All Episodes

January 14, 2025 • 44 mins
Charch chimes in on the Wildcard L, then Bercich joins for a shorty, before PA's final thoughts as he departs the show early.
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Paul Charchi and co host of The Friday Football Feast,
joins nine to noon.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good morning, Paul, Good morning, Paul.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
Very gallant of you to hit the studio coming off
the plane. You're on three hours of sleep. Nicely done,
all right, Less.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
I appreciate you what you think of the game, and
just stream your consciousness no matter where, no matter where
it takes you, just be the Paul Charching and we
have come to know and love.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
I'm actively processing the loss right now, Paul. I've got
a variety of symptoms. It's an upset stomach, dizziness, dry mouth, hives, constipation, insomnia, drowsiness,
blood in my stool tonight is It's not great right now.
This was not the way that I'm less upset that
the season is ending now than the way the season

(01:00):
and ended, and it calls into question a lot of
things we'll be talking about for the next several months.
The play calling by Kevin O'Connell was I think.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Really really.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
Non dynamic. I guess might be a nice nicest way
to put it. You know, his quarterback was getting destroyed,
and Kevin O'Connell simply didn't call enough quick hitting plays
to get the ball out of Sam's hands quickly. I
would have liked to have seen slant screens, bubbles, whatever
it takes to really get Sam in a position where
he schematically will get rid of the ball too quickly.

(01:32):
And you know, and obviously Sam held the ball, you know,
way too long. You can't take sacks when in seven
seconds in the pocket. Sacks are ridiculous, and Sam just
need to make more first read deliveries. So too many
slow developing plays and Sam needed to make quicker calls
in the pocket. You know, nine sacks. We went ed
Rooney on our favorite team last night nine times, and

(01:55):
the interior of the Vikings offensive line just got overwhelmed. Paul,
I feel like, you know, you got two big, big,
big off season priorities cornerback because we have like none
on roster. And then we just have to get better
at guard, center, guard, and that's gonna be that. We'll
be talking a lot about that when the draft gets closer.
I think it's and then you know, the defense I

(02:17):
thought played pretty well in this game, but they just
they couldn't generate the big plays and the one near
miss that they had on the Blake Cashman touchdown called back.
Still not clear as to whether or not that should
have been called back, but just two sacks, no picks,
no fumble recoveries, and and a lot of questions, Paul.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
So it was, it was.

Speaker 4 (02:34):
It was a frustrating way to have the season end
on these two bad games. And it it's just, uh again,
don't I feel less less bad about the fact that
we lost and more about.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
The manner of the loss, if if if I were
too proclaimed now with a right to change it during
the course of the off season. The quarterback room for
the Minnesota Vikings, Uh do do you?

Speaker 2 (02:55):
I mean it's not you.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Know, we're not you know, we're not going outside of
the box here, you know, soon super stridently. But the
quarterback room would be JJ McCarthy, Daniel Jones, and Brett Rippin.
How does that hit you? That sounds exactly right?

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Right?

Speaker 3 (03:11):
You know, maybe Nickmullins is the third.

Speaker 6 (03:13):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
There there is now a scenario Paul, where Sam Donald
stays as a backup.

Speaker 6 (03:18):
Right.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
You know this was not even remotely on our radar
two and a half weeks ago, But now there's a
chance Sam Donald does not land a starting NFL gig.
And although I think he will, but there's still I
think the door is now open to him having to
sign as a backup somewhere and that would be our backup, right.
I mean, if I'm rolling into next year with him

(03:40):
as my backup, I feel pretty good. But the way
you laid it out is I still think the probability
is exactly is exactly what you just said.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
And it's J J.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
McCarthy time. I mean, I guess you know, and I'm
sure you've heard this a lot.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
I have too.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
This is it's all over, It's been all over social
media for two weeks. You know, at least we saw
the other side of Sam Donald before we had to
pay Sam Donald. And then that's I don't you know.
I guess that's the silver.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Lining, right, you know.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
I mean, given the price tag for Donald, I mean,
it went from you know, it went from you know,
being Louis Vaton asked to potentially on the clearance rack
at at at a very fair price, at least what
some would deem it. I mean, you know there's somebody
out there who would want to dive into that and

(04:27):
would want to pay him despite what they saw the
last two games. Pay him whatever they feel the worst
would be at that time somebody like the Las Vegas Raiders,
you know, the Steelers, Yeah, yeah, the Steelers. Potentially you
got to run a certain type of offense for Sam,
I think to make it work. But you know, so
I don't think he and his representation, and in fact,

(04:49):
I don't think they should look at the off season
as well. These last two were disasters, and yes I
had a fair amount to do with it, but let's
not forget the other six and you know he's on
a one in ten or he's off a one in ten,
it'll be more than that, you know. So if I
were them, I would come into it thinking, you know,
there are the other sixteen too, and there were a

(05:12):
lot of good things put on tape. So I can't
necessarily say backup status is something to which he will
be relegated.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
And I agree that that's not the probability, but I
think it's now in play as a possibility. When two
games ago, there was no scenario. I mean, it felt
like a zero percent chance that Sam to be signing
a backup caliber deal. But now I think that's, you know,
that's in play where he could be a backup or
could be somebody who has to fight and win through

(05:41):
preseason to become the starter in Week one for another team.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
What what do you think of the La Rams?

Speaker 4 (05:47):
Well, you know, really really well coached team obviously, And
what the biggest my biggest takeaway, Paul from watching this
Rams team twice And I don't mean this to be
a veiled shot at the Vikings, but it's going to
come across that way. I don't mean for it to
be Look what happens when you nail your drafts. I
mean this what this team has done with the Rams

(06:08):
have done through the last two drafts. Most you know,
half of the players that you're looking at have come
out of these last two drafts. Their defense with Bryden
Fisk and Jared Verse and Cameron Kitchens, an offense that
you know, their starting center is a six round pick.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
The fact that they are able.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
To get so many starters out of their draft is
it's just an amazing job that the Rams have done
with less sneed and it's it's.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
How you stay viable.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
And you know this is you know, the Vikings are
an old team by by age, and it feels like,
you know, you look at you look at how they've
assembled this Rams roster with a handful of superstars and
then incoming rookies who can make an impact. And we've
got some of the superstars. We just we don't have
enough of the incoming rookies that make you feel great

(07:02):
about where we are and compared to a team like
the Rams.

Speaker 3 (07:06):
And that's well, I'm watching that game that I'm looking.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
At all these first and second year players making big,
big plays, and I'm having a little bit of jealousy.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
I want that.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
I want that from our team, and we just we
don't have much of that pall.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
And if that's and if that's true, which I agree
with and I believe that it is, charged, doesn't that
kind of end the Sam Donald conversation in itself where
it is the twenty three twenty four unrestricted free agents
that are coming, this significant dearth of talent and the
interior of the offensive line. I think the interior of
the defensive line needs to improve. Just About every secondary
member save for Mattelis is going to be a free agent.

(07:41):
The Harry you know, will he or won't he retire
conversation is going to be in play. I think in
some ways that kind of ends the conversation as it
pertains to Sam Donald right there, because of the needs.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
I agree, You're just the money has to go at
different positions now because we haven't done a good enough
job in the draft.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
So I'm with you on that.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
I mean, until unless Sam is down to the same
kinds of contract that he just signed, if he's at
ten million dollars a year, two years and he's going
to be your backup, I'm okay. At that point, maybe
I'm interested, but you're right. I just we have dollars
that have to go to other needs because we haven't
got enough warm bodies through the draft.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
To help to help this team.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Unfortunately, one of one of several things that you know,
once the the the third leg of the therapeutic Davenport
of Love is repaired, because we just were on it
so much in this one last crist scenario, and we
start looking at things that are ahead of us, the
amount of money they have under the cap, you know,
which which is a rarity around here. It just kind

(08:41):
of started last year and Guacia do do fo Mensa
and the staff provided a laundry list of free agents.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
Most of them worked, some.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
Of them worked at an incredibly high level, and you know,
so there's that, and then there's going to be even
more to spend this offseas you know, but then it
you know, it's it's Brian Flores, the defensive coordinator has
done wonderful work here is is he He's going to
interview for head coaching jobs, and I just wonder what's

(09:11):
next for the man they call b Flow.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yeah, it's I think it's a coin flips chance that
he's still here. I do believe that he's he's certainly
in the mix, and we know he's going to be
he'll continue to interview. These last few games won't help
his case, but the totality of the season will and
and I don't know if he comes back.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
I don't know if he comes back or not.

Speaker 4 (09:34):
Your your salary cap comment is is really it's very sailing.
Vikings are almost seventy million under the cap. They have
the sixth most cap space going into next year. That
was I think this is this goes into the column
of a sure accomplishment for Quasio Dopha Menza. He's he
has gotten us out of cap hell in no, in
no small part because he absolutely made the right call

(09:55):
on Kirk Cousins and not getting anywhere near that Falcons
deal and and that will help, and that'll be a
lot of a lot of our excitement in mid March,
Paul and Eric will be about how we spend that
seventy million dollars and what players we bring in and
and can they make an immediate impact for this team.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
And that's uh, that's we'll have.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
We'll need to build off of that win to help
make up for the to this point, the lack of
players that we've been able to get in the draft.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Well, then you then you know the the other side
of it would be the offensive coach and or the
head coach and Kevin O'Connell and and what type of
a deal is next for him because assumably and and
I mean I'd be flabbergasted and shocked if he didn't
get some form of extension here, wouldn't you agreed?

Speaker 4 (10:41):
Okay, it's I think it's a I think it's a
done deal.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Right, but see but see here's here's you know, we
didn't get into this at the feast. I had it
in the toll Stoy and just in passing. But the
more I've thought about it, and not knowing the origin
of that rumor, that popped up the day they were
playing the Lions. You know, Jay Glazer just does not
wake up one morning and say, I think I'm going

(11:03):
to go with this, or the Jay Glazers, Adam Schefters
dot Com, Tom's Tom Pelisaro's, I mean, the Ian Rappaport
the most well respected when it comes to national breaking
news in the NFL. They get so many rumors and
they get put on so many leads that they they

(11:24):
probably go with less than five percent. So they're really
good at parsing their way through them to determine, all right,
what's the agenda here? And if I go with it,
you know what am I going to need in return?
You know, there's just there's just like a prostitution feel
to it, where hey, you got something to give me,
and I got something to give you, and let's just

(11:46):
keep it quiet and move on with our lives. It's
the timing is is. I'm just gonna lay it out
like this. If that rumor came from Kevin O'Connell's agent,
and I don't even know what his agent's name is,
shame on him and shame on everybody involved with that
rumor if it came from there, Because it deflects attention

(12:07):
from a game that day to secure a one seed
for a fourteen win team. And I don't know where
this thing came from, man, but I just know what
it was like being in Troy, Michigan at the team
hotel when it popped and then the conversations on the
sideline before the game, and the conversations after the game,
and some conversations I had last night with people about

(12:30):
the future of the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings,
which is I mean again, I'm ten of ten flabbergasted
if he does not get a contract extension. But when
that thing popped up the way it did, you know,
it's I'm just starting to try to figure out. I'm
not going to pursue this, but like, how, why, why
at that time, and if it came from anybody associated

(12:54):
with Kevin O'Connell's camp, I'm just going to say it,
as bluntly as I can, shame on you. That's selfish
and it lacks self awareness, and it jettisons the totality
of a team and it takes it from THY to I. Now,
I don't have any confirmation that it came from anybody
involved in the Kevin O'Connell camp. But again, the best

(13:15):
of the best in the NFL don't go with rumors
on popular pregame shows unless they feel they have something
concrete from a source they know they can trust. Plugged
into a situation like this, you feel me on all.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
This one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
And there's almost no way that Jay Glazer does this
without talking to Kevin O'Connell and or his agent and
somebody blessed that report. And here's the amazing thing about
that timing, Paul, this was before these two losses.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
Kevin O'Connell didn't need any more leverage than he already
had none.

Speaker 4 (13:49):
He was already going to make and still will make
a significant amount of money, a salary increase, he will
get the extension. He didn't need any of that. And
the decision to do it where for whomever made the decision,
it was. It was a bad one. It was it
was a it was a first year coaching mistake, I think,

(14:09):
and I'm with you, I don't. I don't understand what
the point of it was, and I don't think it was.
It was it was poorly timed, it was unnecessary. It
was a distraction that you didn't need and it was
it was Honestly, it was. It was super weird. So
hopefully we get past that, he will get the new
deal done. At the end of the day, it probably
won't change anything, but it was. It was a weird

(14:30):
bump in the road for sure that that was not necessary.

Speaker 1 (14:33):
Paul Charchie and the co host of the Friday Football
Feast and also with guilletine leagues dot Com nice enough
to join nine to.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
Noon time for a few more of the con well.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
As those negotiations take place, and I'm in lockstep, I
believe that an extension will take place. But as part
of that ten thousand foot view, you got a couple
of thirteen plus win seasons, you have a couple of
playoff games, one you host and you lose to the Giants,
And now what we saw last night when I'm trying,
I'm trying to think about Kevin O'Connell in this story here,

(15:03):
and in some ways it feels like I'm looking at
a coach where all these expectations over a fourteen win
season build up to a significant breakdown with these last
two games, and in some ways you're astonished by it,
and it's just ugly and it's awful, and here we
are one last cry on a Tuesday morning. But there
is there an element. Could you make the case that

(15:23):
Kevin O'Connell is vastly overperforming with an under talented roster
that you know, the the whatever Sam Donald could be
got the very most out of them, but at this
was always in some ways going to end badly. Can
you speak about Kevin O'Connell in that respect? Am I
oversimplifying it? What do you think?

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Charge?

Speaker 4 (15:44):
I know I don't agree with that. You know, this
is a really talented roster. You know, I'll give him
plenty of credit for the sixteen good games, relatively good
games that we got out of Sam Darnald, and I'm
not taking anything away from Kevin O'Connell for that. But
you've got a roster with Justin Jefferson arguably the best
receiver in the league, a first round pick into Jordan Addison,
You've got TJ. Hockinson, Aaron Jones. I mean, he's approven

(16:07):
good performers. In the case of all of them except Addison,
people that were performing before Kevin O'Connell got here. Then
he just needed to continue to have them play at
the level they were at. I don't I don't think
that Kevin O'Connell should be getting more praise than he's
getting for the totality of this offense that finished ninth

(16:28):
in points per game, which is good, it's not amazing,
I think, you know, it's I don't feel like that Sam,
you know, the Sam Donald think he absolutely should get
credit for, and God willing, he's going to do great
things with JJ McCarthy. But I'm not ready to say
that that Kevin O'Connell has been underappreciated, or that we

(16:48):
should look, you know, suggest that he has gotten more
out of this offense than than he had any right to,
because I think honestly, this offense has played up to
about the level of its and not above that.

Speaker 1 (17:02):
Lastly, isn't it, you know, isn't it just so polarizingly
strange that you're a weekend change removed from playing for
a one seed in the conference and a week off
in a game where you're a two and a half
three point underdog. So at least from that standpoint, you know,
a lot of people feel you have a fair chance

(17:23):
in the game.

Speaker 2 (17:23):
Then you don't score a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
And then you witness the quarterbacks performance missing five touchdowns
in that game, and then you witness the quarterbacks performance
the next game. And of course it's not just Sam Darnold.
You know, there are others who had failures and systemic
failures within facets of certain downs and distances and what

(17:47):
you're trying to sell and what you're trying to pull
off and stuff like that. And it just was a
failure the last two you know, you go from him
being elevated on the shoulders of his teammates two weeks
ago to now looking up the Ross dur and all
the free agents and just wondering, all right, well, you
know who's going to be the starting running back next
year if it's not Aaron Jones, And and and what

(18:07):
are you going to do with the interior of the
offensive line, which has been an age old talker and
Gilmore and Griffin to a certain extent, and you guys
like that, you know, they they they helped, but but
that that the elasticity or lack thereof eventually can only
be stretched so far, as we learned as the season

(18:29):
went on. So you've got to do some things back there.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
The linebacker situation is fantastic. You don't have to look
at anything there and so on. You know, it's just
strange that when you really really start to get into
the deep diving part of the minutia, there there's a
fair amount that needs to be done, and.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
There is there's, uh, there is a lot of work
to be done. And I will give the coaching staff
credit for andqua see some credit for piecing together enough
good enough parts here that the team got as far
as it did, which you know it didn't necessarily have to.
We you know we it this time last year. You
couldn't have named the cornerbacks for this team coming into

(19:06):
this season. That was all cobbled together on the fly.
So yeah, there's there's there's a ton of work to
be done. I think you hit you hit a lot
of the big the big areas of need of fortunately,
and it's it's not we don't have simple answers right now.
We have what three or four draft picks plus some
compensatory picks coming.

Speaker 2 (19:23):
Is that four pick?

Speaker 3 (19:24):
Right?

Speaker 1 (19:24):
I think they have four picks and they'll get some compensatories. Yeah,
that's but see that's a that's a talker in its
own right that we'll start getting into Friday that we've
kind of gotten into during the course of the season.
It's that uh, that uh quasi wobbly stock exchange analogy
that I'll use, but I think it's right and and
and it involves free agency. And we will hit on

(19:46):
that during the course of the week and Friday for
the Friday Football Feast. Do you on a one last
cry Tuesday? Do you have one last word for the
audience that you would like to share? Anything else on
your mind? If you say no, that's fine.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
That's I'm just one other thing that I've just really
struggled with. Teams down eighteen. It's the last play of
the third quarter. Yeah, thirty nine seconds or left. You're
down eighteen. We didn't run a play?

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Honey, what do you mean?

Speaker 6 (20:18):
Come on?

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, I'm just I'm tripping right now.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
I remember the third and eighteen. What happened to explain that?

Speaker 3 (20:25):
I think he's talking about it.

Speaker 4 (20:28):
We're down by eighteen points. Yeah, last play of the
third quarter. We're down by eighteen points, and we with
thirty nine seconds left and we didn't run a single play.
We let the clock run out on the third quarter.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Oh geez, okay, yeah, yeah, I regrettably asked for that
one last word.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
Lord knows, I got it all right, brother.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Put you You put a lot of time into this
football team mentally and your contributions to the Friday football
feast our second to none.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
So thank you very.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
Much for that, with all these Buffalo Wild Wings jaunts
we made during the course of the year.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
And I will see you on Friday. Okay, I will see.

Speaker 4 (21:11):
You in studio, yes, sir Friday, Paul, Thanks.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
For great year.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Paul Charchy and Guillotine League dot com. Second half of
the radio show begins with the analyst Pete Bursich joins
nine to noon around the corner on k f A
N and.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
The fan would also like to give you a shot
to put a grand in your hand with the National
Cash Contest. Go to KFA N dot com and use
the keyword bank. You might win a thousand dollars with
the keyword bank at kf A N dot.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
Do your satisfied whoop them then ginkle style.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
That was the highlight of the two zero two four,
along with the Twelve Days of Christmas and the Bang
the drum Stabs Friday at the Buffalo Wild Wing Savage.
There were so many fun things that transpired with the
twenty twenty four Minnesota Vikings can and I can't wait
to see how we whoop.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Them Banginkle's style.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
In twenty twenty five with Pete Ursus, the analyst for
the vast and never expanding Minnesota Vikings Radio Network, Good morning.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Pete, good morning the how are you? I'm all right?

Speaker 1 (22:35):
The cashman, scoop and score, all right? And the apoplectic
nature of the reaction by many in that moment. Okay,
So from there to where we are now looking at
some things on social media, and I haven't talked to
Anyboddy about it, you know, like whose opinions that I
or we respect to were in the game.

Speaker 2 (22:55):
But I'm just hearing and seeing a.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Lot of the by the letter of the law, letter
of the rule. You know what, what Matthew Stafford did
should not have been a fumble and should not have
been a scoop and score.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
So what do you think about that?

Speaker 6 (23:14):
By the letter?

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, just following the rule, per the rule.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
Just getting persnickety with it that that it's not a fumble,
it's not a scoop and score.

Speaker 6 (23:24):
Yeah, I mean normally it's when the army is going
forward as a you know, as a path, not when
you're you know, bent over and just it's like, yeah
maybe not maybe not, maybe not by the leather of law,
but that if that wasn't an absolute I'm getting sacked desperation.

(23:44):
Just try to get rid of it type throw if
it was even a throw, right, I mean he just
threw it and put his arm out there and let it.
It all just stinks to me. And you know, and
then you put on top of that the face mask
that magically was hauled by on Cashman too later on,
which I think that.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Is I forgot about that, Bill. I just went back.

Speaker 5 (24:07):
Still.

Speaker 6 (24:07):
I think of all the things that happened to me,
the one that you know, this is me off the
most because it's like, you know, what, did you see
it on the screen? Right? I mean, you can't do
They just kind of huddled up together like they got
a little you know, buzzer from the sideline and say,
oh yeah, we gotta we got a face match, kinally
and it's you know, that whole thing. It didn't help,

(24:31):
but then again, we didn't really do it or do
anything to really uh change the momentum per se in
that in that regard and it it did, it would
have been a nice opportunity, but offensively, you know, would
we still have had the juice to put up what
we needed.

Speaker 1 (24:47):
To uh On Vikings fan line and you watching the game,
listening to the game, seeing the play, I'm going to say,
speaking for you, being ten of ten frustrated or upset
like all of us were, including those on the radio,
with what transpired at the moment.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
Did did anybody lay.

Speaker 1 (25:07):
Anything out you know where it's like, yeah, I understand
what you're saying, but you know, as the letter of
the law goes or the rule itself with that Stafford moment.

Speaker 3 (25:17):
Yeah, it was just simply the idea that it's it's
an awful loophole in the rule. From the standpoint that
the ball it was not a it was not a
lost grip in a fumble sense. There's this weird kind
of somewhat feigned motion. As Pete said, he's in the grasp,
he's going down, he's staring at the turf. He's not
trying to throw it to Puka Nakua. But put but

(25:40):
by the letter of the law, as annoying as it is,
same thing happened against Detroit, by the way, goff just
fires it into the back of one of his own linemen.
But but then this running back from five yards away
is emerging from the mist, and he's in the area.
And so this is two weeks in a row now
where the obscurity of the rule and kind of the
the subjective nature in which can deploy it is kind

(26:01):
of bitting us. And and so Puka technically in the area.
But but how long was was Grenard on him? I mean,
that's that's one and a half real time second somewhere
that how do they how do they subjectively decide that
that play is over? He wasn't moving forward, he wasn't
getting out of it, and and so at the least
I felt that that should have been a sack.

Speaker 6 (26:22):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (26:22):
The intentional grounding thing is open to me again except
for the the letter of the law. So as a
lot of people truly just kind of shrugging their shoulders
and going, yeah, I guess. But man, if you don't
change something in the offseason, if you don't adjust that,
it's absolutely it's it's a farce. And and the way
as fired up as you guys were, I was still

(26:43):
on my couch at the house at the time. I mean,
how big is that moment? And maybe the offense to
to Pete's point, maybe they still don't have the juice.
Maybe Sam's still seeing things a little cloudily and still
takes all those sacks and holds out of the ball
forever in that freaking moment. If you're saying extra point
makes it ten to ten, I still believe that this
game looks vastly different.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Peter, your reaction to the tribe.

Speaker 6 (27:09):
Yeah, I mean I agree that he was already and
he was already in the he was already in the
grasp of of Grenard at that time when he know,
like I said during the broadcast, I mean, he was
looking at the ground. It wasn't He was looking at
the ground not because he wanted to, is because he
was getting taken to the ground. And it's kind of

(27:29):
like a reaction to being sacked is trying to get
the football out. And and I mean when Bill Belichick
says the defense is can't get any type of call
ever in these days, then you know, yeah, it's it's
taking a rule and pushing it too far. I mean
it's yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
You know I will say this though, Pete, you know
in totality that that face mask on cash Man, and
it's almost like they they like they asked. It's almost
like they asked Stafford, like, did you see a face mask?
I'm not sure Stafford's like, of course. And then they
dropped the flag after the play had been completed.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, and they're gonna lie.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
I mean, I don't know if the the the pool
reporter bit, uh, which is you know, I'll find it somehow,
but I mean it's there's a pool reporter for the
home team, like Kevin Kevin Seaffert's done it here. I
don't even know if it's the home team, but Seafford
generally is a representative here where John Hussey, the the referee,

(28:28):
will give an explanation for what how things worked. And
if if if he says an official came up to
me and said, I think we missed a face mask there,
he's a he's absolutely lying through his teeth.

Speaker 3 (28:44):
Yeah, I would not behoove him to be honest in
those spots.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Because and and it's it's against the rules to see
something on a jumbo drawn and drop a flag. Refs
just officials can't do that and pick you know, that's
what they did, right.

Speaker 6 (28:59):
No, it some you know, it's it's very it's very
viking ask of us to complain about officials after a loss.
But this needs to be this needs to be weeded
out in discussed because as bad as the you know,
non fumble, incomplete pass receiver in the area throw that

(29:19):
apparently uh Stafford made, which is ridiculous, that face mask
is really that part that's a pomination. I mean that
to me, I don't even know where to begin with that.
When you are calling penalties after a play when nobody
threw a flag nobody even threw a flag ball right

(29:43):
from the same group, from the same group of officials
that whenever it's even close to looking like a fumble,
they'll just let the play play out so they can
go back and look at the replay. They don't make
a call, they'll automatically throw the black bean bag and
say that was a fumble. All turnovers are reviewed, So

(30:04):
we're gonna go back and take a look at it
and just but how we've seen it happen five times
to us alone this season. It's ridiculous. It's it's absolutely ridiculous.
And no, no, I mean, come on, these are these
are NFL officials right, And I've never seen a group

(30:27):
of men more afraid to make a call about anything
that could. You know, they just want to disappear in
the playoffs. They quit calling pass interference penalty. You know,
they swallow their whistles and key moments and games. Uh,
you know, just go and just ask a Packer fan
what happened. You know, if you look at what happened
in the end zone when there was an obvious pass interference.

(30:50):
But Matt, it's it's it's it's just it's terrible. It's
absolutely terrible what's going on. And the way that game
was officiated was was really really bad. And because of
the way we lost, it all sounds like sour grapes.
But I mean, if you're honestly from anybody from a

(31:11):
I don't know, would you want to be a coach
and have your career on the line and have officiated
by by by cruise like that mere job is on
the line and that guy's out there saying, yeah, that
wasn't a force fumble, No, that was a that was incomplete.
There's a guy and there was a guy in the
area even though he was on his way down. And

(31:31):
it's or you know, we magically saw a face mask penalty,
ironically against the team that you know, we get a
fade the guy, you get a face mask, and they
showed it on TV. They're like, oh yeah, by the way,
this happened eight weeks ago when Darnold got his head
almost ripped off, and they're like, no face mask. We
didn't see any game over.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
But you know, well dig fairness and whining act. You know,
just just Pete and I and Nordo. No way are
saying these infractions change the outcome of the game. But
you know, I'm going to be straight, is whether the
the Stafford cashman situation to the letter of the rule

(32:12):
was accurate or not. It If that happens, the game changes,
the momentum changes, and somebody that's been delivering blows takes
one and then now we get to see for the
first time in two games against the Rams, how they
respond to something like that. But we never got that opportunity,
so that potentially changed that facet of the game.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
I appreciate you, man, and we'll talk soon. Okay, Well, yeah,
I mean.

Speaker 6 (32:36):
And that's another thing too, is just Paul, we've been
calling games for a long time and you think the
officiating is getting better or worse worse, right, It's like
it's like exactly part of it is the way that
they've interpreted and and implemented rules to make it. You know,
you got to make it. We got to make a
judgment call and a split second. That's they're not making
their jobs any easier. But I would go a different route,

(32:57):
but it's ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (32:59):
My route would be I believe that some of the people,
not referees, but some of the officials line side, judge back,
Jude jumpire all that some of those being hired are
leaping levels that that you know, leaping certain protocols and
levels to get to the highest level more quickly and

(33:23):
swiftly than anybody in the history of the NFL. And
quite honestly, many of them are overmatched and and it's
playing into what we're talking about now. But that's a
conversation for a different time. Love you, buddy, Call you soon,
all right. That's a pee versa j analyst for the
Minnesota Vikings or radio network.

Speaker 5 (33:53):
APA Nordos is Dan Collin on the roadback from Arizona.
I was actually at the game last night to all
the Vikings fans that were there in the building last night.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
That's awesome.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
We had a real opportunity to make it a home
field advantage and unfortunately didn't have anything to cheer for
until that Fumber recovery touchdown. That should have been It
could have been a huge momentum swing. But anyway, great season,
Optimistic for next year. JJ McCarthy era starts today.

Speaker 6 (34:20):
School.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
They they're all over this already, J.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
And assumably that was the case on fan line last
night too, right, Absolutely, it was okay, what wow, thank
you for that talkback. What an absolute eight day buzzkill
for the most dedicated fans of the Minnesota Vikings, you know,
and simply you know, it's when I say the most dedicated,

(34:48):
it's not excluding those who don't have means to go
to Detroit or the Valley of No Fund, or don't
have the time, or they have obligations or responsibilities, or
they love the team, but they you know, don't want
to they don't want to deal with that clipping penalty.
It's we're not developing fan power rankings here. I'm saying,

(35:08):
what an absolute eight day buzzkill for the the I'm
going to use most dedicated fans taking time out of
their schedules and their lives and income and everything to
get to State Farm Stadium or get to Ford Field.
And the buzzkill is is you do that and some
did it twice and you just get smacked.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
Yeah, now you.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Get smacked at Ford Field and swarmed in the Valley
of the Sun and you get handled. The twenty twenty
four Minnesota Vikings went, you know, with those wins we
talked about earlier, and really a class test for for
the the the metaphorical equine athletes against whom you were
racing and what type of.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Race it was you.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
The twenty twenty four Minnesota Vikings went AFC South, Kurko
chains Kyler the creator and those punt passes and over
the hill a rodge for Doe and there's more. And
then against two of the best Detroit and Los Angeles
had nothing to offer when it mattered most. That's fair.
That's not bitching about something. That is a fair analysis

(36:18):
of the totality of the Minnesota Viking season beginning with Dimes,
who's now in the covenant might even be the quarterback
next year if if the kid's knees not ready from
Dimes all the way through Stafford. That's fair. Yeah, I
think it's fair now that we've watched them, we've listened
to them, we've analyzed them, and we've seen what they

(36:38):
did or did not do. You sweep the AFC South
Cole Houston won a playoff game against the LA Chargers.
Kurko chains Kyler the creator over the Hill a Rodge.
That was the dough. But when it comes to the show,
I mean, it's like the show. If the show is
going to be the last two the two most important games,
which are supposed to be the doe, then there was

(36:59):
no show to the show.

Speaker 3 (37:00):
Oh so well, I think part of that too. You
mentioned it. You know, ultimately they lose to Detroit and
the Rams back to back early and then they just
did it again. I didn't necessarily feel, you know, and
you hit on it, I think perfectly, and I'm still
trying to kind of frame it in my own mind.
Happened that the Rams, both the Rams and the Lions,
even the Lions with the injury issues, the way they've

(37:21):
maintained it and managed that situation has been very impressive.
Those are two teams that are better now even than
when they were, I believe for the most part early
on Week seven. In Week eight, the Vikings actually in
both games performed more poorly against those teams. The shootout
that goes the wrong way against Detroit. It's a short
night and Pookah's back and we're all just kind of

(37:42):
astonished that he just he'd been doing leg weights and
ankle weights on the beach and now he's ready to
go on Thursday night. And you felt like, okay, well,
tough beats in those situations, but this time we're more
prepared for it. There's no guess work. It's our best
versus theirs. We actually came up limp in both those
opportunities aditionally or.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
Lame, as the horse racing analogy would go, because that's
in horse racing there are levels of class. You have Claimers, Allowance, Steaks,
Kentucky Derby, Breeders' Cup, Arcta, Triomph, all that. And the
Vikings stepped up in class correct when when they got
into the Motor City mile yep, or they got into

(38:21):
the lap around Los Angeles, which actually was was the
Valley of No Fun and the we needed Amy's challenging,
We got Tiger d Those teams didn't go secretariat on
the Vikings.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
But the Vikings were not up to the class jump. No,
they weren't.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Doesn't mean they won't be up for it next year.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Maybe they needed the race, But that's I think that's
a fair way to look at it.

Speaker 6 (38:43):
Is.

Speaker 1 (38:43):
I didn't get loud about this yesterday with you or
in the game last night, because it's not really for
the game call. But you know, I've been thinking about
this for a little while, just like you know, or
earlier in the season, the middle of the season Jacksonville, Tennessee,
all that kind of stuff. You know, we were like,
is Sam who they say Sam is? Is it the

(39:04):
low hanging fruit cliched Cinderella pumpkin bit right, Well, yeah,
the pumpkin emerged at the worst time.

Speaker 2 (39:11):
So yeah, it was that.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
But I mean there was a time fairly to analyze
and say, are you who they say you are? Are
you who use? Are you who they say you were?
And you can't get around it. The answer was no.
But why then you analyze the stock against whom he's
playing and you put that in there, and that plays

(39:35):
into it, and then you analyze the level of talent
and the stakes racing equity that has happened of late.
That plays into it, and it still doesn't mean yeah,
he's who they say he was. No he's not. He
outplayed that. Okay, that that that low hanger, that crap

(39:57):
is in the rear view mayor. But the one who
you know were a week and change two weeks removed
from saying, well, let's be straight here, let's be honest, man,
I mean, let's just pragmatically break this down realistically. Quarterbacks
playing the way he's playing right now are not permitted
to leave buildings. It's true, we can't say that right now, No,

(40:18):
we cannot. So, but I still wonder and you mentioned
you're right, he has absolutely played his way to the
point where you can push a lot of the super
negative Jet stuff into the rearview mirror. Absolutely, but there
still has to be an element in this, and this
is something he'll face as we get closer to free
agency and sneaky combine conversations and such take place. Yep,

(40:40):
the unique connection that he had in this building with
this coach and this team and this situation, and if
that can't or can or cannot be replicated elsewhere.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
So is he better than his worst in his Jets days? Absolutely?
But as he is someone that you're ready, via free agency,
to pull him away from this situation in this building,
in this coach, And you think you can replicate that
in Las Vegas or wherever you know you can throw
the teams out plenty of time to do that. That
is a massive question right now. Again, as I said
it earlier, I still feel I think that that the

(41:11):
head coach earns a lot of He should deserve a
ton of credit, get a ton of credit for putting
a platform for Sam to stand on and perform the
way he did. And that pumpkin moment. I always I
didn't think it'd be this bad, but I always it
was sitting there. That's why I didn't want to talk
about the future and all that. Just when what would
it look like when it did happen. I'm glad you

(41:33):
said that. Sorry to clip, but see that.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
That's why we always said, is things are so good, rich,
bountiful and fun right now, that let's cast our gaze
to that when we can analyze the totality of the story.
Right And it seemed like a little bit of a
cop out, you know, simply because that's why I started saying,
you know, let's just be real with this when you're

(41:56):
going fifteen touchdowns against one interception over four games and
you're winning every game, and your mobility is something nobody
saw coming. Well, the coaches may have, but I mean
he was fantastic with the mobility piece.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
Yeah. Players like that don't leave facilities. No, they don't.

Speaker 1 (42:14):
They unless they're you know, unless they're like, well no,
I mean unless I get one fifty guaranteed, I'm out.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
All right, cool, go get it.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
But that's why we harped on and pounded on with
this individual. You have to let it go to the end, YEP,
and the answer will reveal itself.

Speaker 2 (42:37):
And it did.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
Bug on the windshield, my friends, Bug on the windshield,
nor doing leavell carry you through the final hour.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
I'll be back with you tomorrow when we rise and
shine at nine. Thank you very much for listening. God
bless everybody for and great deeply rooted appreciation for everybody
who listens to Vikings games.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Whenever you do.

Speaker 1 (42:56):
We understand watching the game on TV is what a
majority of people do, but Viking's broadcasts are important to
a lot of people, and for Pep Persage and Ben
Leeber and all of us involved with it, it's it's
been a treat serving you by calling the games this year.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
It's a lot of fun. I and we love this team.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
This one for me, uh, this is this is top
two along with the two thousand and nine season, but
the behind the scenes group of all the newbies who
came in and how cultures collaborated and new became new
became norm Uh.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
This this was this was most Yeah, this, I'll think
about it a little more.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
I know you're gonna be on pins and needles waiting
for me to share that tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
All right, three two?

Speaker 1 (43:40):
But this, this, this one cuts deeply for me because
of all the people associated with this organization who were new,
who just I just really really enjoy and really really
like praying with them on the sidelines, getting to know
them and their families behind the scenes, and and just
watching and enduring on the things they go through that

(44:02):
people just don't get a chance to see because it's
such an abnormal life with the cash and then the
and the violence that goes into the game and the
emotion and the adrenaline. And this was a special one
from my standpoint as the announcer for the Minnesota Vikings
and doing some ancillary stuff for them. Very very special group,
very very special head coach, and I'll miss the twenty

(44:26):
twenty four season while looking forward to the twenty twenty five.
But thank everybody, We thank everybody for listening to the
Vikings games on KFA and when you did, talk to
you tomorrow back
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.