#92Noon! 10a Hour 7/30 - Goessling

The Strib's Ben Goessling is in studio for most of the hour for a Vikes Training Camp-heavy conversation!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yes, yes, Benoit Benjamin Gasoline joins nine to Noon now.

(00:28):
He covers the Minnesota vikings for the Star Tribune for
he is a scribe and at ben Gasoline is where
you follow him like nine to noon does if you
would be so kind via Twitter and and uh nordo
the with today being cp CPD colon Askab prep day. Yeah,

(00:48):
and the first two pills taken at noon bike. He's
practiced two thirty so Ben gesline, he's my brother. I
mentioned to him, you know the situation that's transpiring. I'm
thinking about going to practice today. He would like say,
away from me, man, Yeah, correct? I mean, just are
you really discouraging me from like going out there memorizing

(01:10):
numbers and body types and taking taking in one on
ones and good morning.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I think there just may be days to do that
that you might find more enjoyable than this one, given
the state you may find yourself. And this is not
having had one of these yet. I'm still a few
years away from it. I'm at the point where when
people talk about it, I'm like, oh, yeah, it's coming
pretty soon. But I've heard enough stories about it that

(01:37):
it would seem like discretion is the better part of valor,
and trying to keep yourself in the closer proximity to
a bathroom may be a better play today.

Speaker 4 (01:48):
I'm worried that at some point today you're going to
be fifty yards from Elite inside intel.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
And then chorus won't let me run through the Vikings
locker room to get to the close bathroom.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
You're going to be fifty yards from e lead intel.
You're going to be fifty yards from a bathroom, and
you're gonna have to make a choice. I don't I
don't know for sure if you're going to make the right.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
One right how do you do it?

Speaker 1 (02:13):
How do it's with the scribes or with the dot coms,
or with those you know who are covering the team
and you know specifically, I mean I go to the
beat writers, those who are there every single day, every
single press conference, specifically this time of the year. But
I was looking at you yesterday through the binoculars a
little bit, and you were I think you were right

(02:35):
next to the bottom of the stands where there might
have been eight inches of shape.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
That's the spot. But how do you do it?

Speaker 1 (02:42):
How do you stand out in the sun as long
as you do and then you just craft these unbelievable
Caleb Evans stories and you know, like Mark Craig wrote
about the Indian the Indian Ocean saltwater thing.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, how do you guys do it? Man?

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Well, I mean a lot of it becomes I mean,
there's sort of this you hear beat writers get talked
about is kind of the boots on the ground, and
there is a little bit of that where you just
have to have a lot of endurance. I mean there
is certainly. I mean, I think my long suffering distance
runner mentality, Yeah, plays in a little bit here.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
So you run marathons to prep for vikings training cast.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
Sometimes they're about as long I mean, standing out in
that practice is about as long as it takes me
to run a marathon. Other people would take longer to
run marathons, but that's a that's a cheap shot. I
In general, Yeah, it does become just kind of this.
There's a grind element to it certainly, where you go
through every day and you have to say, Okay, what

(03:43):
what other stuff do I have to ask about? What
other stuff I want to write about? I mean the
Caleb Evans thing yesterday it was kind of interesting. I
had plan to talk to him anyway, because Brian Flores
talked quite a bit about the defensive backs and he
got talking about what he had done to get better
through the offseason. He said, well, I really needed to
understand the game better, and he really needed to do

(04:03):
a better job of looking at my own technique, how
defenses should work, how offenses is trying to attack me.
And he said, I got a film coach, and okay,
that's kind of interesting. And he starts describing the guy
and he said, Cody's something. And I'm thinking, there's only
one Cody I know of, at least in the Twitter world,
and that's not real life necessarily, but that fits this description.

(04:24):
So I asked him, is it Cody Alexander And he goes, now,
I don't think that was who it was. But then
we started talking a little more and he said, yeah,
he's with match Quarters, Like, yeah, that's definitely Cody.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
I think I met the guy at the combine Cody.
Cody is incredibly sharp. I think he was at the
cron In private party that she had like first night.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah he is.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
I mean I think he was at the Senior Bowl too.
He actually said he met Brian Flores down there and
they talked a little bit, and Floras came always saying, boy,
this guy knows his stuff. Wow, because he had done
a couple of things last year for his site, kind
of looking at the Flora's defense and all of the
different blitz packages and kind of all the hot coverages
they're playing, kind of the stuff they adopted from Pat

(05:06):
and Ardouzi at pitt and playing all these zones that
nobody really had tried in the NFL. And so he
had put in a quite a bit of work on
the Vikings defense on his own anyway, even before getting
together with the Caleb Evans. But Ron Slavin at Caleb
Evans Agent is also based down in Dallas, so they've
connected a little bit. Ron and Cody have and Ron

(05:28):
said to Caleb, Hey, this guy would be helpful for you.
So he said, yeah, let's get together. And they ended
up watching the entire Viking season defensively, I think twice
all the way through, like together, yes, on Zoom. They
got together pretty regularly on Zoom, went through all of
the Vikings tape, went through tape of corners that he
liked and wanted to imitate some of the best in

(05:49):
the biz and then looking at offenses kind of saying, hey,
here are the trends that you need to watch out
for because this is what teams are running.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
So it was a pretty thorough thing.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
And talking to Cody yesterday, a lot of it was saying, Okay,
how can I help you without kind of going over
the top of Brian Flores or Deronte Jones or you know,
people that are trying to tell you a certain technique.
I don't want to contradict. I don't want to usurp.
I don't want to underline in any way whatsoever. I
just want to be an extension of what they're doing.

(06:18):
So it seemed like a pretty cool arrangement and we'll
see how it plays out.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
But yeah, it was interesting to hear about that yesterday.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
If you're the Kody Alexander kat and you're a stock
by it now, I mean seriously, if coaches are signing
off on you watching film with their players. Yeah, and
USURP was the perfect word. You're not going to alter,
tweak or for the playbook. That was another kind of guardrail.
He said, like, I'm not asking for the playbook or USURP.

(06:45):
What's being taught by super well respector Brian Flores. I mean,
I don't know if he does this with other players.
This was the first one he's doing, at least in
the NFL level. He's working with a couple of college people,
but this is the most one he's set in the NFL.
I mean, what a wonderful idea. Yeah, for a side
piece or a career again, but you got to get

(07:05):
these coaches to sign off on it.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yes, yes, And that was the part. And he was
a grad assistant at Baylor, he's coached at Texas. He's
been around this enough to know that coaches are gonna
probably have some misgivings about this, or at least some
trepidation about it, at least at first, because you can
get a lot of people on social media that say, hey,
i'm watching film, I'm breaking this down and they may

(07:29):
be completely wrong, and they just say it enough, they
say it frequently enough that it looks like they're right
and they build a brand. But coaches saying no, this
isn't the right thing. So number one, knowing what you're
talking about enough for a coach to be like, yes,
this is going to be helpful and not kind of productive.
And number two to do it in a way that
doesn't seem like you're trying to trade off somebody's name.

(07:49):
He certainly understands the tension there, and I don't know
that this is like a business he's looking to build
for himself. But it was interesting to hear kind of
how he would go about it, because I think having
been in the coaching world like he has, he understood
some of the things you'd have to navigate there, some
of the dynamics that are in play and saying, how

(08:09):
do I do this in a way that helps and
doesn't hurt. Was interesting to hear him kind of trying
to manage that.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
But see, I don't know enough about the between the
years portion of the equation with a Caleb, you know,
like what's being taught, what's he doing well during the
course of practice. Then all of a sudden, you know
it's not just a Caleb, but some players will freeze
during games, and you know, whether you're watching receiver and
seeing it or whether we're seeing it in the games

(08:36):
that that I call and you cover. He seems to
be the one who's pointing most at at other people,
or people are pointing at him out pointing at spots
like I thought you were supposed to posed to be here.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Yeah, I just wonder how this film watching piece, you know,
meshes with that, the the scholarly approach to the position.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Yeah, I think his perspective. He said this yesterday and
this is in the peace of Little Bit. He said,
I've relied on my athletic ability so much that I
probably haven't done the work to get to the right
spot or to know where I need to be. And
this is one of the things I've heard Harrison Smith
talk about over the years is that being able to
cover all of the space on the field is great,

(09:16):
but if you get to a point where you understand
here's where I need to be, you don't have to
do as much running because you're not taking three steps
to the right before realizing you have to go back
to the left or even one step, which sometimes can
make the difference in the NFL between being in the
right spot or being a step late. So some of
it is trying to marry his athletic ability with just knowing, Okay,

(09:40):
this is what they're running, this is the concept. This
means I'm going to need to be here, and then
if you're there on time, and you use your length
and athletic ability from there. His hope is that that
leads to a more productive outcome overall.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Now, it was interesting to note, and I guess I
didn't notice this, but I read it via a one
of Ben's tweets and guessling via Twitter. Please follow that
Flora says new corner Bobby McCain will start out at
safety and might get some work at outside corner. So
I initially read that, like, wow, Flora's is really excited

(10:13):
about this old quasi signing here, right, so excited he's
going to take the corner and move him to safety.
But then you read farther into it, and McCain's played
multiple positions. But it's still I mean, the vikings are
very strong. It's safety in my estimation, I would agree
you got hit Man nearing the end. Scholar of the game.
Still good, mittellis on the fast track buying Them's good.

(10:38):
Everybody's all over. Jay Ward for how much he's jumped,
still played corner yesterday. Well, THEO Jackson would start for
teams in the NFL. So I mean, why I mean
McCain's safety why.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well, I mean they need depth at the position. Overall,
we haven't seen Lewis seen the last couple of days.
I don't know that Lewis scene is very much like
in their thinking in terms of being at the top
of the list. Right now, we're moving ward to corner,
aren't they. Well yeah, I mean he played there a
little bit yesterday. It certainly seems like that's a possibility
that that becomes the thing, because I've looked at it, thinking, man,

(11:09):
I think we've all it's this is not some special insight.
You can look at the roster and say this that
they need help at corner, certainly more than they needed
at safety. So that's the one. When they cut John
Parker Romo yesterday and they make the move, you're thinking, Okay,
this is probably going to be for another corner because
O'Connell had said it, I think Saturday that while we
need more help, probably gonna need more help at corner.

(11:32):
So I'm kind of figuring the next move is going
to be for a corner. And Bobby McCain is, he's
played corner, he's been a nickel corner. I think he
could beat some of that. I mean, Brian Flores said
you might see him matched up on guys. But he
said he's going to start at safety, so that may
mean that we see a lot more of.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Jay Ward at corner.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
I think that's certainly something to watch over the next
few days here because they need help at corner. They
probably see a role or maybe a special team's role
as well. For McCain, that's a lot of what he
did last year. But uh, the the piece of McCain
coming in and then Ward moving to corner, I think
those things may be connected.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
Now with and and and you've discussed it, perhaps written
about it or tweeted about it. But but but I
end or we have seen it at fair amount that
Brian Flores in a preferred world and the Flores preferred
defensive world. He wants his corners to play man. Yes
you know which which you know for the low hanging
fruit donnatel jabs or barbs that I'll hear or read.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
You know.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
One thing that I'll come back.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
To is, you know, Okay, people wanted him to blitz
a lot more because he wasn't blitzing. But I don't
really want to put Cam Dansler out there on a
solo ald, you know, with all due respect to Duke Shelley,
that's kind of the same thing.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
Well, is that the case here where Rush meshing with
the corners and he wants to play more man. Griffin's
not practicing Murphy and Man. I mean, I'm going to
pretend to know how how good he is or bad
he is. But is like with these injuries and the
sad Kyrie Jackson use, is that approach changing.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
Well, it's going to be interesting to watch. And he
did say yesterday you don't want to be like all
of one thing and none of the other thing. I mean,
that's certainly going to be a piece of the Brian
Floores approach is you're going to have different looks in
different packages. But I think the thing with man is
typically you can bring more pressure easily in man than

(13:27):
you can in zone when you have to cover everything.
And their approach last year with some of the coverages
they played was we're just not going to cover every zone.
We know that if we're going to bring this much
pressure in some cases, we're not going to be able
to cover every open zone on the field, and we're
going to bet on that we know the places we
need to cover and that we can get home fast enough.
That we're not going to get burned by it, but

(13:49):
so that I think will still be in the tool
bag as well. When they want to bring pressure, they
can say, we can still play some zone behind it,
like we did last year. But I think the overall
hope is you can play more man now. That requires
more of your corners. You have to follow guys across
the field, you have to be able to flip your hips,
you have to be able to probably get physical with
the line, and we've seen them go out and try

(14:10):
to get bigger corners like a Shaq Griffin to do that.
But I think man works best when you have stud
corners that you can say, Okay, Darrell Reeves, you got
this guy everywhere he goes, we're good. We don't need
to worry about it, kind of like a left tackle
while you just forget about him.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Zimmer used to do that with roads, yep, And I
mean the others would make plays.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yes, yes, And you could do that with that group,
I think more so than you can with this one.
So it is I think one of those things to
continue to watch because when they've talked about we want
to play more man, that was the assumption is Makai
Blackman is here and they were excited about where he
was going. Shaq Griffin is part of it, by our

(14:52):
Murphy's part of it. And every time the Kyrie Jackson
piece of this comes up, you know, I kind of
preface it by saying this is not the most important
component of what happened with Kyrie Jackson. The loss of
a life is exponentially more significant than anything that happens
on a football team. However, they did plan this offseason

(15:13):
to have him in the mix, knowing he's a guy
that they're excited about, a guy that can be physical
with receivers, a guy that fits into what they wanted
to do. So there is that component of, hey, this
was something we planned on and there's still going to
be a football season, so we have to adjust to it.
So as callouses that may seem there is that piece
of this whole thing, and it does kind of compound

(15:35):
with black Men, Griffin, all of these things to say,
we were expecting our corners to look one way, and
right now at least it looks a little bit different.

Speaker 1 (15:44):
If you had to bet Turner or Grenard and say
it's a fifty to fifty, it's a one to ten
both ways leading the team in sacks. Which one would
you take and why?

Speaker 3 (15:57):
I think I would take Grenard simply because I expect
he's going to be on the field probably more. I mean,
I think he's going to be kind of the primary
pass rusher, that Danielle Hunter type of you're going after
the quarterback almost all the time, and Dallas Turner is
going to do a lot of that as well. I
just don't know if the snap count will be quite
as high for Turner right away, especially if Andrew van

(16:20):
Ginkel is healthy and they're kind of mixing in Turner.
But there's a lot of looks and we saw plenty
We've seen plenty of them at camp already where they
have three rushers on the field together. So Dallas Turner
is certainly going to get his opportunities. I think I
would say Grenard just because I expect in a sacks
are accounting stat and if you have more opportunities to
get there, you're probably gonna have a better chance.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
With a higher number.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
But Dallas Turner's been impressive and I think he's certainly
going to make an impact. It would not stun me
if he's competing for that lead in sacks. If especially
he gets a bigger role and plays well enough early
to justify more work as the season continues.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Does it be in your estimation, does it be hoove
Kevin O'Connell in the Minnesota Vikings eleven days from now
in the in the first preseason game Las Vegas Raiders,
we here middle of the afternoon, Does it behoove him
to play Sam Donald A and B.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
How long?

Speaker 3 (17:16):
It's going to be interesting to watch how they handle
the quarterbacks. And I kind of I think a little
bit when you ask that question, because they have to
this point we have not seen the number ones play
a single snap under Kevin O'Connell in the preseason, like
Kirk Cousins did not play a preseason snap the last
two years because he was the number one guy and
they didn't have any interest in exposing him to the

(17:38):
potential of injury.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
So it's the RAMS way.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Yeah, it definitely is the RAMS way, and you see
a lot of teams do this going forward. I would
expect that Donald probably doesn't play much in that first game,
if at all, because I think the dates they have
circle of those two days in Cleveland where they get
those drug practices with the Browns against a good defense, and.

Speaker 2 (18:00):
You can control the work a little bit better.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
My question is, I mean, I would think we'll see
a lot of JJ McCarthy in the preseason. I don't
see a reason not to do that, because that's probably
gonna be the best chance you get to look at
him for a while. I am a little bit curious
if they will mitigate any of that with him just
because of the injury thing, knowing that, hey, this is
the guy that we see as the long term answer.

(18:24):
Or do you say, you know what, you're a rookie
and we want to see you get some work, especially
if you're not going to start the season, so we're
going to play you a lot. I'm very interested to
see how they go about that. If I had to
guess on Darnald, I think he doesn't play the first one.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
We'll see.

Speaker 3 (18:37):
I think if the joint practices come in, he probably
doesn't play that second one either, which then leaves the
third one. So maybe he gets a little bit of
work in the first one if anything, but I think
they will be overall pretty cautious with the ones. Again,
the McCarthy piece of this is I think going to
be really interesting to.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Watch as well.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
It I love how you laid that out because if
you do use Donald and what is you know, it's
billed as game speed, sure, which it is. It's game speed.
I mean, it's an actual game. It's a preseason game.
It's better than practice. But but it's I mean, there
will be no Deisol, there will be no Bradberry, there

(19:15):
will be no Brian O'Neill, be no Justin Jefferson. Right now, Addison,
I mean, I wonder if they'll make Jordan play in
this game. But nevertheless, is now you start to establish
the line of delineation between a guy you probably will
start against the Giants playing in an actual game wearing

(19:36):
your colors, but not playing with the guys with whom
you'll play in New Jersey. So then like if if
you know, if things go poorly, well, that's when you
get the sneaky background. You didn't have the right guys
around me. If things go well, what do you think
of us?

Speaker 4 (19:50):
Now?

Speaker 2 (19:50):
What do you think of us? Now? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (19:53):
I think it's a great point because I mean, you
kind of think about it if the rest of those
guys aren't going to play, and I can't imagine they will,
then it's like, what's the point because it does kind
of put you in a weird spot where Brandell might
need to blay. Yeah, I mean there'll probably be a
few that will, and I think we saw a little
bit of that last year too, where it's the guys
that are either first year starters are kind of on
the bubble that play. But there's no reason to put

(20:14):
Darris out there. There's no reason to put O'Neil out there.
Aaron Jones, I can't imagine is playing. What about Ingram
I could see the hit that he would, especially with
Dalton Reisner sitting there playing more right guard. In practice,
I think there's still an evaluation that's happening there. I
could see that one, But as a whole, if Darnold

(20:35):
is out there throwing to the your branded Powells and
Luckie Jacksonville, yes, I mean some of those types. You know,
there's there's value I guess in that, but it's not
the guys he's going to be playing with on September eighth.
So yeah, it almost seems like why put him on

(20:57):
the field and risk anything happening Because the other thing
is if something does happen to him, your whole plan
for JJ McCarthy is easier to manage the more healthy
quarterbacks you have in front of him. The Sam Darnald
Nick Mullens firewall that allows you to say we want
to take our time with JJ McCarthy only works if

(21:18):
those guys are healthy enough to be out there every week.
So I wonder if that'll enturn into the thinking too.
And I'm you know, maybe it's just Jaren Hall gets cut.
I mean, but I'm still like machinating on like what's
going to happen to Jaren Hall, Not like I'm obsessing
over it. But they have four. If still I thirtieth,
it's fair game.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
But if I need to bet this thing and hit
the trifecta, I go Donald into Mullins into McCarthy, and
they're all active. It's a favorite drifector. Perhaps you know
Jaren was drafted. Jaren is untapped. I don't think anybody
around the league can. I mean, Kellen mand was awful
and subsequently has been on two teams. Yahnce he left

(21:57):
here at least two teams, So you cott Hall he's
picked up in a second.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
I wonder if they think about that. Yeah, that is
a question. But what are you going to do? I mean,
are you going to keep four on the active roster?
I can't imagine they would say that. I mean, I
just I don't see how they would. I think what
they try to do is get him through to the
practice squad and hopes that he doesn't go claimed on waivers.
But you do have to take that risk there. I

(22:22):
just don't see a way to do it otherwise, because
you have to keep those three on the active roster, Donald, Mullens, McCarthy.
And then even if you keep because they typically wouldn't
want to keep three, I mean just for roster construction,
if you can avoid your third quarterback being on the roster,
especially the way the rules are now, that helps you out.

Speaker 1 (22:41):
They don't have that option now, well, yeah, sure they do.
They can cut Molins, they make jj the backup.

Speaker 3 (22:46):
They could that is an option. That's like the one
scenario if you are really bent on doing that, that
they could do. But then you have McCarthy one snap away.
And if they I'll say this, if they did that,
or if they traded Mullins or something like that, it
means that they're so comfortable and confident in McCarthy that hey,

(23:06):
if he had to go in, We're ready for that
to happen. I just think short of that or short
of them kind of saying we want this to happen
on our terms, no f sands or butts. I think
Mullins is on the roster, so then that does make
it a little more difficult the rest of the fifty
three spots to say, how are we going to construct
this thing if we already have three quarterbacks? That's why

(23:27):
I don't think four is even in the in the cards? Whatsoever?

Speaker 1 (23:30):
Did you start covering the team in twenty twelve? Yes, okay,
so you like exciting preseason moments. Okay, just quick twitch
College Stadium, too much time for Teddy Arizona, the wide
receiver Rodney Smith or whatever his name is, like Teddy
Bridgewater just making memories at TZA Bank Stadium at that time. Well,

(23:52):
that was exciting as a preseason game would go. However,
if tell me what you think of this eleven days
from now, a week from Saturday, I think it's three
o'clock for Vikings and Raiders at US Bank Stadium.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
Starture mean Saturday deadlines. It's get excited.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
It's the only home preseason game. If JJ McCarthy runs
out as the starting quarterback, well, there will be a
level of excitement within the building.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (24:19):
Probably the most excitement to begin a game at home
in the preseason since two thousand and nine, when Childress
wheeled out Brett farre in the third preseason game against
the Kansas City Chiefs and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham for
the Kansas City Chiefs. Seriously, I don't know if they're

(24:39):
ones were supposed to play that much, but they did,
and he just kind of had the feel from what
I understand of like, look, we know it's preseason. Yeah,
you ain't gonna roll this guy out. He gets there
forty eight hours ago. Now he's going to come out
and play. I mean he zero blitzed him nearly every
single play. Kavika Pittman blitzed up the middle between the

(25:00):
in the A gap. Yeah, and hip Brett Farve as
hard as he's ever been hit in his life. He
said that, Yeah, you know, so it. But it was
exciting in the Metrodome when Farv came out to play.
Place went nuts, ma'am.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
So if McCarthy's I just think McCarthy's starting in your
only home preseason game and playing the first half, get
the fans something and a half, Let's put Jaron in
and then let's let Nick get the rest.

Speaker 2 (25:24):
And it just sounds right, it does. I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
I think it certainly would, especially with like you say,
when you only have the one, it may be fans'
only chance to see him at least for you know,
the first part of the season or a year, possibly
a year. I think that would be their ideal scenario,
is that the only chance you would see him is
in that game. So yeah, I think I think it
would be a nice moment for the fans. I think

(25:48):
people would get charged up about it. The Yeah, it
certainly would give you a chance to say, hey, this
is what the future looks like, especially if you feel
good about him and you can kind of make a
statement of this is going to be fine.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
I mean, it's preseason football.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
You can't read too much into it, but you know,
people would get excited if he comes out and hits
a couple of you know, deep posts.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
And if he runs for forty and he runs like
the win.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
Yeah, if he's doing that and you're on the mic
yelling touchdown and the place is going nuts.

Speaker 2 (26:18):
We don't y'all touchdown in the preseason.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
You wouldn't for that. No, okay, okay, maybe a little bit. Okay,
Well you're on TV too, so you got to you
gotta play it. You gona play a little different. It's
TV McCarthy twenty and the Nabbitt complains that nobody understood
on radio, and yeah, that's okay. Yeah, I suppose it's
got to be a little more of the Pat summer
All approach where we leave some space, the Joe Buck

(26:42):
approach space.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
If they do that, Yeah, that's Ben Gasling covers the
Vikings for the Star Tribune at Ben Gesling via Twitter,
and we have some more vikings training camp conversation which
does include a JJ McCarthy and him Pepperine what to
some would be an unlikely source trying to figure out
how to get better.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
And that's neck good stuff. Nine to noon.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
Pretty sure I saw this via Ben Gesline's Twitter. So
McCarthy Pepper's defensive coordinator Brian Flores with questions on how
he can improve.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Ye.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Now, the rookie is not the first in the history
of the NFL to talk to the guy who's trying
to beat him or the guy who sees him on
film while looking at his other guys. My guess is
he's not the first Michigan product to talk to Brian
Flores either.

Speaker 2 (27:52):
Oh wow.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
I would assume that there's a quarterback in New England
that's probably looking for an edge, that may have done
that a time or two.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
But this just this, this further plays into the layering
of things that are impressing me with J. J. McCarthy,
Like that that Friday press conference he had where he
was talking about and I didn't know this about. You know,
he's at It's IMG Academy, right, He's at a boarding school.
Pandemic hits can't leave. He's there with no family or friends,

(28:19):
and he fell into a hole, and you know he
was he was talking about how he got himself out
of that, and you know, so that was interesting the
way he pulled himself out. Secondly, you know, if you
were to bet McCarthy would not start week number one,
and and he he just seems really comfortable understanding his
lot in life. Yes, you know, and and the the

(28:41):
go to example. I didn't mentioned a name yesterday, but
you know that not every first round pick rolls onto
a team and is accepting like Trey Wayne's you know,
like Tray was quiet in the first place, and you
know what what Digs did do in that rookie camp
should be felonious and forty eight states and that that
might have played into the equation. But Trey barely played

(29:04):
that year on deepense yep. But see the serendipity of
it that the young man I don't think saw at
the time was he became a really good tackling corner
by playing on special teams. Yeah, you know, so then
maybe he was cool with it. But like McCarthy, you know,
it's whether it's privately or low key publicly, you can

(29:25):
just tell he's super comfortable and feels blessed and respectful
and respectful of the opportunity whatever it is.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
He's just an impressive young man.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
Yeah, there's a level of situational and social awareness there
that for a twenty one year old is toughly impressive.
I don't think I had that when I was twenty one.
I mean even things, you know, just talking to people
behind the scenes of you know, you are trying to
figure out when he's going to be the guy, and
you're kind of trying to read tea leads in terms

(29:57):
of how much they're going to put him out there
in terms of, you know, press conferences and public appearances
and all this kind of stuff. And the vibe you
get is that he is the one saying, hey, if
I'm out here doing a lot of this stuff, it
sends the message that I'm the guy, and I know
that right now I'm not the guy, So I don't

(30:17):
want everybody else kind of pulling that cart ahead of
the horse and getting to the point where everybody says, okay,
it looks like, you know, take all these signals.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
J McCarthy's doing this. JJ McCarthy's doing that, and he.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
Is going to do press conferences, which you don't see
from a lot of number three quarterbacks. So the Vikings
understand there is a unique interest in him there. But
I do think a lot of the reason that it's
been fairly quiet independent of that with him is that
he knows everybody reads these signals. When I mean, I

(30:51):
can remember. This is a little bit of an aside,
but it kind of makes the point. Twenty seventeen case
Keenum the entire season when Mike Zimmer did not name
him the starting quarterback, he did not talk at the
podium on a Wednesday. Why because the starting quarterback talks
into podium. He talked Thursdays at like a mini podium
in the winter Park locker room, and everybody knew was

(31:14):
the starter. He was going to be the starter every week.
But that sort of platform that the starting quarterback's placed
on by just being designated as the talker at the
press conference on a Wednesday, carries a meeting with it,
and I think JJ McCarthy realizes that. So just some
of those things, it's just like he gets the whole

(31:34):
dynamic of it, and I think is doing his part
to say, let's kind of just respect where things are
at and enjoy the moment and not try to upset
any of the team dynamics and the social dynamics as
a result of that.

Speaker 1 (31:47):
All right, So you know what, with what the media
can see certain OTAs mini camp, now we're into training
camp and all training camp is open for the media.
At least the first nine it eighty five percent and
packed house yesterday too. It was Saturday packed. It was
like I would say, three quarters Oka. It was hot. Yeah, yes,

(32:09):
that sucker was packed yesterday. So therefore it's a small
sample size. But I pulled this tweet from from what
learned a football minds are saying about this part of
the equation at Viking Central had a tweet yesterday from
my little birdie at camp today, JJ McCarthy once again
looks like the best quarterback at TCO. Played mistake free

(32:32):
football for the most part and was decisive.

Speaker 3 (32:35):
Do you see it that way? He I thought was
efficient yesterday. He took a lot of the especially in
the two minute drill at the end. He takes a
lot of the underneath throws and didn't seem to force
the ball. I think I would treat all of this
with a little bit of a grain of salt, because
they are not putting all of these guys in the
same situations.

Speaker 2 (32:56):
They are not.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
It's not good on good all the time. He's getting
a lot of reps with the threes, and there are
certainly going to be times where he gets with the
ones or gets with the twos against the number one
defense and we're all gonna go, oh, he's playing here,
he's playing there. They don't structure everything as like this
constantly moving ladder where you are, Hey, you did well

(33:19):
in this rep. So we're going to move you up here,
and it's not this horse race, as much as we
all kind of like to make it that way those
who are watching from the outside. So I think I
would couch some of what I've seen from him with that,
knowing that they are not evaluating it quite that way.
That said, I do think he's been more efficient. I
think he's done a better job of making throws into

(33:41):
traffic when he's had to do it. I think he's
made smart decisions. I think his footwork looks better than
what we've seen. There's certainly good signs of progress. I
just don't think that they are looking at this as hey,
you know, this guy's install one, this guy's in installed
to this guy and saw three, you know, open the
gates and we're going to bring the bell and see

(34:03):
who's the first one of the finish line. I don't
think they're they're structuring it quite that way. So I
don't know that I would read it that way as
a as a fan attending or a media member covering it.

Speaker 1 (34:14):
And lastly, Ben Gaslaine had Ben Gaslaine via Twitter all
you guys, but Seaford started it with the tweeting yesterday
about the kickoff. I mean, it's just providing anxiety with
with I mean, the NFL just looks so like it's
so confused with you know, no, you can't put the
ball on the tee that way, we may have a

(34:37):
twelfth man whatever. That's stupid that I don't even understand what.
I don't even I still don't understand it. It's like
playing pickleball with my parents. There are so many extra
rules that was for you. Dad, He's he always like,
when do I get a shutout? Like, there you go,
there's your shutoutmeister. Yeah, Dad, you can go overhand with
the serve just like John McEnroe, but everybody else has
to bounce it. And and then the third the bounds bit,

(35:00):
they just straddle the twenty's.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
It's you're stuck. It's just stuck right there.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
I mean, I mean, seriously, I joked earlier that you
may need to find returners who are elite shortstop minds
from their past to feel the worm burners. Field mahomes
field them, yeah, field them properly and do something with it.
I mean this this, I mean, I just like in
the opening kickoff of the preseason, you know, I just

(35:27):
might be quiet just like watch it so I can
learn with everybody else.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yes, I'm kind of with you. I continue to wonder
when are we going to see more of this in practice,
because we haven't seen it yet.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
The NFL has to have some type of media confab,
doesn't it with with like the kickoff or something.

Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, I mean typically so they talked about this at
the owner's meetings. They kind of just give a brief
overview of it, and ordinarily when the refs come in,
like the day that the refs come in to meet
with the teams, they typically set up a thing for
the beat writers where the refs kind of go over
the rules of emphasis and you know, the new points,
and it's typically something about here is where you can't hit.
Here a new area that you can't hit a player,

(36:01):
which is generally the thing every year. I would think
the kickoff would be the big point of intrigue this year.
So yes, I hope that when the refs come through,
and that's typically kind of mid August. Maybe it's a
little earlier than that with the preseason schedule being what
it is, but I am very curious to get more
of a walkthrough on this because yeah, there are so
many components of it, especially as they officiate, and I

(36:23):
hope they don't over officiate it, which the NFL has
a tendency to do. There's a lot to figure out
with this thing, and I don't know quite how you
do it other than either kind of going through all
of the rules or just walking through it and making
mistakes and kind of ironing things out from there.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Right, you're late.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
I'll do my best to see you out there yesday,
and I won't stand by you in case there needs
to be a sprint given the complexity.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Of the day. Thank you for your time as usual
and look forward to seeing.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
You yes Scott, speed with your trek through the next
twenty four hours.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
Thank you, and ain't going to be great.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
Ben Gesline, Ben Glen via Twitter and use Denorda's next.

Speaker 4 (37:08):
Welcome back nine to noon. It is news denord Time,
and that is brought to you by the casino at
Canterbury Park. Canterbury Park dot com. Live racing in play
right now, so you can get to the website for
the live racing schedule, or you can just show up
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(37:28):
year long. Having some SIPs at Chips tomorrow Derek Allen
is working, so make sure you stop into Chips and
tip the kid. Well, we'll start off news de Noord
with the Minnesota Twins. They lose fifteen to two last
night to the Mets, and it was, oh, there was
so much potential in that game. I think it was
Buxton in the first inning, top of the first he
singles in Manny Margo, you get the one nothing lead. Well,

(37:51):
then it was a sixer in the fourth for Simeon
Woods Richardson. Then it was I think it's Stomont five
in the sixth inning, and then it was brock stud
We were allowing four and the seventh, but don't worry,
mister Jeffers did homer in the ninth to make it
fifteen to two. It was an absolute bludgeoning and all
things considered, one hundred and sixty two games, I heard

(38:11):
rock of some postgame audio. Yeah, that's that's not us,
and it should be better today. And it's me better
with mister Festo on the mound versus Manaia and we're
all watching that trade deadline, PA five pm. Is the
trade deadline be Twins baseball a tough one. Big news.
How about this, Pa, You're going to be able to
watch the Minnesota Twins on Comcast. Wait, I believe Wake up.

(38:35):
It's the first of the month.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Wow. Thanks for sharing that.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
So there are.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
I mentioned.

Speaker 1 (38:45):
Early yes So yesterday I mentioned it yesterday, and I
don't even know if it was public knowledge, but there
was a big court situation yesterday with Bally's, so it
probably was public knowledge. And that was rubber meeting road
like I mean, and that could have gotten into the
NHL too, from what I understand, So I'm glad to
hear it went the right way. We also mentioned yesterday,
whether it's from Francisco Lindors or Brandon Neimo and Jeff McNeil,

(39:09):
the Me's hit and they hit very very well. They're hot.
I mean, their bats are so hot right now, ma'am.
If you look back over like the last seven fifteen
and say twenty three days, these Mets are swinging it sweetly.
And if you make mistakes like happened last night on
several occasions, they will put double digits up on you.

(39:30):
So yeah, the Mets got some sweet bats man.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
They do.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
I don't have all the particulars. You strike me as
a guy that has the most expensive cable package with comcasts?
Is that accurate? Like the ultimate? Like you got all
the sports channels having saved for Bally's right now.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yeah, I got all the sports channels, but you got
like the acc network. I mean, you're just like Simpson
Hoops in the middle of the winter. I have the
SEC channel, which I never watched.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
But would I would suggest cable subscribers. What I was
getting at is in terms of particulars in which package
you have. I don't have that in front of me.
There was some ambiguity around that. But in the end,
Twins fans that have been waiting patiently, that's great. You're
gonna get paid off. And you didn't even have to
watch the fifteen to two drubbing yesterday, So in some
ways you should say thank you, but that should be

(40:18):
as of August first. Just later this week, the Twins
are back on TV. I did see something too, wondering
kind of okay, so they get paid now it's not
on the TV screens. Team's pretty good though, has some
stars as of now, even just by yesterday, certainly in
the mixed playoffs. Wise, I had heard something yesterday that
their attendance actually they have seen numbers wise a little

(40:42):
bit of a drop off, and so a drop off, yes.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Correct, geez I would have gone one percent the other way.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
And so how much that plays into the lack of
TV people just finding other things to do over the
course of the summer, out of sight, out of mind.
It does sound like in some ways the Twins have
paid a price for that, which goes into now is
the trade deadline is upon us. You heard it from
Derek falvea day or two ago, kind of the idea
we're we're not going to be We're in a spot
right now. Hamstrung was a word that was used. Bobby

(41:11):
Nightingale for the Strip reported on it that effectively, if
they're not putting salary out the door, that they're not
going to be bringing salaries in the door. Yeah, so
you might not you might not want to wait with
with two baited a breath. As the trade deadline hits
us at five pm today, only two teams I believe,
over the last month have made zero transactions. Wow, the

(41:31):
Twins in the A's only Wow, Twins in the Athlete.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
I didn't elite nugget that is because that as a
gleaming nugget leman.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
He's he's we're still waiting that the chairs open love gleaming.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Uh, he's still he's still on X providing a lead intel. Yeah,
he's a he's Yeah, for sure, he's an elite baseball mind.
But there are big names that that are moving, like
like a rose A Raina from Tampa Bay went up
to Softy's team, Jazz Chisholm, who's really good used for
the Marlins. Well he's not with the New York Yankee.
He's cranking two home runs on Sunday Night baseball. So

(42:03):
you know, the the rich, those of the rich get
richer variety. They're they're they're having those fat names man,
trying trying to become relevant.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
In September.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
Yeah, I think there's a Jack Flaherty for the Tigers. Yeah,
and he's he's a member and that staff. The team's
not doing well this year, but the pitching staff has
been pretty pretty bad ass.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
For the Tigers. They got a couple of nice ones.

Speaker 4 (42:23):
And uh, and he's a name that's out there. I
don't know if he's moving at all, but but nothing
nothing on the home front for our baseball team, at
least as of this.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
I don't know anything about the Detroit Tigers minor league system.
All right, so they may have six mac Surezers and
two Steven Strasberg's and and Drew Soren on the side.
But if you have a scooball scooball Tarik and you
have flarity, you have a chance with a one two,
you have a chance with a one two to maybe

(42:53):
bind a three in your system or something and start
there as the as like the comeback takes place.

Speaker 4 (42:59):
Yeah, but the problem for them is that if they
can't win a one nothing game, how are they gonna
Are you going to get those seven eight ones over
the finish line? I saw this yesterday, a clip via
Chase Daniel and Daniel is singular by the way. Chase
Daniel former quarterback of the Saints. I believe he was
a Missoo Tiger. I believe he also played for the

(43:21):
Bears five or six years ago when the Vikings lost
its soldier field to Chase Daniel. But he was on
an athletic podcast Diana Rassini in the Mix with Kirk Cousins,
and I found this audio interesting, saying that Kevin O'Connell said,
if we resign you, it's highly unlikely we'll draft another quarterback.
Here's the audio.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
You're a franchise player, bro Like, it makes no sense
whatsoever to do one year deals.

Speaker 5 (43:46):
I think the reality is just that they want to
give themselves that flexibility. And I remember Kevin's words, of
which I'm not going to hold him to them, you know, were, hey,
if we sign you back, I would think.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
It's very unlikely that we would draft somebody.

Speaker 5 (44:00):
It was something to that effect.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
But I also know in the league things changed.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
So even if he says that, it's not like I'm gonna,
you know, hold him to that. But his approach was,
I just don't see us doing that if you're back,
you know, if you're not back, then we have to Oh.

Speaker 4 (44:15):
That was Kirk with Chase Daniel on an athletic podcast.
Overall longer and good conversation. Diana Rossini was in that
mix as well. I was always the impression that they
were open, up front and honest about him. I can
simultaneously agree if you're looking at the one year contract
bit and more guarantees down the road. We know Atlanta
gave him ultimately as much as he wanted, but I

(44:37):
was always under the impression that this was kind of
the plan that if Kirk's back, if Kirk's not back,
we were going to go We're going to go top ten.
But that's what Kirk said, O'Connell told him, it's highly
unlikely they draft a quarterback.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
Well, the with with Cousins assumably in the mix. You know,
let's say it was a fifty to fifty equation, like
when I was out in California and you were back here,
and that's when it popped.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
You know, up to that time, it.

Speaker 1 (45:03):
When when you were selecting, where the Vikings were selecting.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
You know, the the nine to now narrative was if
you you.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
Have let's say a handful all the right people seem
to like you, you know, how facilities are, we ain't
going to be around twelve again.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
We ain't gonna be around.

Speaker 1 (45:20):
Twelve again, that it made sense that this would be
the time to get one, to go get one with
or without Kirk.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
So there's, uh, there's there's.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
Ambiguity there, and it's still just it's it's not humorous.
It's just strange that Cousins was driving to Mercedes Benz
Stadium for an Atlanta Falcons draft party and he heard
on the radio that they drafted Michael Vennix Junior. I mean,

(45:49):
that's just so strange.

Speaker 4 (45:51):
When it's somebody from PRS in the parking lot, Like
they got a couple of jerseys for him to sign,
they're waiting, they got some chains they're going to put
on them and trot him out in front of the
fan base, and you know he's going to you know,
you like that. They had all the bits played, Yeah,
and he's just sitting there. Maybe he's driving in the
conversion van at that particular moment and radio is a

(46:12):
little fuzzy. He's got to hit it a couple of
times for it to clear up. Gets a phone call
and finds out that they drafted Pennix. That's yeah, what
a moment for Kirk. Best of luckdown in Atlanta.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
That's news to Nord.

Speaker 4 (46:23):
I was gonna ask you maybe, well actually real quick
thirty seconds and no, we got softy. I saw Jordan
Addison doing the part return bits. What's up with that?
It's day after day after day he's in the mix. PA.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
Yeah, I mentioned that yesterday from something that I had seen,
and I don't know, I don't know how serious they
are with it. But if you're if you're in the
punt return mix, it inherently means you are catching footballs
that are soaring high through the air. But the same

(46:54):
thing that happens with with kickoffs. Okay, they're up to something.
I don't know what they're up to with this Addison
returning kicks, Brandon Powell returning kicks, Canewan Wu returning kicks.
But yeah, I didn't. I didn't notice that yesterday. So
now it's happened repeatedly, which means they're not just doing
it to see if Jordan can can eyeball football's high

(47:16):
in the air coming down at him at a high
rate of speed.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Uh So that's a that's a nice catch right there.

Speaker 4 (47:21):
News Denard brought to you by the Casino at Canterbury Park.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Softy kJ R friend discussing a foe is around the
corner on KFA M