticing.
And again that's the Commander's team. I'll have to watch,
you know, I haven't watched a lot of Cowboys film.
I'm gonna do it tonight and tomorrow. But that's the
key is what do the Cowboys do? What is their tendency?
Where are they off? And where can Kevin o'cann exploit it?
Because I saw like everything I saw it was implemented
today against the Commanders. Now, and I'm gonna guess it's

(01:06:41):
Kevin O'Connor's looking at that too, now, like what's the
simple way to beat this defense?

Speaker 5 (01:06:44):
I don't want to be tricky. You do that. I
think JJ McCarthy can execute.

Speaker 6 (01:06:48):
Just mine.

Speaker 3 (01:06:49):
That's Ron Johnson, IMNRDO from nine to noon Vikings win
thirty one, nothing over the Commanders. We're gonna pause the
next segment. I'll bring you our local Chevy Dealers drive
of the game that's ahead for your five and eight vikings.

Speaker 5 (01:07:03):
Via fan Line on the Fan.

Speaker 16 (01:07:22):
This is r L from Minneapolis. I would lay Ron's
comment on the tackle on Ertz. It was similar to
what happened to Hockinson back a year or so ago.
Wondering if the way there's a way for the league
to address that particular type of tackle because he was
to a certain extent.

Speaker 6 (01:07:44):
Vulnerable.

Speaker 16 (01:07:46):
I would like his comment.

Speaker 5 (01:07:47):
Thanks, yeah, thanks RL, Thanks for all the talkbacks.

Speaker 3 (01:07:51):
Ron, I think it was Jay Ward who I mean,
he ended mister Ertz's season. It appears he saw that
hit and the video on X and so, I mean,
slow motion just makes so many things worse.

Speaker 5 (01:08:02):
There's no doubt about it. It is similar.

Speaker 3 (01:08:06):
It's it's it's similar to what Kirby Joseph did to
Hawkinson and hands of the location and Higbee, but it's
different because I believe both Hawkinson and Higbee had their
legs planted on the ground, correct.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
And they had just turned, so they were vulnerable because
they could not cut and their foot was stuck in
the ground and got hit in the knee.

Speaker 5 (01:08:25):
So it's this crazy thing I've heard other players. You
can tell me.

Speaker 3 (01:08:28):
He is a guy that played at a high level.
I think most players would rather be hit in the
head than hit in the knee, correct, and so, but
but then.

Speaker 5 (01:08:36):
It's not so much the head, but like, let them
hit me in the shoulder.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Yeah, that's because they're even saying that now, you can't
hit a guy in the air in the shoulder, that's defenseless.
It's ridiculous. So what am I supposed to wait for
you to come down and then hug you right or
catch you in the air like.

Speaker 3 (01:08:51):
So, I think the issue is that they've kind of
they've lowered the window of and and have kind of
forced players low in that regard. Now, and this one
Ertz is jumping Jay Ward's probably doing a quick little,
you know, an easy math question in his head. Urtz
is a lot bigger than me, So for me to
try and go up and maybe hit him at chess level,

(01:09:12):
I'm gonna lose that battle, but I absolutely can win
if I catch him in the in the thigh, which
it looks like that's probably where he's going. I don't
I mean, I don't know, jay Ward. I just assume
most players aren't actually trying to injure guys like this. Uh,
that one just looks like perfect sadly, the perfect place
to hit him, right because his foot's not planted, he's

(01:09:33):
in the air. You're picturing at the worst, he's gonna
get up ended and bounce off his head, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
What I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Yeah, you got to sixty to fifty five, you know,
to sixty versus one ninety.

Speaker 5 (01:09:44):
Yeah, and war probably right now is probably more like
one eighty five.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
You know, Like Ertz is on the bigger side as
he gets to the end his career, jay Ward on
the early part of his career is probably lighter than
what his says.

Speaker 5 (01:09:55):
Yeah, that's sixty pounds.

Speaker 2 (01:09:56):
You got to make a business decision there, because then
that's your shoulder, like if you take a hit. I mean,
I don't know if you heard the one I interviewed
Roy Williams about that, and he was saying that, and
Clint portis Clint Porters was saying, if I knew what
I know now, meaning he didn't get to ten thousand
yards rushing, he said, I never would have tried to
block Michael Strahan coming free, and that's how he heard

(01:10:19):
the shoulder Michael Strahan came free. He stepped up in
the pocket to kind of he said, I would have
probably like just thrown my body sideways and let him
just push me over, you know, not kill my quarterback.
But I'm not going to stick my shoulder in here
and try to hit a I don't know what straight
hand waved at that time to eighty sure, you know,
and portis ise ninety, you know, like and you tell
me I got to take him on with my shoulder,

(01:10:40):
cause again, you can't cut rushing guys like that, you.

Speaker 5 (01:10:44):
Know, like it's just it's so much. And he said
I would He said, I probably would.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
Have taken the penalty if they would give me a
penalty and just try to cut the tray hand like
I can't take them up high. And jay Ward, like
when you watch that back, Marcus Mariota completely through the
wrong ball. The ball should have went over Jayward's head
to the guy running down the eye line because nobody
was covering him. Jay Ward is just playing zone, sitting
there and covered too, and he's like, oh, wait, you're
about to throw this.

Speaker 5 (01:11:06):
Oh you're throwing this, and he threw it.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
I just don't see it as a dirty hit, No,
he was. I think he was trying to aim at
the unfortunately at the higher part of the hip. But
you know, it was just making sure I don't go
above and hit him in the shoulders or neck. And
then all of a sudden, I'm getting a pink slip
because I'm getting fined and you know, a flag and
he's can cussed. But yeah, a lot of tight ends
have come out, and I think Hackinson even said it
after he got hurt. He's like, man, hit me in
the shoulder, I'd rather get hitting the head. Like a

(01:11:30):
lot of tight ends have said that because this is
a safety tight end problem. They are asked like the
window and target is getting smaller and smaller, and now
you're asking me to go even smaller because if I
hit him in the stomach, you're gonna say he's defenseless, right,
Like he's defensives regardless. So let's just say, okay, if
you catch the ball in the air when you come down.
You got to stop right there, like that's the only

(01:11:51):
other answer. You can't run after you catch it in
the air in the middle of the field. Why are
we doing This's that's what's coming down to cause it's like,
what do you want me to do? It's going to
come down and run me over, and now I'm a
highlight to him.

Speaker 3 (01:12:02):
Let's do this. Our local Chevy Dealers just really thankful
for their sponsorship and support of Vikings fan line. The
Local Chevy Dealers drive of the game. It featured nineteen plays,
twelve freaking minutes off the clock, how about that? And
late first and then just a massive chunk of the
second quarter. Five third down conversions, four of which were

(01:12:24):
third and six or longer, including a third and one
with an eight yard rush by Jordan Mason to cap
it off.

Speaker 22 (01:12:30):
Third and one from Minnesota from the eight. The Vikings
are four or four on third down. McCarthy under center,
hands it to Mason, sprint to the left to the
five to the ze.

Speaker 6 (01:12:40):
Touch Ta.

Speaker 22 (01:12:42):
Jordon Mason with his six rushing touchdown this year, and
Minnesota has taken up thirteen.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
Serially, that is your local Chevy Dealers drive of the game,
all part of a game that ended thirty one to
nothing in favor of your favorite team. First shut out
by the Vikings over their opponent since twenty twenty three,
that awful Dobbs game three nothing win at Vegas. Before that,
it was sixteen nothing the Vikings beat the Packers at

(01:13:12):
Lambeau towards the end of that twenty seventeen season.

Speaker 5 (01:13:15):
Other than that hadn't happened.

Speaker 3 (01:13:16):
No shutouts for your Vikings since nineteen ninety three, So
rarities in.

Speaker 8 (01:13:21):
Recent decades for your Purple. But they did it today
over the Commanders.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
One more pause. We're going to come back and put
a bow on this thing and then hand the baton
off to Saucy and Max Fuller.

Speaker 5 (01:13:31):
It's Vikings fan line on the fan.

Speaker 8 (01:13:36):
Hi Isaac from Woodbury.

Speaker 5 (01:13:38):
We'll go Isaac. JJ did well today.

Speaker 3 (01:13:41):
I agree the play Calor was good.

Speaker 5 (01:13:44):
Yeah, JJ did well with it.

Speaker 8 (01:13:48):
I'm excited for the future. Thanks guys, love the show. Well,
Thank you, Isaac. Thank everybody for listening and for the talkbacks.

Speaker 5 (01:13:59):
That was a Ventril.

Speaker 23 (01:14:01):
So I'm sure you noticed that McCarthy's leg whip was
back today and I'm sure this went back to his
being able to process more quickly leading to the success
that he's had today. I'm just wondering if KOC, now
that he's seen a little bit of his success on
McCarthy's part, is going to force him back to concentrate
on his footwork and thereby causing him to regress again

(01:14:25):
against the Cowboys, the Giants.

Speaker 16 (01:14:27):
And so on.

Speaker 3 (01:14:28):
Well, it's interesting that you bring that up, because I
believe the head coach was even mentioning some footwork and
fundamentals during this press conference today. But it was also
it appears the most accurate that we've seen the QB
in his seven appearances thus far in twenty twenty five
leg whip and all Vikings win thirty one nothing. And

(01:14:49):
that's kind of how well, let's put a rap on
it with us, Ron, What is it that you want
to see? I mean, is it just it's obvious, just
more steps from JJ That is the next step for
a five win team is more steps for the quarterback. Right, Yeah,
so first down?

Speaker 1 (01:15:03):
Right?

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
The Cowboys defense as well, gives what five point seven
yards on first down?

Speaker 5 (01:15:07):
Do what you did today?

Speaker 2 (01:15:09):
They didn't have a third down in the first drive.
They attacked on first and second down, but it wasn't
go deep. It was five yard seven yard, five yard,
seven yard and it one's third and one run the ball.
I just want to see that. Just stick to that
and be okay with it. Well, that's it for Vikings
fan line.

Speaker 3 (01:15:25):
Thank you to Ron Johnson, thank you to Max Fuller
meets us Paul Lambert eating while talking on the microphone.

Speaker 5 (01:15:30):
It's like I was listening to the noon to three show.

Speaker 3 (01:15:32):
It was awesome, and it was awesome seeing the team
feel some success on the field today as they beat
the Commanders. The Vikings win thirty one nothing in a romp.

Speaker 8 (01:15:43):
Three touchdowns by the QB, no picks dig that, no
turnovers for JJ McCarthy and three touchdowns for him.

Speaker 3 (01:15:50):
A lot of tight end action. Ron loves that, as
we all know. Tomorrow live in Local five thirty am,
you'll hear from the Power Trip pumping it up montage
at nine. We're back on our feed again and coverage
all the way leading you up to Sunday night football
Vikings at the Dallas Cowboys.

Speaker 5 (01:16:08):
That's it for US.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
Packers up early third quarter, fourteen to three over the Bears.

Speaker 8 (01:16:12):
It's Vikings overtime. Next with Meat Sauce with Max Fuller
and I'm.

Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
Nordo from nine to noon. Everybody have a great night.
Thanks for listening to kfa N and the Minnesota Vikings
Audio Network.