#92Noon! 10am Hour 10/14 Ben Goessling!

92Noon! Goessling - NDN

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The Friday Football Feast makes us return this Friday. You
enjoyed Pa Nor No alec Lewis nine to now in Buffalo,
Allowings Monticello for Wings football and great prizes ahead of
Vikings Eagles this Sunday, doors open at eight. Full details
KFA dot com, qub recounts.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Standard Heating and Air.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Thank you very much, Standard Heeating dot com and we
welcome you to the nine to Noon Show where Ben Gesling,
scribe for the Star Tribune, joins nine to noon each
and every Tuesday. We are at Twin City's Orthopedics Performance Center,
Access Vikings Podcast, Don't forget about that the Friday newsletter
at Ben Gesling via Twitter. You can learn about all

(00:45):
of that via his Twitter feed and no regrets. I
would imagine skipping the week in London, right, Good morning.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
Good morning, Yeah, it was. It was okay to have
a little bit of a breathfit from that.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
I ended up.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Home a day later than I expect that it was
going to be because my connection from Dublin to Amsterdam
got delayed to the point where I missed the flight
from Amsterdam home. So had a free night in Amsterdam
and figured out how to get myself downtown and did
the bicycle thing and saw a little bit of Amsterdam.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
But yeah, it was otherwise, it was a little more of.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
A relaxing week than it sounded like it might have
been in London for some people.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
What does a good Christian kid like you do with
a full day in Amsterdam?

Speaker 2 (01:27):
It was a couple hours in Amsterdam.

Speaker 4 (01:28):
I think it was trying to figure out how to
use the train and read enough Dutch to understand how
to get off the train, and then figured out, you know,
they do the you know rent by the hour bike thing,
you know, like you would do with a scooter or something.
So found one of those places and just did the
bike around thing. Went to see some of the museums
and they were closed by that point. This is like

(01:49):
nine o'clock at night by the time I did this,
But yeah, I took some pictures of that stuff and
looked like an American tourist probably riding the bike around.
But it was kind of fun just to see that.
I had never been there, so I figured to make
the best of it and then get back to the hotel,
finished running the story, sleep for three.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Hours four hours, and get on the flight home. Amsterdam's
actually really cool.

Speaker 5 (02:10):
And there's the stereotype bits, right, but the canals, the museums,
there's like nine hundred thousand bicycles in town. I mean,
you're you're looking for bikes before you're looking for cars.
Amsterdam or just commute it's beautiful, man. Yeah, it is
a great city. It was fun to see a little
bit of it and a little bit of time. I figured,
let's just make the best of it when I'm delayed there.

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Now, you know, with the even though you weren't in
London or at Hanbury manor or covering it, you know,
as you would cover as a beat rider.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yeah, normally week to week.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
It just it doesn't mean you're not plugged into vibes, yeah,
or you're not either plugged in from those within the
Covenant or those covering the Covenant. The point being here
is the week and a half seemed it seemed to
eat its some but not everybody. When I talk with coaches,
end or players mostly did you get that vibe from Afar?

(03:04):
I thought it was a terrific experience. It did get long.
I'm not, you know, part of the part of the
game planning group or anything, but it seemed to eat
it some people.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
Did you sense that, Yeah, it just it's a long
time to be out of your element. I mean, you're
doing all of these things.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
I mean.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
NFL teams are so much creatures of habit. I mean
that they want things to be regimented and routine and
kind of predictable week to week. I think that's something
that they kind of thrive on, or at least get
so comfortable with it.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
When you don't have that.

Speaker 4 (03:34):
In the same way, it's hard so when you have
to fly in a tackle just to get through practice
because you don't have enough people healthy and active, and
you have to make sure he's got a passport and
make sure that you can get a uniform made up,
and you know, all of these extra things. I even
felt that in Dublin. It's just it was a reminder.
And I enjoy those international trips a lot, but there's

(03:54):
just always like a couple of things that you count
on working smoothly that don't. It's hey, the Internet isn't
working quite the way I want, or oh I need
this power converter. When I got laid over on answerdam,
It's like, all right, I have the one for the
UK and Ireland, but I don't have the one for
mainland Europe, so I got to find one of those
otherwise I can't get my story done. So it's just
those types of little things. And then when you're playing

(04:16):
in an NFL season where there's pressure and you're trying
to get things fixed, especially with injuries like they've had it,
I just imagine all those little things add up and
it just gets to be kind of grueling. I think
Jonathan Grenard said after the game, like I'm ready to
go home, ready to see my family, ready to be
on my own bed. I think when you take a
team out of its routine for that long and it
is going to wear on some people. Do do you

(04:37):
think it's time for the NFL to give the Vikings
a break from worldly escapades?

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Well?

Speaker 4 (04:43):
I had that conversation with a couple of people over
the course of this, and I did get a little
bit of a like. I mean, I think they enjoy
those things, but I think there was a little bit
of this was a lot, and this was something that
no one else has been asked to do before, So
I think there was maybe a little bit of a hope, Hey,
next year, for example, if the Rams end up on

(05:03):
the schedule and it's Hey, the Rams are playing that
game in Melbourne. Let's send the Vikings there because they
travel well and they do these things well they do
they activate and all these different kinds of things. I
think there's maybe a little bit of a hope of No,
we just sent them on a two week trip last year.
Let's give them a minute to breathe before we do
the next to one of these things.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
Ko left QB one open for the Philly game, didn't
he he did?

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yep? What do you think?

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Well, I think you know some of the things he
said yesterday about JJ McCarthy and some of the things
he said through the course of this process getting through
a whole week of practice. I don't know how you're
going to know that you know his fitness to start
until you see him go through it. So you know,
just common sense and this is not with any steam necessarily,
but common sense tells me that you probably want to

(05:50):
see him get through the full week, see how he
responds to a Wednesday practice, how he comes back. It's
hard to do that kind of prospecting. I guess it's
hard to do that speculatively where you're saying, Okay, let's
see if this guy's ready to go. That's not how
regular season practices work. As you guys know, you need
the reps to have the number one ready to play.

(06:11):
So I would imagine that they're going to take the
week to say, let's get him some work. Let's get
some extra work with quarterback coaches on the side, get
him some extra reps, kind of do some of those
things and see how he is physically, see how he
is kind of commanding the offense when he gets chances,
whether it's reps in practice or things on the side.

(06:32):
I would imagine it's that and you're looking at Carson
Wentz to start. But you know, if that changes and
he says, if they say, yeah, he's ready to go,
maybe you switch that up. I just think that's a
lot to ask for in a week when you could
use this week to say, let's have this be a
little bit of an incubator and see where he's at.

Speaker 5 (06:50):
Tell tell me if I'm reading too much into it,
because it's tough where you know, we've joked about it
even nine to noon, where if Kevin O'Connell answers a
question at some point in that answer, the longer he talks,
you're going to start to get maybe some little morsels
and some little nuggets and clues. Sure, what's interesting to me?
And again, tell me if I'm reading too much into this.
At one point it was just there's an ankle injury.

(07:13):
Kid can't play, so we need to get them healthy
and get them back on the field. But in subsequent
conversations over the last couple of weeks, you've started to hear, well,
the footwork, well, the fundamentals and some other things that
you know, we were thinking maybe during training camp whether
or not it was perfected that kind of those conversations
that was in the past. It was the springtime conversation

(07:34):
throwing off platform, the mechanics of the of the position
and all of that. And then you felt that the
evolution being ready for week one at Soldier Field, that
this was no longer part of the conversation. Then we're
so now I'm deep in the weeds of well, how
much did the offensive line, you know, mash unit play
into what we saw the first few weeks.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Now he's hurt, but now I'm.

Speaker 5 (07:54):
Starting to hear about footwork and some fundamentals and some
things again as part of the health and the rehabilitation.
You know, am I reading into much where it's like,
was there a regression? Was there specific issues that now
before he gets back on the field, I actually now
need to see that progress in practice as well, not

(08:15):
just his ability to go through reps in practice.

Speaker 2 (08:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:18):
I mean he's said it enough that I don't think
that's an accident. I mean he's brought up the footwork
probably three or four times now, and I asked about
it again yesterday because I've been interested, Yeah, to see,
you know, kind of double click on this to say, okay,
what are we talking about specifically here? And he got
into a lot of things. I mean a lot of
coaching points you will hear Kevin O'Connell make with quarterbacks,
our base balance and body position. That's the thing you

(08:40):
hear him say over and over and over in tying
feet and eves together, all of those fundamental things. I
think those show up if they're not there and you
have that offensive line that they did where it is
a mass unit and you're not going to have as
many clean pockets. I think his point was, even when
you have dirty pockets, you have to get to those
places where you can throw from a solid platform and

(09:02):
then be able to make throws that hit people in stride,
hit people where that should. I mean all of those
things are tied together. And I think where the injury
comes in is that you're talking about his right ankle,
so it's his plant foot when he's throwing, and if
you don't feel good about the mechanics of it, and
then you throw in the injury, everything kind of just compounds.
If you're taking habits that they would like to still

(09:24):
be better, and you have an injury that he may
be compensating for. Just and this is how humans do
with injuries, right, We're going to have some compensatory patterns
when we have injuries that we're dealing with. And I
don't like how that feels, so let me kind of
adjust what I do. I think all of that stuff
kind of gets tied together. And when you're saying we
need to see this be clean, and we need to

(09:45):
see it especially be clean when it's an indication that
your foot is healed and that you're trusting your ankle
when you're pushing off, I think that's where a lot
of that stuff comes together.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
Yeah, and we talked about kind of just a coach's
commitment to a plan. Yeah, so whether in p brought
this up last week and we just kind of go
through it. It's like, because I want to read through
tea leaves and figure out when the heck the kid
QB is going to be back. Sure, he commits to
the first quarter suspension of Jordan Addison despite needing this
cat to be on the field help be productive for

(10:15):
your offense. He commits to the pitch count with your
left tackle. There, we're in a spot where justin school
is going one on one against Miles Garrett when we
absolutely need a touchdown to win that game.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Thankfully, it actually kind of worked out.

Speaker 5 (10:28):
But with that said, committing to that idea that he's
got to be healthy, that only continually furthers my lean
that Carson and I'm still wondering about this shoulder. I know,
yeah I'm throwing, but if he's healthy enough to go,
I think that's I don't want to say it's obvious,
but it feels like that is the obvious answer. I
guess in the Sunday against Philly, yeah.

Speaker 4 (10:48):
I think the only heade there is the shoulder. Like
you say, how bad is it and how effective is
he going to be if it's hit.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, and then.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
It's probably Brosmer If you don't feel like you're ready
with JJ desmin Ritter back yet, yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
I mean you're figuring out all those things.

Speaker 4 (11:02):
But the point about him not equivocating on things because well,
you know this isn't perfect, but we have to win
this week, so let's move off of the plan. You know,
whether it's Addison, whether it's the pitch count for Darresaw.
You have seen him say even if this is going
to possibly put us at a little bit of a

(11:23):
disadvantage in the short term, the long term, the overall
principle of what we're trying to do is the more
important thing here. And I do think their general approach
with McCarthy has been let's do these things when we
feel like he's ready to be sustainably successful, and you're
not going back and forth and I know, when he's
had the two games and then you're saying, well, on's

(11:45):
he going to go back in there? That can feel
like that, But I think some of it is okay, No,
there is something we need to get fixed, especially when
this injury comes into it and how that affects your
mechanics I think that all is part of it, where
you're saying the long term of this guy. I mean,
I just I wrote about this this morning that you
have quarterbacks across the NFL right now that were high

(12:08):
draft picks that washed out with their first teams, have
gone to a second or a third or a fourth
team in some cases, and are now some of the
best in the NFL. I mean, the top seeds in
each conference are quarterbacked by Baker Mayfield and Daniel Jones,
two guys that were regarded to be busts in the
last year or two. I'm old enough to remember when

(12:29):
that was the case. Sam Darnold, the Force is playing
well in Seattle, and then Jared Goff. That's not new,
but Jared Goff has kind of gone through this reclamation too.
It's kind of a reminder we've seen it here in
two of those cases with Donald and Jones, that the
trajectory of this position takes longer than a couple of weeks.
And I think, as they are going through this, let's

(12:51):
keep the long term and the overall development of this
guy as the main thing. And that's I think where
some of these decisions come in.

Speaker 3 (13:00):
Anybody ever get loud in your comments or responding to
a story excess Vikings newsletter or whatever. Anybody ever get
loud with the take that they should have paid Sam
Darnald and made McCarthy.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
Wait, yeah, I've heard it. I mean I've never really
seen any of it.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
Yeah, I mean it hasn't it hasn't come up a
lot of heard it here and there. I mean you
get that occasionally, but I think everybody kind of knew
the plan. I mean when they're going to draft a guy,
and that got reinforced this offseason, when they don't pay Donald,
when they don't pay Jones, when they say thanks but
no thanks to Aaron Rodgers. I mean, they have been
committed to this idea of McCarthy, and then you know,

(13:41):
you can say, well, okay, why is that now leading
to all of these questions of when's he going to
go back in? Why don't you just play him and
put them on the field. But I think the overall,
you know, a week or two or three or four,
whatever it happens to be with Carson Wentz is different
than saying what's the long term. I think the long
term is still very much aj McCarthy and paying Donald

(14:03):
would have changed that trajectory. It's different to have Wentz
doing it for a couple of weeks as it is.
Donald gets three years, one hundred million dollars. I mean
that changes what you're doing over the course of a
couple of years. And I think when they looked at
it and said this is the guy for the next
in the life of this Rocky contract, at least that
was going to win out over anything else they might
have wanted to do.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
Do you sense in any way they're the head coach
and or those around him are playing or having a
mental tug of war right now in that Yeah, we
can go on this kid and yeah, we can protect
this left shoulder here, the bad left shoulder where he
went nine for nine and won the game. Yeah, with
that bad shoulder. So therefore the tug of war would

(14:47):
be it's it's simply inherently from an experience factor. We
know what we're going to get here more than we
know what we're going to get here, and we're three
and two with a bunch of heavies in front of us.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
Yeah, is there a little little potential tuggle war taking place? Well?

Speaker 4 (15:04):
Yeah, I mean there's always that question of you have
a guy that's won games. He was really effective at
the end of the game. You had to have even
with the shoulder, even with you know, missing what four
fifths of the offensive line that you want. I mean,
there are those things that come up in the short term.
I think a lot of it is. Yeah, I mean
we're talking about McCarthy and this level of development, this

(15:26):
level of Okay, we got to work on some mechanics
things here. We got to get him back from the
ankle in combination with the mechanics, I think, yeah, it
makes some sense to say Wentz is the guy for
the short term, and you know, you kind of get
McCarthy back when you feel like the time is right
to do it. But yeah, I mean there are always
those things of you're trying to win games. You're playing

(15:48):
the Super Bowl champs this week. Then you have a
short week to go out to la in a tough
situation there, and then it's the Lions, and then the
Ravens have been a mess lately. But by that point
they probably have Lamar Jackson back, So the schedule is
still pretty formidable in terms of the teams you're going
to face. Yeah, you have to figure out all of
those things. And I think that's always the trick of
the trying to win a week to week league and

(16:10):
trying to have an overall development over the course of
you know, two, three, four, five years.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
That makes sense.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
And you know this as well as anybody, and you know,
you have to be gifted for this, this maturation to
take place quickly. And what I'm talking about is Drake May. Yeah,
is Drake May last year, you know when when when
they dusted him off and went with him markedly different
than the Drake May who made some big plays at

(16:38):
New Orleans and bigger plays at Buffalo on Sunday night football.
Even the Drake May that we saw during the joint
practices where you know, there were times I watched him saying,
holy Cowie can't get his feet right and loops everything. Well,
that ain't the guy that we're seeing in the regular season.
It's clear that the confidence, his confidence in himself that

(16:59):
he can do it is meshing with the skill set
that led them to taking him that high. That should
be expected with McCarthy. I don't know when it's going
to take place, but when it does, that that's what
it should look like.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
Yeah it is, And it's.

Speaker 4 (17:14):
Worth noting because we're going to talk about Drake Bang,
We're going to talk about Boeneck's just looking at this.
I mean, both those guys have had I think Nix
has had twenty three starts. May has had eighteen. You know,
that's different than two. So it does you go through
these growing pains. And the tricky part is this was
always going to be part of it. When they win
fourteen games last year, you are going to have this

(17:34):
this you know, balancing act of or tugle war, whatever
you want to call it of. We want to win
now because we have a veteran roster and we think
we can win with this quarterback. And it is going
to take a little bit of time to develop him,
so you know, I think the hope is you get
him to a point where he's at least playing complimentary football.
He's not deterring them or limiting them from winning. They're

(17:57):
not playing in spite of him, and I think you
could see him get to that point in the relatively
near future. I think a lot of it is he
hasn't played with Jordanatis, and he hasn't played with Christian Darrasa.
I mean, I think all of those things will help
when he does get back out there, But there are
a lot of things to learn, There's no doubt about it.
And the confidence I think comes when you've had some success,
you've had those reps, you say there's some things in

(18:17):
the bank that I can lean on. Here, we are
still waiting to see him do that, There's no doubt.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
What about the Minnesota Vikings defense through five games into
the Eagles game. We'll hit on that with the scribe
around the corner courtesy of Standard Heating and Air and
Standard Heating dot com. Meanwhile, WB got this.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
The cash thing.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
The fan and two men in a junk truck want
to give you a shot to win Bonus Bux with
the National Cash Contest. Head at KFA dot com keyword
deposits keywordeposit KFA dot com keyword deposit. Cafan welcomes Trans
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December twenty eight, three pm seven thirty pm. Take us
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(18:55):
to by tickets, kfan dot com, keyber calendar.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell joins us thirty minutes
from now here at Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center for
x'es and o's with Ko, and we have fan inclusion.

Speaker 5 (19:27):
We do, indeed, we do a talkback for the head
coach every time we're here at TCO Studios and Egan
so Free iHeartRadio app. You hit that microphone, you can
give up to your best thirty seconds, give your name
and where you're from, and ask the coach a question.
All weed through them and we'll find one for Ko
as he kicks off the eleven am hour here.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
Talk back for the head coach coming up thirty forty
five minutes from now. End up Ben Gesling, Star Tribune,
Startribune dot Com. Thanks to standard heating and air joins
nine to new weekly on Tuesdays here at the team's facility.
Think of the Vikings defense through five.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Well, I think you've seen a lot of moments where
they've come up with the plays they've had to have.
I mean, you know, this offense has been trying to
figure it out. Having a defense that keeps you in
games tends to be a life preserver, right, and I
think you've seen that quite a bit. I mean, certainly
saw it in that game against the Browns, and I
think really against the Steelers to an extent, they got

(20:22):
run on in that game, and that's something they're going
to have to continue to get better at, especially with
this stretch of running backs they're going to see here
coming up, starting with Sakwon Barkley on Sunday. But yeah,
I think overall, their ability to get stops has been
one of those things that's allowed the Vikings to be
three and two, even though you've had all of these
quarterback changes, offensive line changes. Having that defense that can

(20:46):
preserve things and keep you in games is a necessary thing,
and that's been you know, that's a lot of the
reason they are where they are and not sitting you know,
two and three, one and four or something like that.

Speaker 3 (20:56):
You watch games back, right, Yes, I do, every single one, ryep.
So there have been times this year where I've come
into like a radio week thinking about, you know, topics
for segments as the week goes on up to a game,
and there've been a couple of times where I've wanted
to jump into a segment saying they have to have
more from jay Von Hargrave, Okay, And then I would

(21:19):
watch back games and see how many times he's double teamed, yeah,
on almost every single play. Yeah, so okay, now, so
he's that's a high level of compensation for a double
drawing defensive tackle. He does have a couple of sacks,
but nevertheless, the question would be is if he's drawing
that attention, I don't know what the percentage is. Feels

(21:41):
like it's sixty sixty five percent of the time that
he's getting that double.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
From whom do you need more?

Speaker 3 (21:47):
And by not having Andrew van Genkole, Yeah, I mean
not having Gank it changes so much with this defense, right.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Yeah, it totally does.

Speaker 4 (21:57):
I mean you saw it eight snaps and he had
two sacks in that and they just look different when
they have him. I think when you talk about defensive tackles,
you know they want pass rush from those guys. Yes,
and that's part of the reason Hargrave and Jonathan Allen
are here. But when you're getting doubles, one of the
benefits of that is you are if you can just

(22:20):
sustain and not let blockers get off, you know, neutralize
you and get to the second level, you are creating
space for linebackers to run free. I mean that can
be part of the job, especially in the three down
front where you have people trying to take on you know,
possibly two gaps and man things where they're able to
create space for those linebackers. So I think that's especially

(22:41):
where when you have Van Ginkel, you have Blake Cashman
who they could get back here. Those linebackers are the
people that probably stand to benefit from that the most.
When you have a tackle like that that's sucking up
that many blockers, sucking up that much space, even if
he's not getting home, that can still set up other people.
And yeah, I think that's where you see it is
you don't have the people that would probably be in

(23:04):
best position to take advantage of those things. And yeah,
I think you've certainly seen it, especially with no Van Ginkle,
they look a lot different.

Speaker 5 (23:10):
Now we've talked about pitch counts for Christian Darisa. I'm
curious what the vibe is with Harrison Smith moving forward
and you know all these injuries. You know, you talk
about Van Ginkle and yeah, it'd be great to have
Cashman back. I'm just thinking about Harrison a little bit
where you know, we've been so used to him playing
ninety eight percent of the snaps. Floras himself like I
try to take reps off of them, but I just

(23:30):
I can't count too two off the field, different story
it appears here in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Does this feel to you.

Speaker 5 (23:36):
Where it is similar where we're rebuilding this thing to
full strength, or is this potentially a situation where back
end of his career that we kind of have to
get used to kind of this new look where it
will be a lot more of Mettellus and Theo Jackson
and Harrison Smith. We're kind of picking our spots with
that man.

Speaker 4 (23:53):
Yeah, I would imagine that as we go, you're going
to see him get back to a level we're more
familiar with. I don't think this is the stretch where
it's like, Okay, we're just kind of in this honorary
role and not playing as much. I don't think that's
something that he would necessarily be in favor of. I
think he's saying, if I'm gonna go, I still trust

(24:14):
that my body's good enough that I can go right,
And I think it has been getting ramped up coming back.
I think the plan is to have him play more
as we get through the season here, and maybe it's
not a bad thing if you're talking about I guy
that's thirty six years old, that you take some snaps
off of him early, expecting that you're going to need
him making big plays in December and January, and they hope,

(24:35):
you know, well into January. But I think the plan
will be to get him more involved as we go.
I think you'll see that start to change. But yeah,
it has been a lot different. I mean, you know,
cover the guy every year of his career. My first
year on the beat was his rookie year, and seeing
him not on the field is not a common sight,
that's for sure.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
What version of the Eagles do you think the Vikings
will get Sunday Noon, kfam.

Speaker 4 (24:58):
I think they will get a version that is kind
of angry. I mean, after these couple of games, they
have to be coming in pretty hot and pretty ready
to prove a point. So you know, the question with them,
I think is the way they run the ball. Can
they do that well enough to control the game with Hurts,
with Barkley, I mean, you know, just all of the
ways that they like to play, I think gives them

(25:21):
a good chance against the team that has had trouble
against the run. I mean, I think that's you know,
when Kevin O'Connell knows is what it takes. Meeting tomorrow,
I'm sure that that's going to be one of the
principles that comes up pretty early, is trying to keep
that run game from commanding everything. You go back to
that game in twenty three when they played them in
Philly on a Thursday night and their Eagles ran for
you know, two hundred and thirty yards or whatever it was.

(25:42):
They were productive, but it was also the way that
they just controlled the game. That they possessed the ball.
I think close to forty minutes in that game, if
I remember right, and your offense just can't work in
the same facet as it would if you're holding the
ball for you know, twenty nine to thirty minutes and
you know, you go out from there.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
They've had trouble with that.

Speaker 4 (26:01):
The Vikings have had trouble with that getting enough plays
early in the season, the first couple of games when
they're talking about we only have forty five.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Plays or whatever it is.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
The Eagles are a team that, if you're not careful defensively,
can put you in that type of a situation. I
think if they come out angry and looking to assert
themselves with the run game. That's what I'd expect to see,
and that's what the Vikings are gonna have to be ready.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
For if if Cashman returns this weekend. Yeah, who do
you think steps back? I mean, is it absolutely Wilson?

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Who? Yeah? Step back? Yeah? Or and it's just beating
around the bush a little bit. Yes.

Speaker 3 (26:38):
I don't think Ivan paced Junior has been anything super
special this year. Now you've seen this too. The longer
the backups play, the more they regress, right, That's why
they're back, right. So I mean it's you know, do
you really want to put five six hundred plays on
Eric Wilson this year?

Speaker 2 (26:57):
Yeah? I mean speaking about speaking a mental giant rate
right right, there is that balancing act there.

Speaker 4 (27:02):
I agree that I've in Pace has not been probably
what the Vikings would want. I mean, we've seen moments
where he's aggressive. We see a lot of this with him,
but probably jumping gaps, getting out of spots that we've
seen some of those things happen in these first few games.
Eric Wilson has come in pretty capably and he gives
them a steady presence. But there is always that question
is if you play him more does that regression to

(27:25):
the mean happen where he is getting.

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Exposed a little bit where it is six hundred snaps.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
So I think you may see situations where, especially in
passing situations, you see Wilson a little more often. You know,
Pace has been effective as a blitzer, especially when Cashman
is there too. I think that's also worth considering how
those two play off of each other. But Wilson in
coverage I think gives them more than Pace does. I
wonder if it'll be, you know, kind of a mix

(27:52):
and match there, if it's going to be more drop
eight situations where you know, third downs like they'd like
to do. They've blitzed first, the second sometimes then the third,
it's rush three, drop eight. Maybe you see Wilson in
those settings a little more often. Good seeing you again,
my brother, to see you as well.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Anything we need to know about Access Vikings, the podcast.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
Or the newsletter, it's all coming later this week. We'll
have the podcast, we'll typically record tomorrow, a new episode tomorrow,
mailbag episode Friday, newsletter also out Friday, and then Sunday
stories me this week, just looking at the cornerback that
the Vikings picked up from the Eagles, who has been
somewhat successful earlier this season.

Speaker 2 (28:28):
I say it Rogers and Sundays, we hear you.

Speaker 3 (28:30):
Vikings Football Sunday about lady twenty yep, forty minutes before
the game yep.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
Generally yeah, right in there. I'll be in the in
the radio booth and we'll fire it up. Do barero
Friday and pregame Sunday Standard Heating and Air. Thank you
very much, Ben Gessling, Thank you very much. Kevin O'Connell,
head coach of the Vikings. About twenty minutes from now.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
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Speaker 5 (29:22):
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dot com to kind of a two topic. First of all, yes,
per Valstett, I believe I pronounced that correctly.

Speaker 2 (30:11):
Terrific.

Speaker 5 (30:12):
In a shootout last night, finding the Minnesota Wild now
two and one to start the twenty twenty five twenty
six campaign.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
It was a power.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
Play bonanza in the first period's taking a three to
nothing lead for the Wild, Kings found their way back
in the third period. My sources, I e. Brett Blakemore,
we were arguing and well not really arguing, but he
fed Falstet were fantastic. I think maybe one of them
was a problem. But in the end they tie it up,
they go to Hei. There's no goals shootout takes place,

(30:41):
only one goal needed and Valstet with a big stop
sends the Wild into the winner's circle. Now with that said,
no rest for the winners in this particular case, they're
heading down, I believe, to Dallas this evening to face
the Stars. So a nice little division collision on a
Tuesday night for your two to one Minnesota wide double b.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
Give us your best thirty seconds on what you think
of the first three Wild games, and good morning.

Speaker 2 (31:06):
And good morning. Apologies for the voice. I'm very sick.

Speaker 1 (31:09):
I really enjoyed them. Obviously, you don't want to take
the foot off the gas like they did last night.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
In the second period.

Speaker 1 (31:16):
You got up three goals, they almost caught up four goals,
and then kind of let them back into the game.
I think the first goal was Wallstet could have done
much better, but the other two I thought he had
no chance on. But the resiliency, we love to talk
about it, the fight back. So we'll see what happens
on the back end of a back to back. But overall,
good things for the Wild.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
Sweet dig that you're going to get to hear that
tonight on your home for a Wild Hockey the fan
and to the NFL, we will you know what, actually
I want to do this just a few minutes to
bounce around from a baseball standpoint I mentioned to you,
and I think we were in lockstep. We got to
get Softy from Seattle on the on the hotline at
some point this week because these ms, these Mariners might

(31:56):
be on a run.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
They're two to nothing, they're up two.

Speaker 5 (31:58):
Rip on the Toronto Blue in the ALCS and it
was cal Raley in a three to one effort in
Game one last night. The offense was coming from all
over the freaking place as Seattle beat Toronto in Toronto
ten to three. And they get a chill day today
because of travel. But other than that, early and often

(32:19):
you get the three run home run in the first
to get that three to nothing lead, Jays would tie
it up, but once it went to the bullpen, the
Mariners cruised their way with seven unanswered to find themselves
in the winner circle. And then on the NL side
of things, it was Dodgers and brew Crew last night. Brewers,
I think there was yeah, I think it was Freddie
Freeman with a single with a solo home run in

(32:40):
the sixth, they get the insurance run top of nine,
and the Brewers did score one and left the bases
loaded as it was a swinging strike three and the
Dodgers fined one in Milwaukee two to one.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
They're up one nothing in the series. Game two is tonight.

Speaker 5 (32:57):
But the championship series are sweet, man, And you know,
I've joked about it, like rob Manfred probably hasn't drawn
it up from a revenue standpoint, Like man, it'd be
sweet if the Brewers and the Mariners were in the
World Series. But with that said, both teams very game
Dodgers Brewers. Looks like it could be a long series,
and it's fun to see the Mariners on this little

(33:17):
run here.

Speaker 3 (33:18):
Yeah, I'd like to see the bottom lines for each
team because just at first blush, I mean, it seems
from afar like the La Dodgers in a cap list game.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
Well, they either choose to or can outspend all three
of the other teams combined. So it's you know, the
the La Dodgers have yet to lose a game in
the playoffs, and they kind of stumbled into the postseason
a little bit too. This completely looks like a team
that is so cocksure and so confident in itself. It's

(33:52):
the it's the push button mentality. You guys can all
trip on Mookie, guys can all trip on Munsey. Go
ahead and trip I'm the catcher, you know, Will Smith pitching,
Blake Snell, the whole thing.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
When we pushed that button, you're all dead. That's it.
That's the end of the story.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Because we have the best players, we have the most money,
We're willing to spend the most money, and we're not.

Speaker 2 (34:13):
Going to lose.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
Yeah, which is a shame for what used to be
known as America's pastime. If they just continue to win
and win and win, and they just sweep their way
through the World Series, I mean, it'd be good for
Dodger fans, but just kind of grappy for the league though.

Speaker 5 (34:28):
Well, I mean just even the matchup, for instance, the
Milwaukee Brewers. This is from I just scrambled on Google machine.
They're twenty third. I was talking so long I knew
what you were doing. USA today has the Brewers twenty
third with one hundred and fifteen million dollars payroll.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
The LA Dodgers are number two at three.

Speaker 5 (34:44):
Twenty one, behind the Mets. So behind the Mets at
three twenty three. So the Dodgers have almost tripled the
payroll and they're potentially in for a grind.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
They haven't.

Speaker 5 (34:54):
They haven't lost a game to your point, but they've
they've actually tripled.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Up almost the the team they're playing.

Speaker 5 (35:00):
Yeah, in the Seattle Mariners at a buck forty six,
where the Blue Jays at two thirty nine sore. Wow,
your cej are thirty nine. They're paying somebody over there.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
So got a nice TV deal up there Toronto, way,
don't they?

Speaker 5 (35:12):
Well? Orge Polanco with a three run shot off of
Louis Varland Twin on twin violence taking place in the
Alcs last thing for you, and then we're gonna get
to the head coach and pause. Josh Allen and the
Bills appear broken. Big part of their success a year
ago lack of turnovers. I think it was like eight
or nine as a team the whole season. The last
two games for them resulting in losses with the Patriots

(35:33):
in the and then last night the Falcons in Atlanta
just giving the ball to the other team.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
It's a problem for them.

Speaker 5 (35:39):
Bears found their way past a turnover laden Commanders team
last night too.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Ben beloved bj Ben Johnson got those Bears playing pretty
good right now.

Speaker 2 (35:47):
They're in the NFC North.

Speaker 3 (35:48):
The Vikings get them at home a month month and
change from now. Somewhere during that and to chat about
the Vikings schedule and current things transpiring with our favorite
football team, head coach Kevin O'Connell joins us for XES
and o's around the corner.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
It's k F a M