#92Noon! 10a Hour 8/1 - Ben Leber

Ben Leber in studio on NFL bits, training camp bits, new kickoff rule bits, and miscellaneous bits. BITS! News follows!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Nine to noon.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Liber Ben Leber at Nacho Liber via Twitter three to
four thirty weekdays Twin Cities Live Channel five and Ben
a weekly piece nine to noon joins us now Daniels.
Matt Daniels, special teams coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, in
a roundabout way, said that there is a list of

(00:48):
position players set to kick off if they decide to
go that route. Would you have been on that list?
Were you playing these days and good morning to do
the kick it off?

Speaker 3 (01:00):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Huh? Not a chance, really, not a chance. You're an athlete.
You got no kick to you. I got no kick
to me, But I got no flexibility. I would look.
I was a high school punter.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
I appreciate that vulnerability because, as you know, every receiver
thinks they can play quarterback. Correct, They're always begging to
throw passes in games. I mean you played with Jerry's
right correct, Yeah? I mean Jerius was a high end
high school quarterback. And Jerius could throw it a little bit,

(01:31):
but not at like the NFL lot Jefferson. I think
he's four of six with the long of like twenty
four to Dalvin. You know, but even when Justin throws it,
it's abnormal, you know, so like every receiver always wants
to throw the ball thinking they can play quarterback. I
just thought that that kind of trickled to the rest
of the team, where every athlete so competitive at the

(01:53):
highest level, thinks they can do anything including kickoff.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
Well, listen, I I would love to have that much
ego in bravado, whether it's real or not, because I've
seen a lot of guys that think they can do
something and it's almost kind of like tongue in cheek.
They know they can't, but they feel like they can't
tell themselves. Eventually they can't do it. Like Adrian catching serious,
it was one of the most.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Mechanical, like three down back. Yeah, yeah, you want a
three down back just catching it. You're the one that
put it out there.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, he took it a little.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
You practiced against him. I saw it enough.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Tell me I'm wrong. It was a very mechanical operation.
I mean trying to do catching things with him.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Yeah, I mean it's like anytime anytime you see him
swing out to the flat and you see their quarterback
turn their hips like he's gonna throw it, is that
Troy Williamson like, yeah, yes, okay, he caught it, you know,
but yes, you're correct, But I will, I will, I
will definitively say that, no, I cannot kick the ball.
That was especially like I can. I think I can punt.

(02:58):
I really think that. I really think that you get
a pinch if you give me enough time to practice,
you know, on the side, you know, do a little
a couple extra kicksturing practice and stay limber and whatever.
I think I could punt. The kicking dude, that is
that is way harder than people.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Think, right, yeah.

Speaker 5 (03:16):
Now.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
The special teams coordinator also said games will be decided
early in the season due to the new kickoff bit
because not everybody's going to be up to speed. Somebody's
going to find a crack in the situation. So he
thinks games are going to be decided early until people
figure it out. Do you think we are sitting on
a record number of kick return touchdowns this year?

Speaker 1 (03:39):
I really think we are.

Speaker 4 (03:40):
And I know that when we've talked about this before,
I think when the XFL is doing it, the percentage
was not as high as you would think. I mean,
I think there was like maybe one or two return
touchdowns compared to maybe previous years, So it wasn't a
huge number. I do think that it's that he's correct
that it's going to take a while, because we've all

(04:02):
done this before, and whether it's football or your own life,
you take, you take an idea, you put down on paper,
but until until you actually speak it or actually practice it,
you're like, oh, yeah, that that that doesn't work. You know, like, oh,
I never thought about that. You know, when you actually
implement what your plan is, you're like, oh, that didn't work.
So now that the NFL has has this time and

(04:22):
all these coordinators have they they can practice things against
their their look teams and they can try to try
to get a good look. But until you get real
players out there in a game like situation, you don't
know how these players are going to react to your diagrams.
And I do think it's gonna be it's gonna be really,
I think interesting and fun to see how they can
set up walls. You know, if you know, if you

(04:46):
know as a you know, as a return team, like okay, well,
if we think that they're going to kick it to
our left deep, because it's gonna be advantageous for any
one of these kickers or these position players that play kickers,
you know, to to basically coffin corner kick, you know,
you know, kind of pin them up against that, you know,
inside the five in the corners. If you can actually

(05:08):
do that, well, now you can kind of design okay,
well we can set a wall if they kick it
this way mostly almost like a punt return, like, okay,
we're just gonna do this. We're gonna peel this guy.
Even though there's a stagnant set up between like five
guys on the one side and five guys on the
other side, and we have to be between, you know what,
the thirty and the thirty five, you can still design
ways to mess with the coverage team. And how that

(05:31):
gets implemented and how that looks, I don't know, but
I think it's gonna be. It's gonna be sort of
a chess match. It's gonna be really fun to watch
all the different designs.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Now that this is a one percenter in my opinion,
But like he said, Daniel said, Cana and Brandon Powell
are the primary two right now, he said there are
others and wouldn't share. At training camp, watching Jordan Addison
catch punts, He's been catching a lot of punts. You know,
I don't see him be playing punt turner, so maybe

(06:01):
they're getting him to figure out the trajectory of high
balls coming into stuff. I don't know if Addison's in
the mix or not, but given in the XFL, the
coverage guys begin at the thirty five, okay. With the
NFL's the forty okay, So that extra fifteen feet is
According to Daniels, it's everything. So you and vision. Like Jefferson,

(06:25):
he's twitchy, he slides and sees things beautifully. He can
get these things on a full run and then he
catches it. They can't move until it's touched or it bounces.
But say it's like a line drive, he catches it
and he's off and they just start. I mean, seriously,
Justin would be unbelievably tough to stop until he hurts

(06:49):
something on a kick return and you lose him for
a month and a half.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
Yeah, I get outside of the design of the plays
I just was talking about. What you're talking about, too,
is the type of player that you want back there,
because you want to go with guys that obviously know
how to field the ball. But then it comes down
to vision and your acceleration. And I think that running
backs in particular and punt returners probably are are the

(07:17):
best guys on the team that have that sort of
field vision of you know, seeing seeing a gap, understanding
where blocking schemes are, and then hitting hitting the hole
where it's supposed to go, you know, basically on a
full on a full sprint. So you know who they
have back there and how they implement all this it
is it is going to be fascinating, intriguing. You know,
you're allowed to have one or two returners back there,

(07:38):
and how does that work out?

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Now?

Speaker 4 (07:40):
You if you have one guy back there, then they
can move around and they can move around inside the twenty.
I mean so, and it's still being dictated on on
where the ball is being kicked. But you know, if
you use two guys back there, that's okay, that's great.
You got two different options. But now you have one
less guy up front to block, yes, and then and
then how far do you put these.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Two guys away?

Speaker 4 (08:02):
Because the guy the off returner that's not going to
return it, he becomes the blocker. He could be the
first guy that sets up the wedge, or he gets
the most dangerous guy that beats the block.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
So it's it's gonna.

Speaker 4 (08:15):
Be fun, and it's gonna be fun to see. It's
gonna be fun to see these kickers, right, I think
really have to be football players right now, They're really
gonna have to make a lot more tackles. And it
can't just be I'm just going to backpedal until the
cavalry gets here. I'm gonna have to make a sure tackle.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Would you?

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Would you kick it out of the end zone like
nearly every time and just give him the thirty. Yeah,
it starts with the thirty, so so therefore, just bang
it out of the end zone like so many can,
and we're gonna give you the thirty.

Speaker 1 (08:45):
And it gives you.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
Time to watch others and see, you know, those who
aren't kicking it out, like what's good?

Speaker 1 (08:53):
Where the flaws are? So do you start.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Conservatively and become aggressive or do you just come out
of the game trying to time, just trying to line
that sucker up? So it bounces at the sixteen takes
weird bounces, takes a while to pick up. Now, all
of a sudden, your guys from the forty are just
on them. I think that I think you come out
and be aggressive. You know, these kickers are are very

(09:21):
very good about getting airtime, and it's going to be
so I mean so important I think for and I
and I get that. I get that the guys up
front the cover team can't move until the ball hits
the ground inside of the landing zone or they feel
the ball.

Speaker 4 (09:39):
I understand that. But having the advantage of locating locating
with the ball is going to be before you start running.
It's huge because that was such a big thing when
you're on kickoff. When you're on kickoff team and you're like, okay,
we know it's going to be a right kick, and
then you take off in a full sprint. You're reading
the return team. They're turning their they're trying to get

(10:01):
in their blocking positions to set up their wall or
whatever they're going to be doing. You're analyzing all this stuff,
and you'd be surprised how many guys just run to
where they think the ball's supposed to go and they're like, well,
you said a right kick. Well the kicker didn't kick
it to the right side. He kicked it more middle
or it was maybe left hash And you don't do

(10:21):
your assignment because you're not looking at the ball, and
it sounds so simple and so ridiculous that we'd even
be talking about this.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
But they don't have to worry about that.

Speaker 4 (10:30):
Now they can watch the ball kicked and watch it
float through the air and be like, Okay, that's going
to the right corner.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Yep, and now I know exactly where to go and
how to beat my blocker.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Mm hmm, well where a we can change from the
first preseason game. So I and we you probably are
up to speed on it, but I need to get
up to speed on about what about the extra point
roughing the kicker penalty assessed on the kickoff?

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Right?

Speaker 2 (10:53):
I hadn't even thought of that until yesterday and Daniels
made it out. Hey, I'm sure it's settled. I'm sure
there's a role a sixteen BC comma whatever. Okay, I
haven't looked at it, but seriously, what about what about
and the penalty will be assessed on the kickoff?

Speaker 1 (11:11):
What happens there? It's unblow. I have no idea. I mean,
we'll figure it out. Yeah, I guess we'll figure it out, right,
I mean I was just thinking.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
I'm like that changed things. Sorry to put you in
a weird spot. Yeah, I don't know how that would
work out. I don't know, right, but we will, uh
see how by the time they booming against the raiders.
Now follow me on this, We're not you know, we're not.
We're not requesting JJ McCarthy changes number from nine to four.

(11:37):
Uh for Farve because of the gunslinger reference I'm going
to make. But my man naturally has some gunslinger to him.
I mean, you can see it in the in these practices,
and we know, you know, I think it's fair to
say with O'Connell's offense, the way the staff puts it
together and the skill guys they have, that the system

(11:58):
is good, it's organized, it's proven and and you know
you so, like if it's explained to me, the like
McCarthy is really good at the offense, wants to go
low to high and high to low, and he's just
like really good with those concepts, Like like what does

(12:21):
that mean.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
I think what he means is is they they intentionally
put a lot of a lot of route combinations that
complement each other. So you're gonna have levels and layers
to the to the offense and to the to the
routes and and so that means that you've got to
be able to assess is my is my shot going
to be deep based on what the safety is doing,

(12:43):
or is it gonna be something layered in between or
a checkdown underneath, you know, keeping it on the same
the same third of the field basically is the way
I understand that. Look he has been I think part
of I think part of his mentality in the way
that he approaches the game really shouldn't surprise us. Because

(13:05):
when we were doing all of our draft analysis before
the draft and getting ready to you know, which quarterback
if they're going to take quarterback or they going to
take we all you know, started focusing on quarterbacks. It's like,
this dude has that mentality. I mean, yes, he can
throw on the run. He's more athletic than people think.
Down the down the field, the dude will try to

(13:26):
he'll try to put it in a tight window. So
I guess for him to translate that mentality in that
approach should not really they shouldn't surprise us.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
That's the gunslinger bit that I meant. It's he's not
a computer chip. I mean at all. He can run improviser,
but he can run the computer but you know better
than anybody man, because you played in games that that
it doesn't always work the way it's supposed to work,
and the other side gets to gets to fool you
and got you you occasionally too. It's like cousins in

(13:56):
those situations would take the hit, go down, bounce up,
get you for thirty the next play. McCarthy ain't trying
to take those hits, and he just naturally feels where
the rush is coming from, and like gets he does.
It's not slide in the pocket. He gets away from
it nicely and fast eyes down the field, and he's

(14:18):
willing to take chances.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
And you know what else I've seen and I could
be making a bigger deal out of just the body
mechanics and the movements, But in those particular situations where
he's he's feeling the pocket collapse, to me, it doesn't
seem panicked. Yes, I think some quarterbacks, and I'm not
talking about our team. I'm just saying in quarterbacks in
general that you can see they might elude the pressure,

(14:43):
but there's a fidgetiness, there's a there's a nervousness about
which they move and that does that does hamper their
decision making skills as they're looking down the field. I
don't really see that with him, you know, I see
him smoothly and urgently getting out of the pocket, but
still all the while staying poised with his throwing mechanics

(15:03):
and like his his you know, his platform.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Then the feet ain't all jumpy.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
The feet aren't jumpy either. He's you know, he's he
looks in control, and I think that goes a long ways.
When you can handle chaos in a controlled manner as
a quarterback man, that that just that puts you head
and shoulders above you know, even more skilled quarterbacks. That's
where that's where like super skilled quarterbacks they just can't

(15:28):
handle the NFL because they can't handle the chaos.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yep. And he seems to be handling it really well.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Now we we we will know more, you know, about
who's going to play and why up to the Raiders
game next week. But as of now, if I were
to venture a guess, because there is no joint practice
into that first preseason game, then I mean, if it's
fifty ten, fifteen, twenty plays for Darnald you know Jefferson playing,

(15:54):
that ain't happening, darrisaw. I mean, so you know, Aaron Jones,
Aaron Jones whole thing. But nevertheless, that doesn't mean you
can't get ten to fifteen out of Sam off the
players with whom he's worked in practice. Then, because the
next week you got the two joints against Cleveland where
it's gonna be ones on ones hard like a preseason,

(16:15):
you know, kind of kind of eighty percent regular season,
one hundred and fifty percent preseason. So I wouldn't expect
Darnald to play in that one and then in the
in the final one. Probably not. You think that logic
makes sense, like Donald a little in this first one,
McCarthy a lot, then maybe Haul simply because they know

(16:36):
what they have in Mulleins.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (16:38):
I actually the way that you kind of laid out
the timeline for those those three games, I actually hope
that that's what they end up doing. I mean, Joe selfishly,
from a fan standpoint, I think hope McCarthy gets quarters
two and three. Yeah, exactly, be the ball. I think
it'd be great if we could get two series out
of Donald, we get the second, the third quarter out
of McCarthy, and then Jaron cleans up the fourth quarter

(16:59):
for them for the first game and then, as you said,
the next week, a bulk of their I would say
ninety percent of their evaluation is going to come in
those two practices in Cleveland. Yeah, I mean they will
be designed to be hard, heavy. You get to see
other other defenses, other players. That to me is going

(17:19):
to be That's where they do all their valuation. The
game itself, I would I wouldn't get from a fan perspective,
I would like to see both quarterbacks again, but I
would get it if they're like, nah, no, we've seen,
we've seen enough. We don't need to see them in
the game. I could still actually see McCarthy playing a
little bit in that game, but mostly Jeringhall.

Speaker 2 (17:41):
The Jets have joints before each of their preseason games,
so they got like Washington and then Carolina at Carolina,
at Washington at Carolina, and then the Giants the annual
New York beat. They have joints with those teams up
to each of those preseason games. So how soon before

(18:02):
they cut two preseas? Cut cut it to two preseason games,
and then obviously add an extra eight extra ru.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yeah that's coming, right, that's coming.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
Yeah, with the preseason game, probably cut yeah, you think
they cut two or just probably no, I.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
Bet you they cut I bet you they cut just
the one. Okay, they'll keep it at twenty games, you know. Yeah,
even when I played, it's it's still twenty games. I
know that they're they're different. They're different because you know, game,
regular season games way more important than preseason games. They
mean more, they hurt more, all the stuff. But I
think they'll just keep that that magic twenty number for

(18:37):
the players on their bodies. And again, we're hearing a
lot more of these coaches talk about these joint practices
being way more important than these preseason games. I think
the preseason games, I I don't think they're gonna they'll
ever be truly eliminated, but I definitely think the the
importance of them are going to be diminished more and

(18:58):
more as they add more joint practice. If I was
a head coach, I would do exactly what the Jets
are doing. Yeah, I would schedule as many joint practices
as possible leading up to the preseason game, and and
then just the preseason game is like, all right, well
the guys that didn't because I would have the joint

(19:18):
practices be ones and twos almost exclusively. You know, maybe
mix in some threes if they're like on the cusp
of earning a backup role, but it would be ones
and twos, controlled environment, full you know, up until taking
down to the ground and then preseason game is Look,
it's gonna be a lot of two threes and fours.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
So is this eliminating the opportunity for like dreams to
come true, like you know, the Marcus Sheryls or Adam
Thielen's of the world. Because if it's Rickly ones and
twos and joints, I get that too, to get ready
for the regular season. Well, then now you have the
others in one fewer preseason game against talent that you

(19:59):
know it it's it's really you know, most of them
won't make the NFL. So it just might hurt the
opportunity to open eyes in situations and make teams. You know,
I don't think so.

Speaker 4 (20:11):
I Again, I would probably if I had to really
flush this out, probably format it in a way that
I was. I was only doing the joint practices in
the last two the last week or the last two
weeks of camp. If you know, if they keep three
preseason games and I would do the joint practices in
games two and three. If they get rid of a
preseason game, then definitely you would have to like figure

(20:32):
it out to where the bulk of the the backup reps.
Obviously happened in the first couple of weeks of practice,
and unfortunately it's like you guys got to show up
and show out. And then when you get into the
game and you get in a preseason game and you're
not getting a ton of reps in the in the
joint practices, then and you're probably going against a bunch
of other twos, threes and fours, you got to show

(20:52):
out again.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
I mean, I don't I don't.

Speaker 4 (20:54):
Really think that it takes away too many of the
reps because they're getting a small amount of reps in
practice even right now.

Speaker 1 (21:02):
Yeah, you know right now.

Speaker 4 (21:04):
As we speak that if you look at the Vikings practice,
it's a lot of ones versus twos, twos and versus ones,
and then we'll mix in some threes and four as
they might get, they'll get the scrap reps.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Talk to Adam Thielen. That's that's how it went.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
You just have to make those those twelve reps that
you get in practice in a team situation, you have
to make them count.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
I'm I'm hearing wonderful things about Gabriel Murphy and undrafted
kat who's making waves off the edge. So Turner Renard
van Ginkol Patrick Jones that there definitely is room for
him to make the active roster. But think about just
off this conversation. Are preseason games big for a guy

(21:46):
like Murphy and why.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
Well, yeah, I mean, just like everything else. I mean,
but but the thing is they're they're big. But if
you're talking about opportunities, the way that you laid that
out is exactly why they get there. They get their
opportunities in these these camp practices. If he wasn't getting
these opportunities in the practices right now, we wouldn't be

(22:11):
talking about them.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, but he's doing enough.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
He's doing enough through OTA's in mini camp that leads
up to this that they're like, oh, this dude can
this Actually this guy can play, like we can actually
find a spot for him. So it sounds like he's
doing enough in practice, he's getting enough repetit reps in
practice that they that they think, like, wow, he can
actually play. Of course, when he gets in the game
this weekend, and if he goes out and dominates and

(22:38):
shows that he's head and shoulders above the competition that
he's playing against, then I guarantee you the very next
padded practice that they have the falling week, he's going
to be in the mix even more so it'll it'll
be super important for him, just like everybody else.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
Ben laber ad Nacho Labor via Twitter and don't forget
each and every weekday three to four thirty see Benjamin
on television channel I be a Twin Cities Live. More
Vikings training camp and some NFL conversation around the corner
with Natcho liber When we return.

Speaker 1 (23:47):
Ten thirty one.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
Alec Lewis from the Athletic joins nine to noon about
thirty minutes from now. He's preceded by news Do Nord
And speaking of Do Nord, Nordo is here to Pepper
Nacchio Labor with some pertinent Minnesota Vikings related questions and
here they are.

Speaker 5 (24:05):
Yeah, indeed, can't practice yesterday pads on. Robert Tunyan goes
down with backspasms and there's like twelve tight ends on
this team. Ben, where do you think everything shapes up
until we get TJ.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
Hawkinson back.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
That's gonna be really interesting. I'll tell you what, going
back to what last year, what KOC said about Johnny Munt,
I think they're really high on him. And you know,
I'm not saying that he doesn't necessarily doesn't even come
close to comparing to Hawkinson as far as being as
versatile and maybe you know that that sort of comfort

(24:44):
blanket that they have in the middle of the field.
But I think that we're gonna be okay. You know,
Josh Oliver, I think really surprised people with his pass
catching ability. It certainly didn't surprise himself. I mean, he's
always thought he's been more of a better pass catcher
than people give him credit. It's just that his role
in the offense is that he was in before they
want him be, you know, just just be the stud

(25:06):
blocker that he was. We used him more as a
pass catcher last year, and I think that we were
all pleasantly surprised. So I think he'll have the exact
same role you're throwing Johnny Munt, and I think that
we we still have athleticism there, certainly not to the
to the to the extent that maybe Hawkinson has but
I don't think that this minor injury that we're dealing

(25:28):
with with Robert Tunyan is gonna be that big of
an issue. But to your point, there's a lot of guys,
I mean, there's it'll be an interesting position to watch
when we watch these preseason games because it seems like
there's about six or seven on the depth chart.

Speaker 5 (25:42):
You mentioned Johnny Monte. I saw a video from camp
yesterday where he was mixing it up with Brian ausome.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Way after a pass or the football at him.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
I'm sure what that was about, though, because I don't
real understand why he was so frustrated with Awesome wa.

Speaker 3 (25:55):
Well, and that's what I was curious about.

Speaker 5 (25:57):
I didn't see Austin Wah do anything that was even
remotely inappropriate or over the top. Just simply put a
shoulder on a guy, forcing him out of bounce.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
And he couldn't move him, and it was Awesome Wah
who went down hard month didn't move that man.

Speaker 1 (26:11):
Antonian didn't move.

Speaker 5 (26:12):
And that's that's the entire point of So you've seen
your fair share of training camp scraps and ultimately I saw,
you know, somebody kind of followed up on it. It's
like revenge was found, like months scores a touchdown apparently
later in the bit. Okay, that's vie, what revenge was required?
I think Austoin Wah is a guy that's probably working
hard for validating his vikings existence in his role on

(26:36):
this team. Yeah, I'm kind of I like seeing Awesome
Wah getting physical. I had no problem with that.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
So as twenty twenty four training camp goes, is that
because Awesome Wah I mean came full speed, tried to
blast him, I mean, full speed regular season type play.
Is that unacceptable in twenty twenty four training camp? No, Okay,
I don't. I don't think so. I don't think the
rules prohibit that that sort of physical play. Look, we've

(27:02):
all known that that Brian's been sort of a little
bit of a heat seeking missile, and when you put
him in the right direction, he knows where he's going.
I mean, he can be he can be an impactful player.
I had to watch that clip twice because I thought
it first. I'm like, did month did was he going
out of bounds? Was he like, did he have a
foot out of bounds? Or two?

Speaker 4 (27:25):
I would when I watched the second not even close
I mean, he was still probably a good yard away
from the sideline, and I'm like, well, what is he
mad about? He He's got a defender that is chasing him.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
And it was a hard hit.

Speaker 4 (27:39):
It wasn't like a I'm gonna I'm gonna hit you
and wrap up and try to knock you to the ground.
I thought it was in all intensive purposes. When we
say this is a thud period, I thought that was like,
it was a thud. It was a good, heavy thud,
nothing to be upset about.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
But who knows.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
The thing is, this is what we talk about about
going against your own teammates for so long. You know,
I'm sure there's been other instances where Johnny hasn't appreciated
maybe what Ba's done to him, or or maybe he's
just frustrated with other things that are going on. I mean,
there always usually is a little bit of a trail
that leads to this sort of scenario. But that if

(28:20):
you look at that play in a vacuum, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (28:23):
What he was so upset about.

Speaker 5 (28:24):
And ultimately, at this stage, Assomoa is I look at
him as fighting for his Viking's life in some respects,
in terms of the role that he's going to have.
Do you see it differently or is you know, we
got we got pacing cashman. Of course, and if we're
looking at a depth chart right now, Austin wah would
probably be one of those immediate inside linebacking backups.

Speaker 3 (28:43):
He played less than forty snaps on defense a year ago, so.

Speaker 5 (28:46):
It's like if health is is not in question, you know,
it's after that rookie season in which there was so
much optimism. I've been paced just kind of went and
took a guy's job, and I don't see a spot
for him mostly on defense. So maybe he's is excited
about the new kickoff as you guys are for something
to do.

Speaker 4 (29:04):
Well that that's just it is that I'm not I'm
not saying he gives he's no chance, he gives up
on his fight to try to be a starting linebacker.
But I think everybody knows and he probably knows deep
down inside that no matter what he does. I mean,
he could have, you know, put on some sort of
like superpowered jets and picked off that ball being thrown
to Johnny Munts. I mean, I don't think it's going

(29:26):
to change in the eyes of the coaches. Of who's
going to be the starters barring any injury. He's out
there just trying to get better like everybody else, and
and he's doing what he knows best, and that's fly
around and go one hundred miles an hour. His I
don't think that his job is on the line. I mean,
his roster is not going to get cut. His roster
spot's certainly not on the line. I mean we're talking

(29:48):
about Brian Austin Wall. Yeah, he he has the ability
right now, and I think he has the opportunity.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
I wouldn't go that far, but but we'll we'll we'll
see the rest of the offseason, in the preseason games
and stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
I just think that if he embraces this, the next
man up to C. J. Ham in this special team's role, yeah,
that that he could have a long career being a
special teams player and being a solid ish backup linebacker
if he embraced that, if he embraces it, if you

(30:21):
if you embrace that, I mean with his size, speed
and tenacity, if he studies the game on special teams
like CJ. Ham does, and and takes that ownership of
being a special teams captain and let's just all hope
that CJ's here for another five years, but he's probably
on the tail end of his career that if he
could kind of just learn from the way CJ has

(30:41):
done it, he could eventually take over that role that
that CJ is going to leave behind and become that
special teams demon, that captain that we've we've always seemed
to grow and love from our from our teams here.

Speaker 5 (30:53):
How long into this into this camp before you can
start making big opinions on certain aspects or competition battles
and such. We've had the pads on. Then it's back
to shells and it's back to pads. We're going to
see the super awesome night practice next week? Are you
gonna be Are you part of that broadcast?

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Fortunately?

Speaker 5 (31:10):
I am not, and it'll be Pa and Pete I
believe on Fox doing that for the night practice on Monday.
Some more details there, Saucy and I will be doing
a radio version of that during night practice as well.
But you know, the the idea of one on ones
and all of this and each day I was talking yesterday,
you know Jay Ward taking REPSI corner or you know,

(31:30):
getting to see those one on ones darrisaw v Dallas Turner,
Like how much of that do you need to see
before you're just like, I gotta have it in that
Raiders preseason game. And then that maybe maybe that's the
answer that puts a cap on certain opinions going in
third wide receiver, who's at the guard spot?

Speaker 3 (31:46):
Stuff like that.

Speaker 4 (31:48):
I would say, to feel really, really comfortable about where
where people are, I would say by the end of
next by the end of the weekend since era in Cleveland,
Because there are there are ways that you can find
success against your teammates. You see, you sort of understand
their body mechanics. You sort of you whether you are

(32:10):
intentionally doing it or not, just through observation and watching
rep after rep after rep. Like I could I could
tell you, you know, back in the day, if I'm
going against Chester Taylor and Adrian and these other running
backs coming out of the backfield and we've got to
guard them one on one, I didn't find it extremely difficult.

(32:31):
And I'm not saying I was successful every time, but
it's like you just you just know their body mechanics,
like Okay, I know when he's this upright and he
kind of takes this angle he's going to fake to
the outside and come to the inside or vice versa.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
So do you get that off film from opponents like
during the okay right, yes, yeah. So that's what like
made Antwine Winfield one of the if not the greatest
in the history of the NFL at diagnosing film, is
he he would have that for a lot of different players, Yes,
and be able to quickly processed you're going here, you're
going there, You're doing that.

Speaker 4 (33:03):
Yes, Wow, that's I mean, I think that's like the
the the three hundred, the four hundred level of watching film.
I mean a lot of times, you know, when you're
when you're learning to watch film in high school and
college and and certainly early in your NFL career, you're
watching schematics. You're you're understanding where you're supposed to be
with your your your your play called on your offense

(33:23):
or your defense, and you're you're watching just sort of
an overall view of like, well, this is what they
want to do on this particular play, this is how
they run power, or this is like the route combination
that they like, or this is the defense and a
cover two whatever. But you get into the next level,
like where antoine and like especially pass rushers. I mean,
Jared Allen would just study and study and study the

(33:46):
left tackle, like on okay, on this down and distance
or this particular play, Like, is there something that I
can grasp that that can give me a little bit
of heads up on what, how, how he's going to
play me on this particular play. And so to your point,
to make this really long winded, I think that you
can figure out your own team, and you can figure
out your own teammates, and you can figure out even

(34:08):
how CHAOSI likes to call plays. Yeah, and you're like, Okay,
well we've seen this all through ata is in in
mini camp and now in training camp, Like I am
gonna expect this route combination. I'm gonna expect this because
this is what they've done on third and third and
seven this, you know, twenty to other times. So you
can sort of sort of sort of skate by and

(34:29):
find a little bit of success. Uh, just just by
doing that when they get when they get to Cleveland
and they don't know what to expect at all. They're
not you're not watching film before you go there. You're
not scouting this team. You just show up on the
grass Mono Imano.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
What do you got? I'm gonna give you my best.
That's awesome, I think.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
I mean after that weekend, that's when the coach is like, Okay,
everything that we saw, this guy truly is a dog
and this this guy is exactly what we thought he
was going to be for.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
For better or worse.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
My man, you are a late have a terrific time
on television today channel five three to four thirty TCL.
Yeah you know, wait and I'll see you soon, all right?
Thanks Ben saying Ben.

Speaker 1 (35:07):
Liber At, not your liber Via Twitter and news Donord.
Isn't it.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Welcome back?

Speaker 5 (35:16):
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Speaker 3 (35:26):
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Speaker 5 (35:29):
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Speaker 3 (35:33):
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Speaker 3 (35:41):
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Speaker 2 (35:44):
Are you familiar with an old school Southern rock song
that goes, hold On louse Leigh, let I Go. It's
a thirty eight special at your favorite racetrack tomorrow night.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
You're kidding me?

Speaker 2 (35:56):
Thirty eight Special. Hold it's a two hit wonder, hold
On Loosely and Caught Up in You. I believe it
was the It was a really popular show.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
So do they I'm curious.

Speaker 5 (36:06):
Did they just play those two songs over and over
again for an hour and call it good?

Speaker 1 (36:11):
Now?

Speaker 2 (36:11):
They generally play them as the penultimate and the last
as part of the encore.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
We got a way through the first forty five. But
if you if you built the lyrics on your phone, if.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
You're of the variety that loves Southern rock, loves thirty
eight Special, Canterbury Park dot com, get yourself some tickets.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
I believe they're there tomorrow night. Though, I wonder if.

Speaker 5 (36:32):
Thirty eight special, and like you've probably seen this before,
you've heard you know the one hit wonder groups whoever?

Speaker 3 (36:39):
They are right that some of them will take it personally.

Speaker 5 (36:44):
You only know me for this song, But I have
twenty years and I have five studio albums, Oh yeah,
that you don't care about.

Speaker 3 (36:52):
And that's my artwork.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
And I can appreciate the pride of putting these things together,
the pride of creating it. I get it, sure, but
to be mad getting the mailbox money from maybe what
you think is your worst song. You think it's your
worst song, you think it's awful, Yes, but you can
fill arenas with it.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
You got to.

Speaker 3 (37:11):
You gotta appreciate some of that.

Speaker 5 (37:13):
So if you're thirty eight Special and no one knows
the words to your first aid songs, but everyone's screaming out.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
How no lo, that was good, then and don't let go.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
Oh yeah, if just appreciate that, I hope that. I
hope that they do twins.

Speaker 2 (37:31):
I have just quick, quickly, I have access to thirty
eight Special set list. Oh no, guarantee it's exactly this
when they play at Cby, But it goes rocking into
the night. Okay, wild eyed Southern Boys, back where you belong,
the sound of your voice, back to paradise. Honky Tonk Dancer,

(37:53):
We'll got some Southern rock here, roughhousend Teacher, Teacher, you
keep running away, somebody like you, second chance, like no
other night, Heart's on fire. Then they cover a song
by a band called Riggs called Radar Rider. Then it's
if I'd been the one fantasy girl trooper with an attitude.

(38:14):
Final song Caught Up in You, very popular encore chain Lightning,
hold On Loosely, and a Creeden's Clearwater Revival cover called
Traveling Band. That's a lot of songs. Well, that's a
lot a song for old people. It's gonna be humid too.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Trying to be rude. But by the time you get
to rough house and old people are getting tired.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Yeah, by the time they get to teach your teacher,
you may be feeling the felt just waiting for me
to text you. All right, we're one away from hold
On Loosely and the conrolls out the ball the black
Chips to go hold On Loosely.

Speaker 5 (38:51):
See, I love I love the traditions, even of the
encore and some don't do it this way anymore, but many, many,
if not most, still do. It's the it's the feigning
of the ending of the show. So whatever that last
song is. The light's so dim and maybe through the
fog you can see the shadows walking off stage and

(39:11):
you just know, and it's only a matter of how
long they're going to force you through this arbitrary pause
before they re enter the stage and hit you with hold.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
On loosely right.

Speaker 5 (39:23):
The Minnesota Twins win eight three yesterday, Pa. It was Larnick, Kepler,
Lewis and mister Walner all RBI knocks in a five
run third inning. They handle business so they get meat loafed,
but then he gets swept.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Unbelievable when given the discontent they must they might I'm
not kidding you, man. Well Correze, had I heard that
and been in Las Vegas, I might have gone broken
about five seconds.

Speaker 3 (39:48):
Yeah, you would have hit that first five hardy Dan.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
I love when you have Dan on and and I
should have him on more. You know when when when
when I'm here, Dan's great. Yeah, he's fantastic at explaining things,
and he would sharing what was honest yesterday about trading deadline.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Oh yeah. The other thing that he brought up that
was eye opening. Holy cow.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
The TV deals where he's like the San Diego Padres
have gone rogue on it. Yep, you know they got
their own stream team and yeah they're making a whop
in four million dollars.

Speaker 1 (40:19):
Wow, four million dollars pretty innovative.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Well, their TV deal used to be seventy four million
I'm like her, what is this one?

Speaker 1 (40:26):
I mean, this is like the baseball version of the
kickoff rule.

Speaker 3 (40:29):
No, it's it's crazy, but that is the how do
you do it?

Speaker 5 (40:32):
Do you do? You play around and grip onto these
regional sports networks and get all the blood out of
the stone you possibly can do.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
You reset now and go digital, and you take.

Speaker 5 (40:42):
That financial l under the idea that maybe you're creating
a new habit, a new standard that can grow a
new platform to build from. It sounds it's a short
term lose loose, There's no doubt about it. Some teams
are taking that l now. Some are trying to string
it out.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
Comcast made some teams always the white flag.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Yeah they did, which Yeah, I mean it's it's like
Baseball is is shiny toy big boss.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
So is Comcast and Expinity.

Speaker 2 (41:09):
I mean they don't have to budge where they're not
getting complaints the way like the local team was Another
eye opening bit from your interview with Dan Hayes MLB yesterday.
It was I knew that hour like TV deal was
low ish as the as major. I didn't know we
were last, Yeah, I didn't know we were at the bottom.

(41:30):
Then great for like geez man. Yeah, peanuts absolutely.

Speaker 5 (41:34):
Speaking of peanuts, people were eating peanuts out and in
the great City of Queen.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Is it in Queens where the Mets play?

Speaker 1 (41:41):
Plushy meadows? The meadows in Queens?

Speaker 3 (41:44):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (41:44):
Well, Lopez, Pablo Lopez gave up two over six. He's
actually been he was middling to start. He's been ramping
up pa yea and the team's off today. The White
Socks are in town starting tomorrow. You can watch that
on TV for a small convenience charge. Joe, it's a
celebration this weekend. He was inducted into the Hall of
Fame a week or two ago. Congratulations to him. There'll

(42:05):
be a party at Target Field and hopefully a sweep
as the Twins are still working their way back into
Al Central contention and maintaining that wild card edge.

Speaker 3 (42:15):
Before we leave, I got a couple of things for you.

Speaker 1 (42:18):
Actually here.

Speaker 5 (42:20):
We'll start with bow Nicks. This is from PFT. Tuesday
saw the team make the first change to the way
they are doling out reps. Since the start of camp.
They've been cycling first team reps between bow Knicks, Jared
Stidham and Zack Wilson, but they have now dropped Wilson
from the rotation, so Zach's out of the mix. He's
always been a long shot to beat up the others,
and the big question for Broncos head coach Sean Payton

(42:41):
has always been how long he'll wait to make Nicks
this year's first round pick the number one guy.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
Peyton has an offered.

Speaker 5 (42:47):
He has not offered an answer to that question, but
did say Nicks did pretty well with his turn to
play with the starters. I like his progress, Peyton said
via the team's website. Right, that's your bow Knicks update.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
At the Viking first preseason game against the Raiders, that's
a simul cast. We we do the simo cast, whereas
it's on Fox nine and FN one hundred point three KFM,
And well, this first one is our only home preseason game,
so it's a national game on NFL network. They got

(43:21):
one of like eleven thirty or noon, then one of three,
then one of like seven thirty. Yeah, I mean, I
don't know if and or Win Denver plays that day.
I mean I really really really really want to see
JJ McCarthy. I don't care, like I said earlier, if
it's against Max Crosby or Crosby stills in nasheh.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
I want to see my man run for long runs
in control.

Speaker 2 (43:45):
In hand and in command, and just showing the anti
Vike what I know he wanted and couldn't get.

Speaker 5 (43:55):
And now he gets a chance to watch it. And
now you're not allowed anywhere near the city of the
last thing I have for you. This is from TMZ.
You've been a box for a long time, but you
also host a radio show. You've been doing that even longer.
Twenty three now, right, season twenty three for football Fox
of the Purple. So this is uh, let me see here.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
His name is Buck Rising or Buck Reasing. Ri E
I s I n G.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
I'm gonna go rising Buck Rising, Okay, and he's for
one oh four five Rising sounds like a name of
somebody who would be in adult films.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
Yeah, correct. Uh so this is from TMZ.

Speaker 5 (44:31):
Things got heated at Tennessee Titans practice on Tuesday. Hey,
Star defender Jeffrey Simmons unloaded on radio host Buck Rising,
and the entire altercation was broadcast over the airwaves.

Speaker 1 (44:42):
Right.

Speaker 3 (44:43):
The tense interaction went down as.

Speaker 5 (44:45):
Buck was welcoming Titans corner Roger McCreery for a sit down.

Speaker 3 (44:48):
So we're doing it.

Speaker 5 (44:50):
We're on radio road type bit. We got Roger here,
we're on the air. There's some shuffling, you know, of
the headphones here. Okay, hey, we got Roger coming in
one O four five. Hey this Zoe the zone. The
zone and some watched it. Simmons walked over and blasted him.
You do a lot of talking on social media. Word,
I'm right here, Jeff. Buck clapped back, We can talk

(45:13):
anytime you want to. Unbelievable. Well, we'll have to deal
with that later, and he tries to transition to McCleary.
McCreary Simmons. This is a tweet from earlier in the
day from Buck. Simmons just swung at JC Lantham after
some pushing and shoving. Ref said ninety eight would have
been tossed in a game. He's back in for the
next two and immediately starts a brawl. Sloppy Simmons needs

(45:35):
to lock TF in.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
Have you ever had?

Speaker 5 (45:39):
That was after So that was the tweet. Oh, I
see that many are assuming led to. Ultimately, hours later,
he's trying to do his radio shows. Simmons walks off
and goes after him. Yep, you've been You've been a
vox for a long time, a radio host. Has there
ever been a catch up moment of players like, Hey,

(46:01):
I heard you say something on a radio you don't
typically you would not. I don't think I've ever seen
something like that, so probably wouldn't be social ever, So
I had some I've had I've gone around the block.

Speaker 2 (46:12):
With Everson Griffin a few times and it, you know,
like Everson and I didn't speak for months and I
can't even remember why. It was like during the season,
but like we were doing was it a show it
and Cato training camp or I was trying to do
an interview or something, and this is probably ten twelve
years ago, and he was I don't know if he

(46:33):
was joking or not, but he was telling people to
not come over and do the interview.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Well that that's when it.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Yeah, that now, all of a sudden, you're starting to
impact the bottom line. Okay, because I'm here trying to
do a job. My man, you're working on your spin move.
I don't know what your problem is with me. But
I went right to Leslie Fraser and I said, this
has happened with a member of media Relations, and I said,
this has happened, and it's dom and I have no
idea why it happened, and it was fixed. So then

(47:02):
we have the appropriate players beginning the next day on KFA.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
And that's about it.

Speaker 5 (47:07):
Eversin has to be and this is considering there are
other things that we know about have been reported on
in things. He will always be one of my favorite
personalities that I've interacted with since I've been at the
fan and bens the innocence there, the always excited, the
energy boost there. Yeah, Everson was one of the great

(47:29):
characters I think I've encountered since working with the team, one.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Of the authentic, genuine great characters nine to noon as
with whom we have dealt and or worked over a
long time, as Alec Lewis of the Athletic in Theeathletic
dot Com and he joins us next on KFA.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
Well, Abbitt was outside of the studio telling him not
to come in and do the segment actually right.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
Well, that means he'd actually have to walk down the
hallway to tell him. And I think we have bad
foot terrorism today and if that's the case, we feel
really bad for him.