January 2, 2026 • 22 mins
Cy Amundson is joined by Chad Daniels for Vikings Tailgate!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Recket Recket. I'm here. Hey, everybody, welcome into another episode
of the Tailgate, brought to you by ticket Master. It's me,
your host, Cy Aminson, taking you through the final week
of the NFL season for your Minnesota Vikings. Now, normally
(00:27):
this is a two man show, myself the great Chad Daniels. Unfortunately,
with holidays and travel and schedules, the final episode of
the season will be a solo one. It's just me.
It's it will Jase here. I shouldn't say it's solo.
Producer Jay Nelson is here, but it'll be me. Colin
cowharding my feelings directly into a microphone. As we prepare
(00:53):
for Packer week. For the final week, people are it's
it's kind of in two camps. As we are eight
and eight, we've won a bunch of games in a row.
The Packers are gonna be without a bus load full
of people. We have a chance to go nine to eight.
And you have the people who are thrilled, they needed
(01:13):
some meaning, they needed some positivity. You have the other
people who are furious they wanted the draft pick. They
don't like to middle They either want to be on
the top or the bottom, and I think you can
only be where you're at. So we are at eight
and eight. I know it's not a one for one comparison,
(01:34):
but I want to harken back Jay to a few
years ago when the Lions got a when the schedule
was set up weird, when it should have been. You know,
the Lions shouldn't have known their fate in my opinion,
before they played on Sunday Night Football against the Green
Bay Packers. They were eliminated, and they came out and
(01:55):
they played their hearts out and won a big game,
and a lot of people viewed that as the springboard
into what has been the Lions run. Now, obviously they're
on a run because of all the crazy talent and
the coaching, et cetera, et cetera, but that was a
big moment for them. And I've said this on this
show before, and it's something I'm a firm believer in,
(02:17):
is locker rooms are weird places. When teams start winning
like that, they start believing it, they start believing in
one another. When they start losing that way, they start
believing in it, they stop believing in one another. So
every year is its own team and its own roster
and its whole own thing. But it's not like this
is gonna be a new unit Florida ceiling. You have
(02:40):
the pillars, the general manager, the ownership, the general manager,
the coach, a vast majority of his coaching staff, positional coaches,
and you have a lot of cornerstone players spread all
over the roster. So, yes, the roster and some things
are going to look different next year, but not much.
And the messaging and the vibe and the community that's
(03:02):
built underneath Koc isn't gonna change significantly from what he's
been doing each and every year up and to this point.
And so I don't take lightly like would I love
a high draft pick, Yes, but if you're gonna win
a few games and land in the football purgatory, which
is not a top five to seven pick and not
(03:24):
in the playoffs, well then do it in a meaningful way.
You know, you've seen Koc at the end of each
game when he does his post games, he keeps referencing
before this streak started, go out and win one game,
and then like whatever this streak is that some people
think is meaningless. There's been a belief in the locker
room about it. There's been a belief and a preaching
(03:45):
from the coaching staff about it. And I do think
that matters. I do think it carries through. I do
think for Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, you know, for the
young guys, Dallas Turner, Donovan Jackson, people who are gonna
be here next year. You know, there's a long list
of those guys. I do think it matters. And so
not only am I all in on winning this game.
(04:05):
I don't care who they line up. I don't I
don't care if they put their significant others or siblings
on the field in green Bay, squash them. I like
watching green Bay lose, even if they don't have anything
to play for. Squash them, run them into the mud,
and walk out with all these wins in a row.
And let's build what we're going to do next. Let's
worry about next year, but let's carry that momentum from
(04:28):
this one, because that's the best case scenario given you've
arrived at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
For sure, I think the thing that you know, coaching
staffs and teams want to do is build stability. And
if you're at the end of your season with these
different players and guys have different escalators, guys have different meanings.
All these guys are the alphas of the alphas, and
all they want to do is win. The entire thing
is to put good plays on tape and to build
a winning culture. And I think you cited the thing
that I've been thinking about all season long is the
(04:54):
end of that Lion season, and they got to the
end of the year, and then they continue that going
into next season. It's something that I think that everyone
that's on this roster and everyone that's going to be
on this roster next year are looking at and pointing at, saying,
finish off on a five game win streak, which would
mean Kevin O'Connell has a five game win streak and
every season he's been a coach for the Vikings. That
is a big deal. And for all of these guys
(05:15):
that can carry that momentum into the offseason into whatever
they end up retooling into and then into the twenty
twenty sixth season, which ought to be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, I think you're right. I think you lean into it.
I think you build meaning into this run in a
season that didn't go where anybody wanted it to go
and did have some negativity around it. What are the
things that you can lean on and look back at
and go of that that was a good thing. I'm
staking my mental energy. I'm giving space to that and
(05:48):
to me. When you talk about this win streak, you
talk about the second half of the season, it's the defense.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, they've been insane.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
After they got healthy, we got a glimpse of why
everybody was having this who was the quarterback discussion? Why
we were talking about stuff like that in the offseason,
because it looks like a championship caliber defense. They look
like they can play with anyone anywhere at any time.
This thing where they didn't hold, where no one got
a passing touchdown on them for however long Jay six
(06:16):
Street games, that wasn't that. Dak was in that run. Yeah,
Dak Prescott and Ceedee Lamb were in that run. And
so I just think when you look at the defense,
you look at the places that the production came from
on a high level, there's not going to be enough
turnover that if we are fortunate enough, and this goes
(06:39):
into my resolutions, but if we are fortunate enough to
retain the defensive coordinator and you know, build a little
bit more talent around that side of the ball. I
don't see any reason why not only is that one
of your positive pillars from this season, but it's something
that's springboards in the next season, and you should be
the same amount whatever you felt last season. I think
(07:02):
if we get Jalen Redmand back, if this thing looks
you know, if Dallas Turner takes the step forward that
it looks like he's taking, there's no reason that it
shouldn't just be something you're happy about this season, something
that you're springing forward into next season. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I think the biggest thing is, you know, there's always
going to be roster turnover. There's a host of players
at this point who are going to be unrestricted free
agents and some other people that have different designations. But
ultimately it's the same thing like we were just talking about.
It's about consistency, it's about building a winning culture, and
like you said, a lot of it's going to depend
on what happens with the defensive coordinator. It's also going
to depend on what's going to happen with some of
those players that have been playing out of their minds
(07:39):
this season. You cited Jalen Redmond. Redman's the guy that's
and He's going to be a highly sought after piece
of the puzzle here in the upcoming offseason, and so
it's going to be very interesting to see what happens
with him. And I just think if you can bring
a guy like that back into the fold and pay
him and keep him for the future, I think that
is a guy you can build around as a young
talent for this defense.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Let me do the other one. The other, you know,
because this is a subset. This is the year in review,
the second thing I'm leaning on, But it's a it's
a bullet point of the header, that is the defense.
When are we going to start talking about Andrew van
Ginkel as more than a high level unique gadget The
way he's discussed by media and by you know, fans
(08:23):
got in this guy, we're any unique? Oh he's so smart,
any Like I'm I'm over there. And and maybe part
of it is you couldn't find a more perfect marriage
than him and the defensive coordinator. They really work together.
Flores knew that brought him in and it's but I
don't want to be dramatic to be like, this is
a guy that should be talked about in defensive player
of the year, but it's not a fluke what he
(08:44):
did last year, those interceptions, the ballhawk always being in
the right place. He's an absolute freak. And I think
we need to move from discussing his unique Swiss army
gadget nature into starting to discuss him among the better
and or best all around defensive players in the league,
(09:04):
because that's what he looks like. It's not a small
sample size anymore. It's two seasons.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
He's one hundred percent of difference.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Maanker.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I remember coming out of Miami, everyone's like, this guy
just flashes whenever he gets into games. And I think
you talked about the fact that he had the multiple
pick sixes last season that really put him on the
map for us, but then you just you see him
out there making those similar kind of plays just game
in and game out. Talks about the fact that, you know,
being a former quarterback, he kind of understands what they're
looking for and what they're trying to do, so he
masks it as well as he does. And the guy's
(09:31):
been nothing but absolutely a plus for us since he
walked in the door. So Van Ginkle's a guy that
you noticed when he wasn't on the field, and when
he got back, you started to see different things pop off.
You started to see other people around him benefiting from
the plays that he was making. And so he's a
guy another one. It's just like that is a guy
you can help build around on this defense moving forward.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It reminds me with him of the early Patriots team
because when that two thousand, two thousand and one, two
three four, when that first run of the Patriots was
winning and having success, I remember what the narrative was.
It was all these you know, hardened dads across America going, see,
that's how you win. No egos, no superstars, just a team.
(10:14):
And the truth was we just didn't realize how many.
It took a minute to go, oh, there's a bunch
of borderline Hall of famers and Hall of famers on
this team.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
That's what I was gonna say. Guys that were weekend
and week out that ended up becoming Pro Bowlers and
then stuck in Canton with bust after bust.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, you just didn't recognize it at the time. And
I wonder to the Van Ginkle thing with like, he's
a gadget player, he's everywhere. Is this that I wonder
if years from now we will look back and go, oh,
you mean one of the best players in the NFL.
That's maybe I'm being a little ridiculous, but I just
have such a high level of belief in what that
(10:52):
guy is and what his ceiling is that that's number
two for me. Stick around for more after the break
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(11:14):
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(11:36):
other great prizes. Viking fans deserve Pepsi scoll Welcome back
to the Vikings Tailgate. Let's jump back into our week
eighteen conversation. So let's do resolutions and then we'll shut
down this New Year's show. I want to tell you
a couple things that I'm really looking forward to this weekend.
One of the fun things about being a fan is
(11:57):
saying what you want to happen, criticizing what happened, loving
what have like. Thinking you're smarter than the people making
the decision is one of the things that makes professional
sports truly an escape right. You're so deeply invested you
think you know, you want to know. I like that.
I enjoy that part. I also am very aware of
(12:18):
how insanely difficult the processes and jobs are, of the
evaluators and the scouting staffs and stuff like that. You know,
when you get to work for a team and you
get to see inside the building and it stops being
something you watch on Sunday and it starts being like, Oh,
you go to work every day and do a job,
and then you realize how much goes into everything. It's
(12:39):
it's kind of like, what's that phenomenon called where people
don't they're too dumb to realize what they don't know
about a thing, so they think they're good at it. Yeah,
there we go, right. So I just constantly, whenever I'm
in the building, get smacked in the face with the
gigantic operation that it takes to run a sports organ
(13:02):
I saw that at ESPN. You go into these teams
and into these locker rooms, you go, oh my god,
look at how many people it takes to make any
of this happen. So I think the nice thing about
being a Viking fan right now is we have great ownership,
and that's the number one thing in sports. And I
think they truly want to win, and so you have
this belief that things are being done right, and then
(13:22):
that gets reinforced right by the grades. So I try
to stay away from the I don't want this guy,
I want this I can't do that with my resolutions, right,
I leave that. I leave that to my psycho threads.
I don't want that on record. I don't want anybody
to tell me how wrong I was about something anytime
(13:43):
in the future. Here are my broad resolutions, and the
first one is a retain someone bring them back. But
I think it's the obvious one. It's Flores. I hope
nothing but the best for this guy. Right, he's been
such a killer for the team. Man, I hope he's
our defensive coordinator for the next thirty years. He's so unique,
(14:03):
He's coached so many positions. He's got such a weird
background coming up as a scout. He just knows football
in this different way. He knows what he wants and
knows how to execute it. It's hard to go from
not in the playoffs to winning a Super Bowl, for sure,
because the NFL is a true salary cap sport. It's
the one sport where you really can do that. You
(14:23):
can make steps pretty quickly, and in a couple of
years you go from being at the bottom to being
at the top. And to me, if you are able
to retain someone like Brian Flores and you have the
offensive firepower from a talent weapons standpoint, and brain power
from a coaching standpoint, I think just as a fan,
(14:46):
you feel like you're really ready to take another swing.
I think if we're lucky enough that Brian Flores is
this team's defensive coordinator through this offseason and in the
next year, there's no reason that you shouldn't be carrying
the same sort of enthusiasm you may be carried into
this season in the next season.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, And I think if you look at the talent
that's been put on his defense, I think a lot
of those guys were people that he identified that he
was looking for your cashman's, your Grenard's, your ven ginkles.
Those guys who have been those kind of difference makers
on this defense are guys that he just looked at
and said, I know they're going to work in my system.
Let's bring them in. And I think, you know, having
a cornerstone like him, if we're able to retain him,
(15:26):
that's just one of those other things that you don't
have to necessarily worry about anymore. I mean, right now,
your sixthn yards allowed a game, third and passing yards
a game, and then twenty second rushing, but overall your
tenth and points per game, Like, if you are able
to keep that kind of a thing where you have
essentially a top ten defense and you're able to pair
that with, you know, whatever is happening with your offense,
(15:46):
and you can make it as consistent as possible, that's
when you start to see teams like Chicago flip it
from fourth place to first place in one season because
they're able to get everything on both sides of the ball.
So having a guy like Flores come back would be
a huge deal.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It's me to my second one all aboard the quarterback train.
And here's what I mean by that. I said this
at the beginning of the year. I continue to say this.
Whatever the coach decides for quarterback, he's earned my willingness
to hear him out, watch him and see what happens
when you do what you did with Kirk, when you
do what you did with Dobbs, when you did what
you did with Mullins, when you did what you did
(16:21):
with Sam Darnold. Like you've You've shown who you are.
You've earned it. So I like, I like anyone and
everyone bring what do you say free agents? Tell me
about all of them rookies. I want to hear about
all them, JJ, give them another shot. Like whatever, whatever
they decide, all aboard the train, every option above the train,
(16:42):
and let our quarterback guru head coach have an opportunity
to sort it out. Because I think I feel the
way most people feel is that we are a quarterback evolution,
you know, a growth, an improvement away from this being
a very very scary football team. I like JJ McCarthy.
(17:02):
I'm rooting for the dude, and I'm but I'm going
to root for whoever whenever, however, and I'm very curious
to see how all that comes together. I want them all.
Throw them all at me, Let's see what happens, and
let the coach who knows this position better than anyone
sort it out.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Right there with you, it's, you know, take whatever it
takes in this offseason, evaluate whatever you got to do,
and then and then you know, throw the competition out
there and let's see what happens between McCarthy and and
whoever else they identify at this point. So right there
with you, buddy, it's the whole thing of if you
can get more consistent play out of this offense, that's
going to be something that's going to be a huge,
huge help next season.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
The last one for me is a fairly obvious one.
It's splashed the draft. And here's here's what I mean
by that. The NFL is a math equation does this
has always been my opinion. It's the only hard salary
cap sport you you thrive on getting more production versus
(18:00):
the dollars spent than the next team. That's why so many,
so many teams win Super Bowls with quarterbacks on rookie
contracts right or in Roethlisberger's case, on a second contract
where they're not making max money, because the ultimate cheat
code in the draft in the NFL is to hit
the draft and get some players you can, especially when
you're close, like I think this team is close, Like
(18:23):
this winning streak is indicating they're close, like the record
versus some of the statistical metrics show how close it is.
You have a home run draft and everything goes the
right direction really really quick. So I'm I don't normally
do it, but I think this is gonna be the
year that as a fan, I'm gonna be pathetically invested
(18:43):
because I don't know anything about college football, so I
always stay out of opinions on who gets drafted and
what and where. But I'm getting into it. Jay, I'm
gonna do you think my messages are bad now? I
imagine as we roll up to draft and I actually
have opinions on the guys who might get drafted, I
am I'm concerned that I'm about to go deep on
caring about the draft this year.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I'm looking forward to you showing up to the facility,
sitting in my office and watching all the college tape
that we get in for all these different guys, because
you've talked about it a lot in the past. You
are trying to refill that well and just trying to
make sure that you've got more and more talent that
can come in here and augment versus having to completely
overhaul a roster. So hopefully that with whatever is going
to happen here coming up, with all the different picks
(19:25):
that we've got, there's all the compensatory and everything else
that's going to hit. But with everything else coming here
this offseason, I think it's going to be a really
interesting offseason to see, not only once again for free agency,
but what does the draft turn into.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Let's close the show down here, and let's close the
season down, because even though the Vikings upside of our team,
even though the Vikings aren't playing for positioning, there's a
couple of fun ones that are I'm always going to
be a secondary Buffalo Bills fan. I think if you
are a Viking fan, you should be a Bills fan.
That is my belief. They have suffered the way you
(19:58):
have suffered, Famous Miss Kick. They have four lost Super Bowls.
They have a fan base that they are not unlikable
in any way. I mean, unless your partner divorced you
without you, without any warning and moved to Buffalo and
change their number. I guess then you could have some
beef with the city at Buffalo, but you'd have to
(20:21):
explain to me how someone could not like Buffalo from
a just rooting for them in that city. It's a
no brainer to me.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
If your divorce papers were served you while you were
flying through a table with a chicken wing in your
mouth eating blue cheese like you know, there would be
some trauma there side.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, yeah, I guess. I think with the Chiefs out,
with potentially the Ravens out, we'll see how that Sunday
night game goes. It's the path for Josh Allen, and
I want to see him do it, but in the
final week of the season because they don't. There's not
really a lot going there. For me, it's two things.
I'm a Sam Darnold guy. I liked Sam when he
was here. He answered the bell against a team that
(21:00):
beat him twice last year. It is literally an identical position.
He is playing a divisional opponent for the number one
seed and the bye. It is a big time game.
It is primetime, it is Saturday night football. I'm all
in on hoping Sam Darnold has a moment.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Listen I am salty enough with all these NFC teams
just in general because it's not my team that's in there.
But if there's one team at this point through the
entire NFC that I can get behind, it's the Seahawks,
and it's for what you said. Defensively, they're not the
legion of Boom, but they are stout as hell and
they're running the ball as well. So to me, they
feel like one of the most complete teams in the
entire NFL. And I'm going to be rooted for the
(21:39):
Seahawks and the NFC side that's going to.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Do it for us on this episode of The Tailgate
that's going to do it for us. As a season
on the Tailgate, maybe we'll do some off season stuff
around the draft since I am going to be so
involved in it. Thank you from Chad, myself and Jay
Zach Martine, Blake Wexler, all the people who contributed. We
love doing the show. We appreciate that you guys listen
(22:02):
each and every week. If you want to hear the
full conversation, make sure you check out our Vikings Tailgate
podcast feed on your favorite podcast app, and while you're there,
leave us a good review. And a comment it helps
the show out. Finally, huge shout out to Ticketmaster, the
official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings, for helping make
this show happen. We appreciate you listening all season long
(22:24):
and enjoy the game. Everybody Minnesota needed a go to
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Recket Recket. I'm here. Hey, everybody, welcome into another episode
of the Tailgate, brought to you by ticket Master. It's me,
your host, Cy Aminson, taking you through the final week
of the NFL season for your Minnesota Vikings. Now, normally
(00:27):
this is a two man show, myself the great Chad Daniels. Unfortunately,
with holidays and travel and schedules, the final episode of
the season will be a solo one. It's just me.
It's it will Jase here. I shouldn't say it's solo.
Producer Jay Nelson is here, but it'll be me. Colin
cowharding my feelings directly into a microphone. As we prepare
(00:53):
for Packer week. For the final week, people are it's
it's kind of in two camps. As we are eight
and eight, we've won a bunch of games in a row.
The Packers are gonna be without a bus load full
of people. We have a chance to go nine to eight.
And you have the people who are thrilled, they needed
(01:13):
some meaning, they needed some positivity. You have the other
people who are furious they wanted the draft pick. They
don't like to middle They either want to be on
the top or the bottom, and I think you can
only be where you're at. So we are at eight
and eight. I know it's not a one for one comparison,
(01:34):
but I want to harken back Jay to a few
years ago when the Lions got a when the schedule
was set up weird, when it should have been. You know,
the Lions shouldn't have known their fate in my opinion,
before they played on Sunday Night Football against the Green
Bay Packers. They were eliminated, and they came out and
(01:55):
they played their hearts out and won a big game,
and a lot of people viewed that as the springboard
into what has been the Lions run. Now, obviously they're
on a run because of all the crazy talent and
the coaching, et cetera, et cetera, but that was a
big moment for them. And I've said this on this
show before, and it's something I'm a firm believer in,
(02:17):
is locker rooms are weird places. When teams start winning
like that, they start believing it, they start believing in
one another. When they start losing that way, they start
believing in it, they stop believing in one another. So
every year is its own team and its own roster
and its whole own thing. But it's not like this
is gonna be a new unit Florida ceiling. You have
(02:40):
the pillars, the general manager, the ownership, the general manager,
the coach, a vast majority of his coaching staff, positional coaches,
and you have a lot of cornerstone players spread all
over the roster. So, yes, the roster and some things
are going to look different next year, but not much.
And the messaging and the vibe and the community that's
(03:02):
built underneath Koc isn't gonna change significantly from what he's
been doing each and every year up and to this point.
And so I don't take lightly like would I love
a high draft pick, Yes, but if you're gonna win
a few games and land in the football purgatory, which
is not a top five to seven pick and not
(03:24):
in the playoffs, well then do it in a meaningful way.
You know, you've seen Koc at the end of each
game when he does his post games, he keeps referencing
before this streak started, go out and win one game,
and then like whatever this streak is that some people
think is meaningless. There's been a belief in the locker
room about it. There's been a belief and a preaching
(03:45):
from the coaching staff about it. And I do think
that matters. I do think it carries through. I do
think for Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, you know, for the
young guys, Dallas Turner, Donovan Jackson, people who are gonna
be here next year. You know, there's a long list
of those guys. I do think it matters. And so
not only am I all in on winning this game.
(04:05):
I don't care who they line up. I don't I
don't care if they put their significant others or siblings
on the field in green Bay, squash them. I like
watching green Bay lose, even if they don't have anything
to play for. Squash them, run them into the mud,
and walk out with all these wins in a row.
And let's build what we're going to do next. Let's
worry about next year, but let's carry that momentum from
(04:28):
this one, because that's the best case scenario given you've
arrived at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
For sure, I think the thing that you know, coaching
staffs and teams want to do is build stability. And
if you're at the end of your season with these
different players and guys have different escalators, guys have different meanings.
All these guys are the alphas of the alphas, and
all they want to do is win. The entire thing
is to put good plays on tape and to build
a winning culture. And I think you cited the thing
that I've been thinking about all season long is the
(04:54):
end of that Lion season, and they got to the
end of the year, and then they continue that going
into next season. It's something that I think that everyone
that's on this roster and everyone that's going to be
on this roster next year are looking at and pointing at, saying,
finish off on a five game win streak, which would
mean Kevin O'Connell has a five game win streak and
every season he's been a coach for the Vikings. That
is a big deal. And for all of these guys
(05:15):
that can carry that momentum into the offseason into whatever
they end up retooling into and then into the twenty
twenty sixth season, which ought to be a fun one.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, I think you're right. I think you lean into it.
I think you build meaning into this run in a
season that didn't go where anybody wanted it to go
and did have some negativity around it. What are the
things that you can lean on and look back at
and go of that that was a good thing. I'm
staking my mental energy. I'm giving space to that and
(05:48):
to me. When you talk about this win streak, you
talk about the second half of the season, it's the defense.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Yeah, they've been insane.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
After they got healthy, we got a glimpse of why
everybody was having this who was the quarterback discussion? Why
we were talking about stuff like that in the offseason,
because it looks like a championship caliber defense. They look
like they can play with anyone anywhere at any time.
This thing where they didn't hold, where no one got
a passing touchdown on them for however long Jay six
(06:16):
Street games, that wasn't that. Dak was in that run. Yeah,
Dak Prescott and Ceedee Lamb were in that run. And
so I just think when you look at the defense,
you look at the places that the production came from
on a high level, there's not going to be enough
turnover that if we are fortunate enough, and this goes
(06:39):
into my resolutions, but if we are fortunate enough to
retain the defensive coordinator and you know, build a little
bit more talent around that side of the ball. I
don't see any reason why not only is that one
of your positive pillars from this season, but it's something
that's springboards in the next season, and you should be
the same amount whatever you felt last season. I think
(07:02):
if we get Jalen Redmand back, if this thing looks
you know, if Dallas Turner takes the step forward that
it looks like he's taking, there's no reason that it
shouldn't just be something you're happy about this season, something
that you're springing forward into next season. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
I think the biggest thing is, you know, there's always
going to be roster turnover. There's a host of players
at this point who are going to be unrestricted free
agents and some other people that have different designations. But
ultimately it's the same thing like we were just talking about.
It's about consistency, it's about building a winning culture, and
like you said, a lot of it's going to depend
on what happens with the defensive coordinator. It's also going
to depend on what's going to happen with some of
those players that have been playing out of their minds
(07:39):
this season. You cited Jalen Redmond. Redman's the guy that's
and He's going to be a highly sought after piece
of the puzzle here in the upcoming offseason, and so
it's going to be very interesting to see what happens
with him. And I just think if you can bring
a guy like that back into the fold and pay
him and keep him for the future, I think that
is a guy you can build around as a young
talent for this defense.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Let me do the other one. The other, you know,
because this is a subset. This is the year in review,
the second thing I'm leaning on, But it's a it's
a bullet point of the header, that is the defense.
When are we going to start talking about Andrew van
Ginkel as more than a high level unique gadget The
way he's discussed by media and by you know, fans
(08:23):
got in this guy, we're any unique? Oh he's so smart,
any Like I'm I'm over there. And and maybe part
of it is you couldn't find a more perfect marriage
than him and the defensive coordinator. They really work together.
Flores knew that brought him in and it's but I
don't want to be dramatic to be like, this is
a guy that should be talked about in defensive player
of the year, but it's not a fluke what he
(08:44):
did last year, those interceptions, the ballhawk always being in
the right place. He's an absolute freak. And I think
we need to move from discussing his unique Swiss army
gadget nature into starting to discuss him among the better
and or best all around defensive players in the league,
(09:04):
because that's what he looks like. It's not a small
sample size anymore. It's two seasons.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
He's one hundred percent of difference.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Maanker.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I remember coming out of Miami, everyone's like, this guy
just flashes whenever he gets into games. And I think
you talked about the fact that he had the multiple
pick sixes last season that really put him on the
map for us, but then you just you see him
out there making those similar kind of plays just game
in and game out. Talks about the fact that, you know,
being a former quarterback, he kind of understands what they're
looking for and what they're trying to do, so he
masks it as well as he does. And the guy's
(09:31):
been nothing but absolutely a plus for us since he
walked in the door. So Van Ginkle's a guy that
you noticed when he wasn't on the field, and when
he got back, you started to see different things pop off.
You started to see other people around him benefiting from
the plays that he was making. And so he's a
guy another one. It's just like that is a guy
you can help build around on this defense moving forward.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It reminds me with him of the early Patriots team
because when that two thousand, two thousand and one, two
three four, when that first run of the Patriots was
winning and having success, I remember what the narrative was.
It was all these you know, hardened dads across America going, see,
that's how you win. No egos, no superstars, just a team.
(10:14):
And the truth was we just didn't realize how many.
It took a minute to go, oh, there's a bunch
of borderline Hall of famers and Hall of famers on
this team.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
That's what I was gonna say. Guys that were weekend
and week out that ended up becoming Pro Bowlers and
then stuck in Canton with bust after bust.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Yeah, you just didn't recognize it at the time. And
I wonder to the Van Ginkle thing with like, he's
a gadget player, he's everywhere. Is this that I wonder
if years from now we will look back and go, oh,
you mean one of the best players in the NFL.
That's maybe I'm being a little ridiculous, but I just
have such a high level of belief in what that
(10:52):
guy is and what his ceiling is that that's number
two for me. Stick around for more after the break
right here on the Vikings Tailgate, presented by Ticketmaster, but
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(11:14):
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locations for your chance to win Victor's Ride and or
(11:36):
other great prizes. Viking fans deserve Pepsi scoll Welcome back
to the Vikings Tailgate. Let's jump back into our week
eighteen conversation. So let's do resolutions and then we'll shut
down this New Year's show. I want to tell you
a couple things that I'm really looking forward to this weekend.
One of the fun things about being a fan is
(11:57):
saying what you want to happen, criticizing what happened, loving
what have like. Thinking you're smarter than the people making
the decision is one of the things that makes professional
sports truly an escape right. You're so deeply invested you
think you know, you want to know. I like that.
I enjoy that part. I also am very aware of
(12:18):
how insanely difficult the processes and jobs are, of the
evaluators and the scouting staffs and stuff like that. You know,
when you get to work for a team and you
get to see inside the building and it stops being
something you watch on Sunday and it starts being like, Oh,
you go to work every day and do a job,
and then you realize how much goes into everything. It's
(12:39):
it's kind of like, what's that phenomenon called where people
don't they're too dumb to realize what they don't know
about a thing, so they think they're good at it. Yeah,
there we go, right. So I just constantly, whenever I'm
in the building, get smacked in the face with the
gigantic operation that it takes to run a sports organ
(13:02):
I saw that at ESPN. You go into these teams
and into these locker rooms, you go, oh my god,
look at how many people it takes to make any
of this happen. So I think the nice thing about
being a Viking fan right now is we have great ownership,
and that's the number one thing in sports. And I
think they truly want to win, and so you have
this belief that things are being done right, and then
(13:22):
that gets reinforced right by the grades. So I try
to stay away from the I don't want this guy,
I want this I can't do that with my resolutions, right,
I leave that. I leave that to my psycho threads.
I don't want that on record. I don't want anybody
to tell me how wrong I was about something anytime
(13:43):
in the future. Here are my broad resolutions, and the
first one is a retain someone bring them back. But
I think it's the obvious one. It's Flores. I hope
nothing but the best for this guy. Right, he's been
such a killer for the team. Man, I hope he's
our defensive coordinator for the next thirty years. He's so unique,
(14:03):
He's coached so many positions. He's got such a weird
background coming up as a scout. He just knows football
in this different way. He knows what he wants and
knows how to execute it. It's hard to go from
not in the playoffs to winning a Super Bowl, for sure,
because the NFL is a true salary cap sport. It's
the one sport where you really can do that. You
(14:23):
can make steps pretty quickly, and in a couple of
years you go from being at the bottom to being
at the top. And to me, if you are able
to retain someone like Brian Flores and you have the
offensive firepower from a talent weapons standpoint, and brain power
from a coaching standpoint, I think just as a fan,
(14:46):
you feel like you're really ready to take another swing.
I think if we're lucky enough that Brian Flores is
this team's defensive coordinator through this offseason and in the
next year, there's no reason that you shouldn't be carrying
the same sort of enthusiasm you may be carried into
this season in the next season.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Yeah, And I think if you look at the talent
that's been put on his defense, I think a lot
of those guys were people that he identified that he
was looking for your cashman's, your Grenard's, your ven ginkles.
Those guys who have been those kind of difference makers
on this defense are guys that he just looked at
and said, I know they're going to work in my system.
Let's bring them in. And I think, you know, having
a cornerstone like him, if we're able to retain him,
(15:26):
that's just one of those other things that you don't
have to necessarily worry about anymore. I mean, right now,
your sixthn yards allowed a game, third and passing yards
a game, and then twenty second rushing, but overall your
tenth and points per game, Like, if you are able
to keep that kind of a thing where you have
essentially a top ten defense and you're able to pair
that with, you know, whatever is happening with your offense,
(15:46):
and you can make it as consistent as possible, that's
when you start to see teams like Chicago flip it
from fourth place to first place in one season because
they're able to get everything on both sides of the ball.
So having a guy like Flores come back would be
a huge deal.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
It's me to my second one all aboard the quarterback train.
And here's what I mean by that. I said this
at the beginning of the year. I continue to say this.
Whatever the coach decides for quarterback, he's earned my willingness
to hear him out, watch him and see what happens
when you do what you did with Kirk, when you
do what you did with Dobbs, when you did what
you did with Mullins, when you did what you did
(16:21):
with Sam Darnold. Like you've You've shown who you are.
You've earned it. So I like, I like anyone and
everyone bring what do you say free agents? Tell me
about all of them rookies. I want to hear about
all them, JJ, give them another shot. Like whatever, whatever
they decide, all aboard the train, every option above the train,
(16:42):
and let our quarterback guru head coach have an opportunity
to sort it out. Because I think I feel the
way most people feel is that we are a quarterback evolution,
you know, a growth, an improvement away from this being
a very very scary football team. I like JJ McCarthy.
(17:02):
I'm rooting for the dude, and I'm but I'm going
to root for whoever whenever, however, and I'm very curious
to see how all that comes together. I want them all.
Throw them all at me, Let's see what happens, and
let the coach who knows this position better than anyone
sort it out.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Right there with you, it's, you know, take whatever it
takes in this offseason, evaluate whatever you got to do,
and then and then you know, throw the competition out
there and let's see what happens between McCarthy and and
whoever else they identify at this point. So right there
with you, buddy, it's the whole thing of if you
can get more consistent play out of this offense, that's
going to be something that's going to be a huge,
huge help next season.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
The last one for me is a fairly obvious one.
It's splashed the draft. And here's here's what I mean
by that. The NFL is a math equation does this
has always been my opinion. It's the only hard salary
cap sport you you thrive on getting more production versus
(18:00):
the dollars spent than the next team. That's why so many,
so many teams win Super Bowls with quarterbacks on rookie
contracts right or in Roethlisberger's case, on a second contract
where they're not making max money, because the ultimate cheat
code in the draft in the NFL is to hit
the draft and get some players you can, especially when
you're close, like I think this team is close, Like
(18:23):
this winning streak is indicating they're close, like the record
versus some of the statistical metrics show how close it is.
You have a home run draft and everything goes the
right direction really really quick. So I'm I don't normally
do it, but I think this is gonna be the
year that as a fan, I'm gonna be pathetically invested
(18:43):
because I don't know anything about college football, so I
always stay out of opinions on who gets drafted and
what and where. But I'm getting into it. Jay, I'm
gonna do you think my messages are bad now? I
imagine as we roll up to draft and I actually
have opinions on the guys who might get drafted, I
am I'm concerned that I'm about to go deep on
caring about the draft this year.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
I'm looking forward to you showing up to the facility,
sitting in my office and watching all the college tape
that we get in for all these different guys, because
you've talked about it a lot in the past. You
are trying to refill that well and just trying to
make sure that you've got more and more talent that
can come in here and augment versus having to completely
overhaul a roster. So hopefully that with whatever is going
to happen here coming up, with all the different picks
(19:25):
that we've got, there's all the compensatory and everything else
that's going to hit. But with everything else coming here
this offseason, I think it's going to be a really
interesting offseason to see, not only once again for free agency,
but what does the draft turn into.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
Let's close the show down here, and let's close the
season down, because even though the Vikings upside of our team,
even though the Vikings aren't playing for positioning, there's a
couple of fun ones that are I'm always going to
be a secondary Buffalo Bills fan. I think if you
are a Viking fan, you should be a Bills fan.
That is my belief. They have suffered the way you
(19:58):
have suffered, Famous Miss Kick. They have four lost Super Bowls.
They have a fan base that they are not unlikable
in any way. I mean, unless your partner divorced you
without you, without any warning and moved to Buffalo and
change their number. I guess then you could have some
beef with the city at Buffalo, but you'd have to
(20:21):
explain to me how someone could not like Buffalo from
a just rooting for them in that city. It's a
no brainer to me.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
If your divorce papers were served you while you were
flying through a table with a chicken wing in your
mouth eating blue cheese like you know, there would be
some trauma there side.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
Yeah, yeah, I guess. I think with the Chiefs out,
with potentially the Ravens out, we'll see how that Sunday
night game goes. It's the path for Josh Allen, and
I want to see him do it, but in the
final week of the season because they don't. There's not
really a lot going there. For me, it's two things.
I'm a Sam Darnold guy. I liked Sam when he
was here. He answered the bell against a team that
(21:00):
beat him twice last year. It is literally an identical position.
He is playing a divisional opponent for the number one
seed and the bye. It is a big time game.
It is primetime, it is Saturday night football. I'm all
in on hoping Sam Darnold has a moment.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Listen I am salty enough with all these NFC teams
just in general because it's not my team that's in there.
But if there's one team at this point through the
entire NFC that I can get behind, it's the Seahawks,
and it's for what you said. Defensively, they're not the
legion of Boom, but they are stout as hell and
they're running the ball as well. So to me, they
feel like one of the most complete teams in the
entire NFL. And I'm going to be rooted for the
(21:39):
Seahawks and the NFC side that's going to.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
Do it for us on this episode of The Tailgate
that's going to do it for us. As a season
on the Tailgate, maybe we'll do some off season stuff
around the draft since I am going to be so
involved in it. Thank you from Chad, myself and Jay
Zach Martine, Blake Wexler, all the people who contributed. We
love doing the show. We appreciate that you guys listen
(22:02):
each and every week. If you want to hear the
full conversation, make sure you check out our Vikings Tailgate
podcast feed on your favorite podcast app, and while you're there,
leave us a good review. And a comment it helps
the show out. Finally, huge shout out to Ticketmaster, the
official ticket marketplace of the Minnesota Vikings, for helping make
this show happen. We appreciate you listening all season long
(22:24):
and enjoy the game. Everybody Minnesota needed a go to
source for everything high school sports. That's why the Star
Tribune created Strib Varsity. Sign up now at startribune dot
com slash Strib Varsity
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