December 18, 2025 • 50 mins
NYDN's Pat Leonard opens the show with some adversary intel ahead of Sunday's game with the Giants, followed by Vikes Bites and McCarthy talkers to wrap the first hour!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Which done. Just listen, just listen.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There are many many positives I can get out of
this day, Big boys.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Back, What did what did I do wrong?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's drop on the nine to noon radio show, which
is in the air.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
The Friday Football Feast tomorrow is at Buffalo Wild Wings
Apple Valley. Then the final road game of the twenty
twenty five for the Minnesota Vikings Sunday against the New
York Football Giants. And joining us now is Pat Leonard,
who covers the Big Blue for the New York Daily
News via the X Machine at p Leonard n y
(01:27):
d N and the scribe leads a very popular podcast
called Talking Ball with Pat Leonard, and you can find
Talking Ball via YouTube.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And Pat joins us now.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Pat first first on behalf of the State of Hockey Minnesota.
May God rest the soul of elite hockey writer and
columnist Larry Brooks, who died about a month ago. Why
did Larry's death hit you so hard? And good morning?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Wow, Paul, thank you for saying that and for honoring
Larry like that. Thanks for having me on hit me
so hard because he was such a great mentor here
in New York. You know the famous tabloid wars. When
I jumped in, it was New York Posts versus New
York Daily News, and it's every morning you're waking up
and you win or you lose, and it's cutthroat. And
(02:21):
when I covered the Rangers in the NHL for five
seasons from twenty eleven to twenty fifteen sixteen, Larry and
I kind of morphed from competitors to friends, mainly because
he was, despite being my main competition, so gracious with
teaching me, sharing all of his stories and knowledge, and
(02:42):
just an absolute one of a kind, a giant. You know,
we all know people or whether they're athletes or family
members or people we've met once that you almost can't
believe they're real. They're so great at something, or they're
so they're so meaningful to you in.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Some important way. And that's who Larry. Was gutted by
his loss, but I'm grateful that you're remembering.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Him like this, Matt.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Now, Pat, when you write at the Daily News, quote
Larry cared end quote. What what does that mean to
care in the journalism and ever competitive beat writing world.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh, excellent question.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah, it means cared about everything, not just one thing, right,
so some people care about their sources and only their sources.
Some people care about, you know, breaking news and only
breaking news, whatever it is. Larry cared about everything. He
cared about the people he talked to, the relationships he
was building. He cared about doing his best every day.
(03:41):
And I know, you know, I probably sound like a
motivational speaker delivering a cliche when I say that, but
I'm honestly, you know, the telling the truth that he
would wake up and his goal that day was to
write a column that was either told somebody something they
hadn't heard yet, taught them something new and and and
(04:02):
imparted something new about the game of hockey. Right, it's
not just about it's it's not about punching in and
punching out. It's about doing your best. And that's what
he always cared about most.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So, Uh, I mean, I guess, with all due respect
here would he and this is narrow casting, Pat, But
as the New York market goes, would Larry have been
like the the ant the anti Phil Mushnik?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Yeah, well, in a sense, why anti Phil? What do
you what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, simply simply because of how snarky his his media
columns can be and things like that, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Yeah, I think I think when you compare that, both
of those guys work for a place where and you
know me, it's the daily news too. Yeah, it's like
they don't just want you to be plugged in. They
also value a distinct voice. And I think in that sense,
(05:06):
like you just describe, you were able to describe Mushnik
not even by who he is, but first by how
he sounds and how he speaks and so like. That
was one great thing about Larry too, is that he
had his own voice, his own unique style. And I
think when you say he cared too, like another part
of that would be to care is also to be critical,
(05:29):
right like when we look at the football teams we're
about to talk about now, you know, being critical doesn't
mean being negative. In fact, a lot of diehard fans,
some people think a diehard fan is somebody who just
supports the team no matter what, no matter what dysfunction's happening.
I think, and I know Larry thought, a diehard fan
(05:50):
is somebody who holds the team they root for accountable.
So who roots for those great moments and the championships
and for all their players and coaches to do their best,
but who also is willing to call people to the
carpet when it's time and so, you know, I think
that's something that really mattered to the.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Stray Mushnik caught. Was uncalled for, but nice touch with
the story, which has pinned a top Pat's Twitter page
at p Leonard n y D m uh so when
it comes to the football game this weekend, Pat and
again Pat covers the Giants for the New York Daily
News and we also have Talking Ball via YouTube. Subscribe
(06:33):
to that and to give it a look quite popular,
very good. Uh the the what do you like about
rookie quarterback Jackson Dart And what are some hurdles he's
overcoming eleven games and nine starts into it.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yeah, what you like about him is he is a leader.
He wants everything on his shoulders, doesn't shy at all
away from the spotlight, the pressure and the responsibility that
comes with either being the leader of a winning team
or the party to the losing which is what's happening
(07:11):
right now. HJ losses for the Giants. I think he's
going through right now, as you guys are seeing in
a different way with a young quarterback his own maturities.
Like he just said yesterday that he's developing a recognition
of how much of a step up it is from
the college game to the pro game. And I would
(07:33):
say that when he first joined the Giants and entered
the game as entered as the starting quarterback early in
the season, he was more naive to the idea of
don't doubt me. I'm Jackson Dart, I'm here for a
reason I was drafted in the first round. I'll show you.
And like I said, I like that confidence. But I
(07:54):
think now he's starting to balance the recognition of what
it takes to win in the pros that confidence. So
do you pick your spots better when you're trying to
make a play with your legs?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Do you do? You do? How do you read defenses?
How does that evolve? So a lot of a lot
of an ongoing growth process happening with him, But the
arrow is pointing up on Jacksonville on him.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
On Pat's Talking Ball podcast via YouTube, it was discussed
Dark being under extreme scrutiny for the way he plays.
I think you just touched on it, but like overall,
what does that mean?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Yeah, so he's in the national spotlight really for how
he runs. There have been critics of his running style
that it's too reckless, and I think it's a little overblown,
but he's also leaned into it because he's so competitive,
he's almost pushing back against it. And so what I
(08:53):
mean by that is not sliding when it's time to
slide when he's scrambling, staying in bounds, and not getting
out of bounds after getting a good chunky yardage. I
think everybody saw that Christianellis hit in the Patriots game
where he flipped him over like an Olympic gymnast on
the sideline, and I right now, the key is this
(09:16):
Jackson is a little confused because he was drafted to
use his legs like this is a huge part of
why he was a first round worthy talent. If you
take his legs away, he probably wasn't a first round quarterback.
So in his mind, he's a little bit looking around, like, well,
what do you want me to do? This is what
this is. You drafted me, you put me in, and
you're calling these running plays. The Giants call a lot
(09:38):
of design runs for him throughout this season. Prior to
Brian Dables firing and they still called a couple against
Washington last week, So he's a little bit perplexed. On
the other side, he's been evaluated five times for a concussion,
including preseason, since he came into the NFL. That is
an alarming amount of trips to the blue tent. He's
only had one diagnosed concussion. But going back to hockey, Pomp,
(10:01):
you know that we know from hockey, from football, and
from the studies of all these sports soccer that the
subconcussive hits right like a regular hits to the brain.
All of that. Just because you're not diagnosed with a
concussion doesn't mean you're not sustaining long term damage. So
the Giants are concerned about his ability to stay on
the field, and that is what he's going through right now,
(10:23):
and he's being scrutinized every time he takes a snap
because of it.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Hey, hey, Pat, I mean you've covered this and seen
a lot of it for a long time. Eventually, with
Dart and a healthy Molaitue, Neighbors and running back Cam Scattaboo,
could the Giants be onto something identifiable as exciting.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yes, The one concern is Neighbors coming off in acl
Scataboo coming off of bad ankle injury. So he is
twenty six the year that that's all going to come
back together? Or are those guys going to be you know,
versions of themselves but not their full tilt ability And
maybe twenty twenty seven is the year that that all
(11:05):
kind of turns into the Supernerva you want it to be.
The weird thing, Paul, is that I've been covering this
team since twenty sixteen, and the story, even though the
defenses have fluctuated up and down, the story has always
been could they just put a modern offense on the field?
Right While all of these other organizations are finding ways
to have explosive offenses, could they just do it one year?
(11:29):
And now, finally, as you're alluding to, it looks like
they're starting to put together the pieces of what looks
like could be a real twenty twenty five NFL offense.
And now they have one of the worst defenses in
the league. They literally have the worst run defense in
the league, one of the worst overall defenses in the league,
after an offseason where they invested their most money and
(11:49):
assets in the defense. So that's part of how you
get an organization that constantly loses and has lost or
has won five of their last thirty one game, and
that's because they just can't figure it all out.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well off that pad, I mean, there's immense respect from
Afar for Dexter Lawrence. Why does the great Dexter Lawrence
have just a half sack despite starting all fourteen games?
Speaker 4 (12:17):
You have your finger on the pulse here, Paul. All
these questions are exactly the reasons for the Giants strugglers,
the Dexter. So Dexter's problem, it's a few things he was.
He stepped into a leadership role last season, more so
than just being one of their better players after they
(12:37):
let go or traded or whatever. Several key players Kae
Kwon Barkley, but also Leonard Williams and Julian Love guys
on the defense, were good friends of his, who were
key contributors and who had leadership qualities and roles. That
has weighed on Dexter a lot. Like last year, he
was not able to kind of put all of that
(12:58):
on his back adequately, and frankly, his play has slipped.
I think bad coaching is a part of that. But
also this year, Paul and I say this with respect.
I think Dexter has been a bystander this year. I
think he has been detached and uninvested compared to his
normal level of play and commitment. And it's there's a
(13:19):
few things there, like he had an elbow, a dislocated
elbow late last season where it took him a while
through the offseason to rehabb he did in practice in
the spring, he wasn't fully ready physically for the start
of the season. But also this is me projecting a
little bit, but I do think this is informed speculation
that's accurate. I think Dexter is looking around and saying
(13:39):
what is going on here? And so you know he does.
There's no excuse for him not playing his best. But
I do think this offseason presents an opportunity to evaluate
a guy like him and say, are weadically adequately supporting
this player and what does it look like in twenty
twenty six can we fully get dext Lawrence back on
(14:01):
board and believing in the program We're running.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Pat Leonard Giants beat writer for the New York Daily
News at p Leonard NYDN, via Twitter and the Talking Ballot.
The Talking ball podcast can be found via YouTube subscribe
to it and to find Talking Ball with Pat Leonard
via YouTube.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Just a couple more to close here.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
How was third overall pick Abdul Carter's first season gone pat.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Disappointing, especially from the standpoint of well, obviously a lack
of sack production, but also his off field habits haven't
been great. One of the criticisms of him coming out
from Penn State was that he wasn't a popular teammate,
and we've seen actually this rookie season with Brian Dable
(14:48):
being the type of coach who enables guys rather than
hold them fully accountable. Carter was getting away with something
showing up late, not fully committed. Mike Kaskis tried to
get that in line, benched him for it, series, benched
him for a quarter, and then he just had his
best game as a pro against the Commanders. I'll be
it in a loss, but seven tackles, two forced fumbles,
(15:10):
a fumble recovery, a stack. So that's hopefully one of
the building blocks that they've been talking about that is
going to round a little bit more into form heading
into twenty six. That offers a little bit more promise.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
NBA.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Uh Well, why a Spurs guard Stefan Castle your new
favorite player, Pat.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh, He's a He is a rock star. Holy cow.
He is unguardable, can get to the basket whenever he wants.
And as you saw in that NBA Cup game against
the Knicks when he when they subbed him out for
whatever it was the start of the fourth quarter there,
that's when the Knicks made their run. You know, they
were able to get better shots because he wasn't defending
(15:51):
the ball, and they were able to force the Spurs
into worse shots and to control the glass because he
wasn't crashing and he wasn't on the offensive side. It's
just hard to find a guy who has that kind
of handle at that size, who is mentally patient, and
who also clearly makes the right decision in my eyes,
with the ball every time he has it. I mean,
(16:13):
I can't get enough. I'll watch any Spurs game that's
all that I can get my hands on because he's
such a great player.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Pat, You're fantastic. I look forward to seeing you in
the press box at MetLife this weekend. May God bless
you and your family. Thank you very much for the time.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Okay, thank you so much, boy, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
See you about Pat Leonard New York Daily News. The
Talking Ball podcast via YouTube quite good if you like football,
and it does have a giants bent, but does very
very pointed with its commentary.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Thank you very much. Pat.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Part of the Timber Tech What's on Deck setlist today
where Bike Spikes is around the corner. At ten o'clock,
we continue our weekly Glorifying the Good segment discussing other
NFL teams. The Denver Broncos get the spotlight today and
their thirty year play by play voice Dave Logan will
join about an hour from now, maybe forty five minutes away.
(17:07):
After that, I think is going to be a touching
segment with a dear friend of mine and a mentor
of mine named Greg Papa. He's the play by play
voice for the San Francisco forty nine ers. He's going
to be back on the microphone a week from Sunday
for the Bears at San Francisco. After battling leukemia for
(17:30):
the better part of the last year. It's in remission now,
so thus Greg's able to resume his duties as one
of the great boxes in the history of the National
Football League. If you don't listen to any nine to
noon today outside of right now, but you come back
one time, do it an hour from now with Greg
(17:51):
Papa joining nine to noon. Johnny Athletic is he's going
to stop by nine to noon. John Krazinski covers the
Timberwolves for the Athletic and the Athletic. He'll be en
route to Timberwolves practice after that l last night against Memphis,
so he's going to stop by the studio and spend
a little time with yours truly and producer Nardo. And
(18:12):
as of about forty minutes ago, some Timberwolves related news popped.
According to Sham's Gerania, Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett is
reuniting with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Links in a
new all encompassing role involving business, community efforts and content development.
(18:33):
Sources told ESPN his long awaited number twenty one Wolves
jersey retirement will also happen in Minnesota. So the timing
that works out beautifully for Johnny Athletic. We booked him
yesterday to talk about the Timberwolves and some things Julius
Randall had to say after the game last night. It
was covert and I am reading between the lines. But
(18:54):
I do believe it was a low key plea by
for this team to find a true point guard. Yeah,
and I want to bounce that off Johnny K a
little later too. This is nine to new or to
Produces and I'm Paul Allen. Bikes Bites are around the
corner at FM one hundred point three kfanre.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Mike Spots Vikes Bites. It's nine to noon.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Vikes Bites is always presented by a Thousand Hills lifetime graysed,
grass fed, be Ankster Lawrence and you can shop online.
Boxing Meat shows up to your doorstep Coburn's and Kowalski's
locations local co ops as well. They're proud sponsors of
Guilpher's Athletics. And not just as the I mean the
product is awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
I've grilled it, I've smoked it. My kids dig it
as well. And it's a Clearwater, Minnesota company. So support
local Thousand Hills.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Let's start here with with a question, Bikes Bites, what
is your flavor?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
What is your taste do you prefer?
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Because we'll Donovan Jackson will have will fries, I believe.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
But to round out the offensive, line.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Would you prefer Justin's school Michael Jurgens at center and
Blake Brandle at right tackle, or would you prefer Justin's
School at left tackle, Blake Brandle at center, and Walter
Rousse at right tackle into this Giants game this weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Of course, I'm referencing the v injury report.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Kay.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, that's that's That's quite the menu.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
And next segment, when when we get into that kuz buzz,
the word menu is going to be mentioned.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
A couple of times when it comes to the voluminous.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Nature of menus that are available for quarterbacks who can
handle a voluminous menu of plays that the side dishes.
You just offered there with the Minnesota Movie company out
that injury report.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Holy cow.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
And by the way, I'm going to sit here and
stand tall and say that spam is fine dining, Pa,
Spam is fine dining.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Hey. Uh.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
The question that I posed here in the week just
kind of with the ebbs and flows, and you know,
I thought Tom Pellasero did a great job during the
Power Trip talking specifically with Christian derisoep where and we
can see it in other aspects of life as well,
where you have this traumatic event in this case, of course,
a season ending injury that he sustained at so far
(21:20):
a year ago, and now we are, what sixteen.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Months post injury or fourteen months.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Four hundred and some days, somebody's got a ticker or
a tally out there. But to the idea that mentally
trusting yourself, believing in that post injury you are totally
healthy and trying to work through that just kind of
the idea of if Christian isn't able to go this week,
and I'm just thinking, maybe we call it good for
twenty twenty five and just try to come back healthy
(21:48):
and happy for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
But O'Neill's kind of a guy.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
If he can go, you're not keeping O'Neill off the field.
O'Neill's gonna go. And then now and Kelly with this knee,
what a year he's had. I mean, at some point
we're gonna do Brian McKnight's one last cry, and that's
gonna stink because the season's over, but we're gonna look
back and just we could spend segments of many players
(22:13):
that have these these health things from the head and
the knees of Kelly O'Neil in and out Darisol's trials
and tribulations.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
But it might be what's your flavor?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
School Jurgens and Brandall or school Brandal and Rouse on
Sunday of MetLife, trying to keep mister J. J.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
McCarthy upright right, And and Tuesday at the facility when
the scribe Ben Goeslyne joined, there was a question.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I framed up to him about.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Christian Darisol, and it's like, it's it's it involved. I
wonder how frustrated they are with the cat and mouse
game with this and is the time to just like
just forget about it for this year and just move
on for next year.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
This is six and eight radio, Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
You can look at things like that as six and
eight radio, and they have merit.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
You can instill.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Segments about other teams called glorifying the Good.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Why because it's six and eight radio.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
The I just can't imagine getting to the depths of
like Kevin O'Connell, maybe offensive line coach Chris Cooper and
others within the organization heading into each week just really
having no idea what's coming in. And this is with
all due respect, because I mean every I is dotted
and teaser crossed with these coaches, man, they just work
(23:31):
so hard at it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I have to believe.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Coming into most, if not all weeks, first thing is
kind of like, all right, well, what's up with seventy one.
Let's somebody go downstairs first floora talk to Tyler and
start figuring out what the seventy one plan is this week.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That just has to become exhausting. It's six and eight radio.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
If they shut him down for the rest of the season,
like you intimated a little bit last week and earlier
this week, Yeah, I mean, it's not going to really
resonate that much with me. As your menu of of
options went school, it would be all about improvement for me.
McCarthy's the A topic, Dallas Turner's the one A with
(24:09):
Grenard lost for the season and seeing seeing what can
happen there with more reps but school if he has
to play this weekend stacking another good effort off the
Dallas effort against a porous Giants defense as defense. As
we just heard from the scribe, it's I just you know,
it's it's been.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
It's it's been.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
There's been fatigue just talking about it with you and
I right involving seventy one. I just can't imagine what
each week looks like for those within that building. Bike's bikes,
bike side.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
It's this time of year, pa, as we look at
the injury report. We just talked about the offensive line.
But once in a while, there's a moment of hupe,
there's a moment of optimism, there's something that peaks one's interest.
As rookie tight end Gavin Bartholomew is in his practice window.
He was limited yesterday practice squad.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I think we have five tight ends in the chat
right now, which means if they're all active, we can
run fifteen personnel.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
Now, if I remember that this was the playmaking cat,
there's a little bit of a flyer on it. He
was taken out of the sixth round Pitt Panther, so
he was kind of doing what Brian O'Neill was trying
to do at Pitt as he was catching passes as
an alignment run into the end zone. Bartholomew was just
that tight end making plays for the pit squad, and
(25:31):
we never got to see him because of a back injury,
really taking most of camp away.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And now he's just.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Been activated or the practice window is opened up. So
maybe over the final three we might get to sell
hope on a rookie pass catching tight end in Gavin Bartholomew,
And if he catches a touchdown or looks good in
one game, everyone's gonna want to cut eighty seven. And
that'll be a fun January talker right.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Well, per the next segment, when we hear the COUSBA
press conference clip talking about quarterback school and pure progression
and stuff like that, it's it's for those of you
who have seen it end or heard it and endured
the season we've had to this point with JJ McCarthy
(26:16):
where the last two hey, we got some things happening
middle of the field. Okay, so whether it's on the
microphone or away from the microphone, So what happened middle
of the field all of a sudden, it's like open
all night. Well, just learning about what goes into that
when you're raising a young quarterback, which I genuinely did
not know until asking about it after the Dallas game. Well,
(26:40):
can you imagine this menu and this pure progression and
Cavin Bartholomew all of a sudden's going to be active
for games. He's supposed to know what it is. I mean, honestly,
it's mc McCarthy is active with these tight ends in
big spots. Yes, I mean as six and eight Radio
(27:01):
goes big spots. Hawkinson and Oliver for the eighteens, they
the three touchdowns from them, two for Josh the game
before you know. I think this is a nice step
taken by Gavin Bartholomew. If you were to be active
one of the final three games, I think it'd be
moderately surprising to me.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Vikes bytes, Pikes Bikes.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
As six and eight Radio, I just kind of I
went down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
It's not a big rabbit hole.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
You can just you can use your preferred search engine
and you can search Vikings contract incentives and I found
I'm more of a spo track guy.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
But I believe it might be spot rack.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
Yeah, but I found a page on the current Vikings.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Contractingcentives to I'd like to run through a few of them. Well,
as the kids would say, you're in your bag today,
holy cow.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
Sadly for seventy one, the ninety percent snaps, et cetera.
Small pro designations not going to happen this year for him,
saying for Brian O'Neil, all pro would have netted him
a million dollars. Sadly, health has taken some things away
away from him. Let's scroll down a little bit here
as we get to Jonathan Allen. So, Jonathan Allen playing
seventy six percent of the snaps has cleared his his
(28:11):
playing time incentive and it escalates at fifty sixty and
seventy percent. So as of now, if he maintains he's
got to stay above seventy percent, he's going to earn
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars this year.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Additionally, for Jonathan Allen now at six and eight radio,
it's it's about wins and raising the kid, but it's
also about getting out alive. He's got two and a
half sacks. Yeah, in the final three games. If he
nets another two and a half PA, another two hundred fifty.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Thousand dollars, let's go.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Let's go, Jonathan Allen, get up there to a million,
get that money. So I didn't I can't remember what
the practice report looked like yesterday. You laid it out
nicely with the old lineman. Yeah, Javon Hargrave. I would
assume he was that did not practice. He was a
DMP with the thigh. Now, there's no way is Jonathan
Allen going to be like yes or opportunity needs to
get interior sacks for me with Gray, they're not feeling
(29:04):
too good about that, about that knee. Uh, but that's
fascinating what you just laid out, because Allen is very
familiar with not only the New York Giants, but the
interior of the Giants offensive line.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You got a quarterback who can move.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Not sure at the stage of the equation how many
sacks Jackson Dark takes, but uh, there's a there's a
million dollars on the horizon for Jonathan Allen potentially.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I mean, just look at it. Just just go ahead,
watch these final three.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
He's gonna go throw back up. It's like the NFL
version of the NBA Cup. Well, I get what how
about that? How about this with McCarthy. Now again, they're
probably not in the locker room talking about this, or
maybe they are right sadly by the way, Josh mittelis
playing with a torn labrum.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
His his season is over. He won't be reaching. Oh
they talk about it, man.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
They think there was a non playoff year, final game
of the season. Somebody was sitting on a boatload. Somebody
calling the plays knew they were sitting on a boat load.
It might have been twenty targets, maybe fifteen, and the
boatload landed. Well, do you remember, wasn't it a Riley
(30:17):
Reef playing.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Time incentive that he didn't hit because they paid I
think they ended up trying to pay him, but then
Reef left anyway.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Oh wow, No, with the money, Yes, with the money.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
He took the money, he got in his airstream and
he just waltzed out of town.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, it was he didn't hit that, he didn't hit
the threshold. The Wilfs, I believe, either paid the full
thing or were like, here's a million.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
They gave him the full incentive.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I believe you all incentive leaves three weeks later free
agency agency with the money in the airstream. Oh, just
one of the of the great side pieces. Wow, what
a memory.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
So if they're talking about this in the locker room,
then let's talk about Josh All three games to go
kid QB connecting in some big spots with the tight ends.
Josh Oliver one of those. Now overall this season ten
catches one hundred four yards and four tds.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
If he gets to six tds PA. Oh wow, two
hundred and fifty thousand, I.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Mean after taxes. Yeah, fucking middle buck and middling change.
Well that that has to be a can what of
your families watch the child McCarthy's child. Yeah, because I
want to use a large chunk of this one hundred
grand and change after taxes to take you and your partner,
(31:42):
your girlfriend, your significant other to like turks and caacos,
then antigue, and we're going to spend all the money.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Brother, thank you.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
Blake Brandell, he's played in sixty six percent of snaps.
He has earned two hundred thousand dollars in incentives already.
Blake Brandell has if this thing turns out and he's
got to play full games, the rest away.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Remember we got brandal terrorism and.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
He gets to uh he gets to seventy percent.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah, another one hundred.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Thousand, that's true, ritic man.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
And then CJ. Ham he's played.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
He's gonna have trouble this year if he plays low.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I mean, if he has two touchdowns, it should be
seven hundred and fifty k.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
But he's he's got a snap's incentive.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
But the tough thing with this offense and his injuries
CJ ain't getting on the field a ton. I think
he's played like fifteen percent, but if he gets to twenty,
hevin't likes CJ a lot.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I think if we're.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Going, if we're going to thirteen, if we're going bigger
personnel packages rest of the way, and he gets to
twenty percent of the snaps, he's gonna house fifty.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Grand I mean, yeah, Brandle, all right, so let's say
he let's say he doesn't play okay, and he got
CJ with the part time stuff. Oliver doesn't play as
much as Hawkinson, but he plays clearly. The key here
is getting a big lead on the New York Giants.
Yeah so you hey, I mean we got two games left.
(33:02):
He's a crafty veteran. I think he might be a captain.
Got to Paul Bryan Randall's in, all of a sudden,
they're running CJ. They're they're going no huddle up to
scores so they can get more plays, so they can
get CJ in the game more.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And who was the other? Oh yeah, Oliver?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
All of a sudden, Oliver is primo Fantasy football NFL
tight end, red zone threat. Just target him play after
play and O'Connell is fond, quite fond, and coaches aren't
quite fond of everybody that they have in their chats,
but nevertheless those three Yeah, yeah, he's quite fond of
(33:40):
those threes. Yeah, there's an opportunity, old head coach might
make it happen.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
Well, how's number eighteen gonna feel if he's he's wide open?
Like this is I mean, we've we've tried to force
a tea in the red zone, We've tried to do
everything we can. We got formation penalties, taking gritties off
the board.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
The whole thing sucks. And he's wide open. He's done
everything he can.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
JJ looks off eighteen to find the tight end for
TD number six and an incentive.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yeah, I mean, but see Justin, I'm Justin. Justin would
be in support of that. He probably would, I mean
Justin as the kids would say, got the bag.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Or Justin would would Justin just say, look, Josh, like
stats are cool.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Love that. I'll give you two hundred and fifty grand
I'll just give that to you.
Speaker 5 (34:24):
If we could do the one time gift, we can
eliminate some of the tax related things and we'll just
let me have just please, I.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
See you at Viking's Chapel. You believe in God? Right, Yeah,
I believe in God. Why don't you start a ministry five?
What's the five? The the LLC thing? And I'm just
going to put five hundred grand in it that probably
won't get taxed and you can just have it. That's
how much I appreciate playing with you Vikes bites.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
And we're going to continue the McCarthy conversation around the
corner as it relates. As you noted, PA to some
audio from Kirk from Cousins Cousins, Kirk, cousins Cousins. But
JJ McCarthy, what the hell was that? Oh it's an
old iced tea song.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Oh I thought we were going cousins to yours as vide. No,
there's no color. She throwing it back. Yeah. Ice T's og.
He's og with Big Daddy Kine and cool mod.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
I liked, I got fresh, I got some cuts that
might play a couple next segment as well.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
But here he is just things kind of slowing down
for him.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
Obviously the more reps you see, the live bullets, but
like I talked about, the overall understanding of the offense,
it slows everything down. Tremendously because you're not using that
extra thinking of you know, the balls snapped, I have
it in my hands, is he running that route? So
it eliminates those split second kind of miscues and processing.
That's helped tremendously throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And just just listen to that part of it. And
that wasn't even Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
No, it wasn't.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
And it's all part again of the growth process and
just I mean, we're about to get taken through a
college of a four hundred class of passing from Kirk
in a two minute stretch next segment.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
But that plays into handling the pass.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
Run, emphasizing where my outlets are in checkdowns, just knowing
where to scramble to. You know, it's one thing to
get out of a fight or flight situation, but it's
another thing to you know, kind of not necessarily predetermined,
but just be aware of where the slide's going, where
the man's side is, because that's usually going to be
where the gaps that are going to open up, and
what concepts are over there, what routes are over there.
So just understanding the offense more as a whole has helped.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Kids learning all and all of that has to transpire
in two and a half seconds or less.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Wow. Ye, if you haven't.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Heard what Kirk Cousins had to say at at his
press conference, I believe it was yesterday down to Lantaway, Flowery.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Branch, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
We think you'll like it and we're gonna we're gonna
take that what he says, and segued into McCarthy. But
the O'Connell and the Rams are going to catch strays here,
strays of kindness.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 6 (37:17):
It sucks not to have a chance to get into
the dance and achieve the ultimate goal that everyone tries
to achieve every single year. But the next best thing
is how do you get better as an individual? How
do we get better as a unit? And that's our
focus right now. Each and every day, we're just trying
to stay present and focus on our weaknesses and how
to make those strengths and vice versa and amplify the strength.
So yeah, it's really just staying present and join our company.
(37:39):
You know, every single year the team's going to be different,
and we all love each other in that locker room,
so we're just soaking every single well for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
As JJ McCarthy. That was from his press conference yesterday.
Welcome back to nine to noon. This is your things
are fluid leader.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
I made a mistake.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I miss reading a in order to text late last
evening and Paul Charchian will not be joining about eleven
thirty five today, But the fantasy focus is quite important
for a lot of people listening right now, including the
Kahn Nordo Mad producer on the other side of the class,
So fantasy inclusion with touts required today. Scott Fish from
(38:17):
fantasycares dot org will be joining at about eleven thirty
five to maybe give a long winded answer on Rushie Rice,
which has been people have been looking for, been bouncing
around the side studio in my head pretty much every
day this week and has nothing to do with me,
but a lot to do with the producer.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
And we like when the producer wins.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
So therefore we will have a fantasy focus into a
very important fantasy football week beginning this evening with the
Rams and the Seattle Seahawks. Now, off what you just
heard from JJ McCarthy, Kirk Cousins. There's some couz buzz
like that, like that floating around the internet. Off the
way the learned quarterback describe the complexity of playing quarterback
(39:02):
and what goes into a popular term we've heard a
lot of late called pure progression.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Take a listen involved.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
This week's conversation about progression versus coverage rates and all that.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
No, but I'd love to get into it. I can
get on this soapbox if you want me to, Like,
I can get on. This is because I lived the transfer.
I lived the jump right, So I came into the league.
Even at Michigan State, it was you see coverage, and
you pick a side and you basically take five eligibles
down to two down to your check down, and so
you cut the field in half. And it was I
got single high. I'm going, you know, outside the red
(39:35):
line to inside to my back, and you're really only
thinking about three eligibles because the other two over here
were meant for split safety, and I got single high,
and so it kind of protected you. And then sometimes
you would alert that other side if you got pressure,
so you'd be like, I'm working this route or split
safety or pressure. If I get single high, no pressure,
I work the other side. So that was everything was
you know, single high, split safety, pressure, quarters off, bump
(39:56):
man's zone, all these things. But what happened was defense
has got so good at disguising it that I would
be so stressed going into games going the whole game
plans built on is it single high or split safety,
and I can't see if it's single higher split safety,
Like these defenses are just making it money until I'm
three steps into my drop. So it's coaches started to realize,
like if we asked the quarterback to do that, it's
it's gonna be really hard because defenses know that's the
(40:19):
game we're playing. They're not gonna let us play it.
So then it started to become let's just give you
peer progressions and let's just go one, two, three, four, five,
and then you know that has his pros and cons.
I remember when Kevin O'Connell was bringing a lot of
peer progression reads back to him with me from LA
back to Minnesota. It was like whoa, Like I got
to get back to the dagger backside after already exhausting
(40:39):
this progression, Like that's a lot. I mean in my mind,
like I'm used to kind of simplifying it and cutting
the field in half, So you know, had to kind
of work through that and get to where that was
more natural. And then there's a lot of positives of
it two where you're not stressing as much during the
week about what if I can't see coverage because you say, well,
it's okay, I don't have to see coverage. You know,
seeing it can be a benefit, But it's more at
(41:00):
the snap where they're going and I can just kind
of progress through. But there's no doubt with the way
the pass rush is, if you truly try to go one, two, three, four, five,
you're gonna get sack fumbled a lot. So there's still
a level of yeah, it's pure progression, but like, I
got to rule him out pretty quick here so I
can get to the backside because that guy's coming around
the hump quick. Can you repeat the part of this
(41:20):
stuff where you said all about the thing?
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Oh my god, Kirk oat too, So what do we
pull from that? Playing quarterback is hard and is the
most difficult position to master in all of sports. But
we already knew that Cousin spits it out like a
Rhodes scholar. It's second nature to him, and even near
(41:44):
the end of a career, Kirk's level of understanding is impeccable.
But we knew, we knew that, and we've heard that too. Now,
Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings and Rams were mentioned in
that clip. That's where it's meaty and its current. All right,
(42:06):
JJ McCarthy is improving game by game the last couple
and there's another opportunity to tie all of what we
heard together Sunday at MetLife Stadium. But the full arsenal
of potential offered by the head coach Kevin O'Connell clearly
(42:27):
cannot be released until the twenty two year old quarterback
is properly prepared for said progressions, schemes and beaters. What
is fact with all we just heard is when the
bid is that full strength, talking about the Vikings offense,
(42:47):
talking about the approach to the Vikings offense, When the
bid is that full strength and up to speed and
all involved are on the same cliched page, it's winning
off and has been since Sean McVeigh entered the league
close to a decade ago. Cousins time here with O'Connell
(43:11):
that the years were mostly terrific and he may have
pushed five thousand passing yards in twenty twenty three were
it not for the Achilles at Lambeau. And while Cousins
had big box scores at times with Washington, the book
on Chains, the book on Kirko before he got here
(43:33):
was he was easy to stop when things became hot.
That's part of the half field concept he mentioned in
his press conference. He talked about Michigan State, but that
was also the case early in his run with Washington.
So now take that, Take what you just heard, the
reality that it's hard but we know that. And the
(43:56):
twenty two year old quarterback for whom most of us
are pulling, if not all of us are pulling on
a weekly basis, JJ McCarthy and segue it to Rams
quarterback Matthew Stafford. All right, McVeigh, McVeigh tree, O'Connell, limb,
McVeigh tree, Matthew Stafford, always good, never great, always tough
(44:23):
until he landed in Los Angeles with McVeigh. And now
he's tops in the league in passing, touchdowns, yards per
attempt at nearly eight and passer rating for the analytics group,
his eight point four to two adjusted net yards per
pass attempt eight point four two is caudy. I mean,
(44:44):
that is a fat number. Stafford's number one, and it's
the highest of his career. Matthew Stafford turns thirty eight
the day before Super Bowl sixty, and sure Matthew is gifted,
but Matthew always has been gifted, and what has been
unleashed with him is handling.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Is the handling of the.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Complexity of what works with this rock star approach to
offense that we just heard from Cousins. When it came
to I'd love to get into it because I lived
the transformation. JJ McCarthy is living that transformation right now.
(45:30):
All of this is what JJ McCarthy faces as they
build from the ground up with something that is tried
and true really over the last decade. It works, It
works at a very very high level, and McCarthy is
in the very early stages of all of what you
(45:50):
heard from Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
It's confusing, it's complex.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
In the Dallas game, McCarthy started to become more comfortable
with the middle of the field. That hasn't been the
case with much of his early career in the NFL.
That's why we see the best throws from McCarthy generally
being outside the numbers and displaying a cannon for an arm,
(46:17):
baby steps arms good.
Speaker 4 (46:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
The the level of effort, level of tribe label, level
of absorbing what's expected quite good with JJ McCarthy, but
for whatever the reason, they weren't throwing a lot of
passes middle of the field until last game. That the
middle of the field is where these high end defensive
coordinators full of the kids and mostly staying away from
(46:45):
that greatly hinders with Kevin O'Connell and staff have been very,
very good at unfurling since the minute he arrived, attacking
middle zones short or inner mediate and getting big time
yards after catch.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Haven't seen a lot of that this year.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Last game we started to see it baby steps with
a quarterback and Kirk Cousins you saw it a lot.
Why because he could handled the menu. Same was true
in twenty twenty three with Dobbs and Jaren Hall. Then Mullins.
Nick had issues with turnovers, no doubt, but when he
(47:25):
played the menu went deep to the steak and lobster
and didn't stop at chicken tenders with sweet and sour sauce. Thus,
in the three, Nick Mullins, a veteran who had twenty
some odd starts into the Stars four O'Connell. In twenty
twenty three, Nick started three games and went for three
(47:46):
oh three, four eleven and three ninety six passing. They
went from scoring ten and three to twenty four to
twenty make that twenty four, twenty four and twenty This progression,
with the pure progression and coverage reads and safety splits
and refusing to limit the quarterback to half field reads,
(48:08):
are where we are with the twenty two year old.
JJ McCarthy. I'm really glad Kirk went down that road
because it is the most eloquent, simplistic and detailed approach
to this term that's being used pure progression so frequently locally.
He really really laid it out simplistically. And the leap
(48:32):
or the next step we can take is to recognize
what we have with a twenty two year old, who, Hey,
all of a sudden, the middle of the field's open
a little bit. What's off that Dallas's defense gives up
a lot of yards A, but B gives up a
lot of yards middle of the field. Hey, the twenty
two year old was able to capitalize repeatedly on something
(48:54):
the other guy does bad at a part of the
field they weren't using him much. Why because he probably
wasn't seen as super clearly in practice. Because these coordinators
are really really good. As Cousins shared the peer progression
and the coverage reads and all that. His passes at
Dallas to Hockinson and Oliver late both for eighteen, those
(49:18):
were big steps in this equation. We know playing that
position is hard, and we thank Kirk again for eloquently
and simplistically explaining just truly how hard it is. So
the patient's game very much is in play with our quarterback,
(49:39):
and it's fun seeing him purely progress and navigate his
way through the sometimes choppy waters of NFL defenses. The
Giants are next, and here's to hoping the five star menu,
with winning selections up and down, it continues to advance
past the kids part to the equation. Then perhaps the
(50:03):
Minnesota Vikings will start winning more games and will do
so with a cherry on top.
Which done. Just listen, just listen.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
There are many many positives I can get out of
this day, Big boys.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Back, What did what did I do wrong?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's drop on the nine to noon radio show, which
is in the air.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
The Friday Football Feast tomorrow is at Buffalo Wild Wings
Apple Valley. Then the final road game of the twenty
twenty five for the Minnesota Vikings Sunday against the New
York Football Giants. And joining us now is Pat Leonard,
who covers the Big Blue for the New York Daily
News via the X Machine at p Leonard n y
(01:27):
d N and the scribe leads a very popular podcast
called Talking Ball with Pat Leonard, and you can find
Talking Ball via YouTube.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
And Pat joins us now.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Pat first first on behalf of the State of Hockey Minnesota.
May God rest the soul of elite hockey writer and
columnist Larry Brooks, who died about a month ago. Why
did Larry's death hit you so hard? And good morning?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Wow, Paul, thank you for saying that and for honoring
Larry like that. Thanks for having me on hit me
so hard because he was such a great mentor here
in New York. You know the famous tabloid wars. When
I jumped in, it was New York Posts versus New
York Daily News, and it's every morning you're waking up
and you win or you lose, and it's cutthroat. And
(02:21):
when I covered the Rangers in the NHL for five
seasons from twenty eleven to twenty fifteen sixteen, Larry and
I kind of morphed from competitors to friends, mainly because
he was, despite being my main competition, so gracious with
teaching me, sharing all of his stories and knowledge, and
(02:42):
just an absolute one of a kind, a giant. You know,
we all know people or whether they're athletes or family
members or people we've met once that you almost can't
believe they're real. They're so great at something, or they're
so they're so meaningful to you in.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
Some important way. And that's who Larry. Was gutted by
his loss, but I'm grateful that you're remembering.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Him like this, Matt.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Now, Pat, when you write at the Daily News, quote
Larry cared end quote. What what does that mean to
care in the journalism and ever competitive beat writing world.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Oh, excellent question.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Yeah, it means cared about everything, not just one thing, right,
so some people care about their sources and only their sources.
Some people care about, you know, breaking news and only
breaking news, whatever it is. Larry cared about everything. He
cared about the people he talked to, the relationships he
was building. He cared about doing his best every day.
(03:41):
And I know, you know, I probably sound like a
motivational speaker delivering a cliche when I say that, but
I'm honestly, you know, the telling the truth that he
would wake up and his goal that day was to
write a column that was either told somebody something they
hadn't heard yet, taught them something new and and and
(04:02):
imparted something new about the game of hockey. Right, it's
not just about it's it's not about punching in and
punching out. It's about doing your best. And that's what
he always cared about most.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So, Uh, I mean, I guess, with all due respect
here would he and this is narrow casting, Pat, But
as the New York market goes, would Larry have been
like the the ant the anti Phil Mushnik?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Yeah, well, in a sense, why anti Phil? What do
you what do you mean by that?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, simply simply because of how snarky his his media
columns can be and things like that, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
Yeah, I think I think when you compare that, both
of those guys work for a place where and you
know me, it's the daily news too. Yeah, it's like
they don't just want you to be plugged in. They
also value a distinct voice. And I think in that sense,
(05:06):
like you just describe, you were able to describe Mushnik
not even by who he is, but first by how
he sounds and how he speaks and so like. That
was one great thing about Larry too, is that he
had his own voice, his own unique style. And I
think when you say he cared too, like another part
of that would be to care is also to be critical,
(05:29):
right like when we look at the football teams we're
about to talk about now, you know, being critical doesn't
mean being negative. In fact, a lot of diehard fans,
some people think a diehard fan is somebody who just
supports the team no matter what, no matter what dysfunction's happening.
I think, and I know Larry thought, a diehard fan
(05:50):
is somebody who holds the team they root for accountable.
So who roots for those great moments and the championships
and for all their players and coaches to do their best,
but who also is willing to call people to the
carpet when it's time and so, you know, I think
that's something that really mattered to the.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Stray Mushnik caught. Was uncalled for, but nice touch with
the story, which has pinned a top Pat's Twitter page
at p Leonard n y D m uh so when
it comes to the football game this weekend, Pat and
again Pat covers the Giants for the New York Daily
News and we also have Talking Ball via YouTube. Subscribe
(06:33):
to that and to give it a look quite popular,
very good. Uh the the what do you like about
rookie quarterback Jackson Dart And what are some hurdles he's
overcoming eleven games and nine starts into it.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
Yeah, what you like about him is he is a leader.
He wants everything on his shoulders, doesn't shy at all
away from the spotlight, the pressure and the responsibility that
comes with either being the leader of a winning team
or the party to the losing which is what's happening
(07:11):
right now. HJ losses for the Giants. I think he's
going through right now, as you guys are seeing in
a different way with a young quarterback his own maturities.
Like he just said yesterday that he's developing a recognition
of how much of a step up it is from
the college game to the pro game. And I would
(07:33):
say that when he first joined the Giants and entered
the game as entered as the starting quarterback early in
the season, he was more naive to the idea of
don't doubt me. I'm Jackson Dart, I'm here for a
reason I was drafted in the first round. I'll show you.
And like I said, I like that confidence. But I
(07:54):
think now he's starting to balance the recognition of what
it takes to win in the pros that confidence. So
do you pick your spots better when you're trying to
make a play with your legs?
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Do you do? You do? How do you read defenses?
How does that evolve? So a lot of a lot
of an ongoing growth process happening with him, But the
arrow is pointing up on Jacksonville on him.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
On Pat's Talking Ball podcast via YouTube, it was discussed
Dark being under extreme scrutiny for the way he plays.
I think you just touched on it, but like overall,
what does that mean?
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Yeah, so he's in the national spotlight really for how
he runs. There have been critics of his running style
that it's too reckless, and I think it's a little overblown,
but he's also leaned into it because he's so competitive,
he's almost pushing back against it. And so what I
(08:53):
mean by that is not sliding when it's time to
slide when he's scrambling, staying in bounds, and not getting
out of bounds after getting a good chunky yardage. I
think everybody saw that Christianellis hit in the Patriots game
where he flipped him over like an Olympic gymnast on
the sideline, and I right now, the key is this
(09:16):
Jackson is a little confused because he was drafted to
use his legs like this is a huge part of
why he was a first round worthy talent. If you
take his legs away, he probably wasn't a first round quarterback.
So in his mind, he's a little bit looking around, like, well,
what do you want me to do? This is what
this is. You drafted me, you put me in, and
you're calling these running plays. The Giants call a lot
(09:38):
of design runs for him throughout this season. Prior to
Brian Dables firing and they still called a couple against
Washington last week, So he's a little bit perplexed. On
the other side, he's been evaluated five times for a concussion,
including preseason, since he came into the NFL. That is
an alarming amount of trips to the blue tent. He's
only had one diagnosed concussion. But going back to hockey, Pomp,
(10:01):
you know that we know from hockey, from football, and
from the studies of all these sports soccer that the
subconcussive hits right like a regular hits to the brain.
All of that. Just because you're not diagnosed with a
concussion doesn't mean you're not sustaining long term damage. So
the Giants are concerned about his ability to stay on
the field, and that is what he's going through right now,
(10:23):
and he's being scrutinized every time he takes a snap
because of it.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Hey, hey, Pat, I mean you've covered this and seen
a lot of it for a long time. Eventually, with
Dart and a healthy Molaitue, Neighbors and running back Cam Scattaboo,
could the Giants be onto something identifiable as exciting.
Speaker 4 (10:44):
Yes, The one concern is Neighbors coming off in acl
Scataboo coming off of bad ankle injury. So he is
twenty six the year that that's all going to come
back together? Or are those guys going to be you know,
versions of themselves but not their full tilt ability And
maybe twenty twenty seven is the year that that all
(11:05):
kind of turns into the Supernerva you want it to be.
The weird thing, Paul, is that I've been covering this
team since twenty sixteen, and the story, even though the
defenses have fluctuated up and down, the story has always
been could they just put a modern offense on the field?
Right While all of these other organizations are finding ways
to have explosive offenses, could they just do it one year?
(11:29):
And now, finally, as you're alluding to, it looks like
they're starting to put together the pieces of what looks
like could be a real twenty twenty five NFL offense.
And now they have one of the worst defenses in
the league. They literally have the worst run defense in
the league, one of the worst overall defenses in the league,
after an offseason where they invested their most money and
(11:49):
assets in the defense. So that's part of how you
get an organization that constantly loses and has lost or
has won five of their last thirty one game, and
that's because they just can't figure it all out.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
Well off that pad, I mean, there's immense respect from
Afar for Dexter Lawrence. Why does the great Dexter Lawrence
have just a half sack despite starting all fourteen games?
Speaker 4 (12:17):
You have your finger on the pulse here, Paul. All
these questions are exactly the reasons for the Giants strugglers,
the Dexter. So Dexter's problem, it's a few things he was.
He stepped into a leadership role last season, more so
than just being one of their better players after they
(12:37):
let go or traded or whatever. Several key players Kae
Kwon Barkley, but also Leonard Williams and Julian Love guys
on the defense, were good friends of his, who were
key contributors and who had leadership qualities and roles. That
has weighed on Dexter a lot. Like last year, he
was not able to kind of put all of that
(12:58):
on his back adequately, and frankly, his play has slipped.
I think bad coaching is a part of that. But
also this year, Paul and I say this with respect.
I think Dexter has been a bystander this year. I
think he has been detached and uninvested compared to his
normal level of play and commitment. And it's there's a
(13:19):
few things there, like he had an elbow, a dislocated
elbow late last season where it took him a while
through the offseason to rehabb he did in practice in
the spring, he wasn't fully ready physically for the start
of the season. But also this is me projecting a
little bit, but I do think this is informed speculation
that's accurate. I think Dexter is looking around and saying
(13:39):
what is going on here? And so you know he does.
There's no excuse for him not playing his best. But
I do think this offseason presents an opportunity to evaluate
a guy like him and say, are weadically adequately supporting
this player and what does it look like in twenty
twenty six can we fully get dext Lawrence back on
(14:01):
board and believing in the program We're running.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Pat Leonard Giants beat writer for the New York Daily
News at p Leonard NYDN, via Twitter and the Talking Ballot.
The Talking ball podcast can be found via YouTube subscribe
to it and to find Talking Ball with Pat Leonard
via YouTube.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Just a couple more to close here.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
How was third overall pick Abdul Carter's first season gone pat.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
Disappointing, especially from the standpoint of well, obviously a lack
of sack production, but also his off field habits haven't
been great. One of the criticisms of him coming out
from Penn State was that he wasn't a popular teammate,
and we've seen actually this rookie season with Brian Dable
(14:48):
being the type of coach who enables guys rather than
hold them fully accountable. Carter was getting away with something
showing up late, not fully committed. Mike Kaskis tried to
get that in line, benched him for it, series, benched
him for a quarter, and then he just had his
best game as a pro against the Commanders. I'll be
it in a loss, but seven tackles, two forced fumbles,
(15:10):
a fumble recovery, a stack. So that's hopefully one of
the building blocks that they've been talking about that is
going to round a little bit more into form heading
into twenty six. That offers a little bit more promise.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
NBA.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Uh Well, why a Spurs guard Stefan Castle your new
favorite player, Pat.
Speaker 4 (15:30):
Oh, He's a He is a rock star. Holy cow.
He is unguardable, can get to the basket whenever he wants.
And as you saw in that NBA Cup game against
the Knicks when he when they subbed him out for
whatever it was the start of the fourth quarter there,
that's when the Knicks made their run. You know, they
were able to get better shots because he wasn't defending
(15:51):
the ball, and they were able to force the Spurs
into worse shots and to control the glass because he
wasn't crashing and he wasn't on the offensive side. It's
just hard to find a guy who has that kind
of handle at that size, who is mentally patient, and
who also clearly makes the right decision in my eyes,
with the ball every time he has it. I mean,
(16:13):
I can't get enough. I'll watch any Spurs game that's
all that I can get my hands on because he's
such a great player.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Pat, You're fantastic. I look forward to seeing you in
the press box at MetLife this weekend. May God bless
you and your family. Thank you very much for the time.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
Okay, thank you so much, boy, I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
See you about Pat Leonard New York Daily News. The
Talking Ball podcast via YouTube quite good if you like football,
and it does have a giants bent, but does very
very pointed with its commentary.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Thank you very much. Pat.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Part of the Timber Tech What's on Deck setlist today
where Bike Spikes is around the corner. At ten o'clock,
we continue our weekly Glorifying the Good segment discussing other
NFL teams. The Denver Broncos get the spotlight today and
their thirty year play by play voice Dave Logan will
join about an hour from now, maybe forty five minutes away.
(17:07):
After that, I think is going to be a touching
segment with a dear friend of mine and a mentor
of mine named Greg Papa. He's the play by play
voice for the San Francisco forty nine ers. He's going
to be back on the microphone a week from Sunday
for the Bears at San Francisco. After battling leukemia for
(17:30):
the better part of the last year. It's in remission now,
so thus Greg's able to resume his duties as one
of the great boxes in the history of the National
Football League. If you don't listen to any nine to
noon today outside of right now, but you come back
one time, do it an hour from now with Greg
(17:51):
Papa joining nine to noon. Johnny Athletic is he's going
to stop by nine to noon. John Krazinski covers the
Timberwolves for the Athletic and the Athletic. He'll be en
route to Timberwolves practice after that l last night against Memphis,
so he's going to stop by the studio and spend
a little time with yours truly and producer Nardo. And
(18:12):
as of about forty minutes ago, some Timberwolves related news popped.
According to Sham's Gerania, Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett is
reuniting with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Links in a
new all encompassing role involving business, community efforts and content development.
(18:33):
Sources told ESPN his long awaited number twenty one Wolves
jersey retirement will also happen in Minnesota. So the timing
that works out beautifully for Johnny Athletic. We booked him
yesterday to talk about the Timberwolves and some things Julius
Randall had to say after the game last night. It
was covert and I am reading between the lines. But
(18:54):
I do believe it was a low key plea by
for this team to find a true point guard. Yeah,
and I want to bounce that off Johnny K a
little later too. This is nine to new or to
Produces and I'm Paul Allen. Bikes Bites are around the
corner at FM one hundred point three kfanre.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Mike Spots Vikes Bites. It's nine to noon.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Vikes Bites is always presented by a Thousand Hills lifetime graysed,
grass fed, be Ankster Lawrence and you can shop online.
Boxing Meat shows up to your doorstep Coburn's and Kowalski's
locations local co ops as well. They're proud sponsors of
Guilpher's Athletics. And not just as the I mean the
product is awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I love it.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
I've grilled it, I've smoked it. My kids dig it
as well. And it's a Clearwater, Minnesota company. So support
local Thousand Hills.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
Let's start here with with a question, Bikes Bites, what
is your flavor?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
What is your taste do you prefer?
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Because we'll Donovan Jackson will have will fries, I believe.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
But to round out the offensive, line.
Speaker 5 (20:05):
Would you prefer Justin's school Michael Jurgens at center and
Blake Brandle at right tackle, or would you prefer Justin's
School at left tackle, Blake Brandle at center, and Walter
Rousse at right tackle into this Giants game this weekend.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
Of course, I'm referencing the v injury report.
Speaker 4 (20:24):
Kay.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, that's that's That's quite the menu.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
And next segment, when when we get into that kuz buzz,
the word menu is going to be mentioned.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
A couple of times when it comes to the voluminous.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Nature of menus that are available for quarterbacks who can
handle a voluminous menu of plays that the side dishes.
You just offered there with the Minnesota Movie company out
that injury report.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Holy cow.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
And by the way, I'm going to sit here and
stand tall and say that spam is fine dining, Pa,
Spam is fine dining.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Hey. Uh.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
The question that I posed here in the week just
kind of with the ebbs and flows, and you know,
I thought Tom Pellasero did a great job during the
Power Trip talking specifically with Christian derisoep where and we
can see it in other aspects of life as well,
where you have this traumatic event in this case, of course,
a season ending injury that he sustained at so far
(21:20):
a year ago, and now we are, what sixteen.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Months post injury or fourteen months.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
Four hundred and some days, somebody's got a ticker or
a tally out there. But to the idea that mentally
trusting yourself, believing in that post injury you are totally
healthy and trying to work through that just kind of
the idea of if Christian isn't able to go this week,
and I'm just thinking, maybe we call it good for
twenty twenty five and just try to come back healthy
(21:48):
and happy for twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
But O'Neill's kind of a guy.
Speaker 5 (21:53):
If he can go, you're not keeping O'Neill off the field.
O'Neill's gonna go. And then now and Kelly with this knee,
what a year he's had. I mean, at some point
we're gonna do Brian McKnight's one last cry, and that's
gonna stink because the season's over, but we're gonna look
back and just we could spend segments of many players
(22:13):
that have these these health things from the head and
the knees of Kelly O'Neil in and out Darisol's trials
and tribulations.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
But it might be what's your flavor?
Speaker 5 (22:25):
School Jurgens and Brandall or school Brandal and Rouse on
Sunday of MetLife, trying to keep mister J. J.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
McCarthy upright right, And and Tuesday at the facility when
the scribe Ben Goeslyne joined, there was a question.
Speaker 1 (22:39):
I framed up to him about.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Christian Darisol, and it's like, it's it's it involved. I
wonder how frustrated they are with the cat and mouse
game with this and is the time to just like
just forget about it for this year and just move
on for next year.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
This is six and eight radio, Okay.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
You can look at things like that as six and
eight radio, and they have merit.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
You can instill.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Segments about other teams called glorifying the Good.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
Why because it's six and eight radio.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
The I just can't imagine getting to the depths of
like Kevin O'Connell, maybe offensive line coach Chris Cooper and
others within the organization heading into each week just really
having no idea what's coming in. And this is with
all due respect, because I mean every I is dotted
and teaser crossed with these coaches, man, they just work
(23:31):
so hard at it.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I have to believe.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Coming into most, if not all weeks, first thing is
kind of like, all right, well, what's up with seventy one.
Let's somebody go downstairs first floora talk to Tyler and
start figuring out what the seventy one plan is this week.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
That just has to become exhausting. It's six and eight radio.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
If they shut him down for the rest of the season,
like you intimated a little bit last week and earlier
this week, Yeah, I mean, it's not going to really
resonate that much with me. As your menu of of
options went school, it would be all about improvement for me.
McCarthy's the A topic, Dallas Turner's the one A with
(24:09):
Grenard lost for the season and seeing seeing what can
happen there with more reps but school if he has
to play this weekend stacking another good effort off the
Dallas effort against a porous Giants defense as defense. As
we just heard from the scribe, it's I just you know,
it's it's been.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
It's it's been.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
There's been fatigue just talking about it with you and
I right involving seventy one. I just can't imagine what
each week looks like for those within that building. Bike's bikes,
bike side.
Speaker 5 (24:42):
It's this time of year, pa, as we look at
the injury report. We just talked about the offensive line.
But once in a while, there's a moment of hupe,
there's a moment of optimism, there's something that peaks one's interest.
As rookie tight end Gavin Bartholomew is in his practice window.
He was limited yesterday practice squad.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
I think we have five tight ends in the chat
right now, which means if they're all active, we can
run fifteen personnel.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
Now, if I remember that this was the playmaking cat,
there's a little bit of a flyer on it. He
was taken out of the sixth round Pitt Panther, so
he was kind of doing what Brian O'Neill was trying
to do at Pitt as he was catching passes as
an alignment run into the end zone. Bartholomew was just
that tight end making plays for the pit squad, and
(25:31):
we never got to see him because of a back injury,
really taking most of camp away.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
And now he's just.
Speaker 5 (25:36):
Been activated or the practice window is opened up. So
maybe over the final three we might get to sell
hope on a rookie pass catching tight end in Gavin Bartholomew,
And if he catches a touchdown or looks good in
one game, everyone's gonna want to cut eighty seven. And
that'll be a fun January talker right.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Well, per the next segment, when we hear the COUSBA
press conference clip talking about quarterback school and pure progression
and stuff like that, it's it's for those of you
who have seen it end or heard it and endured
the season we've had to this point with JJ McCarthy
(26:16):
where the last two hey, we got some things happening
middle of the field. Okay, so whether it's on the
microphone or away from the microphone, So what happened middle
of the field all of a sudden, it's like open
all night. Well, just learning about what goes into that
when you're raising a young quarterback, which I genuinely did
not know until asking about it after the Dallas game. Well,
(26:40):
can you imagine this menu and this pure progression and
Cavin Bartholomew all of a sudden's going to be active
for games. He's supposed to know what it is. I mean, honestly,
it's mc McCarthy is active with these tight ends in
big spots. Yes, I mean as six and eight Radio
(27:01):
goes big spots. Hawkinson and Oliver for the eighteens, they
the three touchdowns from them, two for Josh the game
before you know. I think this is a nice step
taken by Gavin Bartholomew. If you were to be active
one of the final three games, I think it'd be
moderately surprising to me.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Vikes bytes, Pikes Bikes.
Speaker 5 (27:21):
As six and eight Radio, I just kind of I
went down a little bit.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
It's not a big rabbit hole.
Speaker 5 (27:25):
You can just you can use your preferred search engine
and you can search Vikings contract incentives and I found
I'm more of a spo track guy.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
But I believe it might be spot rack.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
Yeah, but I found a page on the current Vikings.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Contractingcentives to I'd like to run through a few of them. Well,
as the kids would say, you're in your bag today,
holy cow.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
Sadly for seventy one, the ninety percent snaps, et cetera.
Small pro designations not going to happen this year for him,
saying for Brian O'Neil, all pro would have netted him
a million dollars. Sadly, health has taken some things away
away from him. Let's scroll down a little bit here
as we get to Jonathan Allen. So, Jonathan Allen playing
seventy six percent of the snaps has cleared his his
(28:11):
playing time incentive and it escalates at fifty sixty and
seventy percent. So as of now, if he maintains he's
got to stay above seventy percent, he's going to earn
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars this year.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Additionally, for Jonathan Allen now at six and eight radio,
it's it's about wins and raising the kid, but it's
also about getting out alive. He's got two and a
half sacks. Yeah, in the final three games. If he
nets another two and a half PA, another two hundred fifty.
Speaker 1 (28:39):
Thousand dollars, let's go.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Let's go, Jonathan Allen, get up there to a million,
get that money. So I didn't I can't remember what
the practice report looked like yesterday. You laid it out
nicely with the old lineman. Yeah, Javon Hargrave. I would
assume he was that did not practice. He was a
DMP with the thigh. Now, there's no way is Jonathan
Allen going to be like yes or opportunity needs to
get interior sacks for me with Gray, they're not feeling
(29:04):
too good about that, about that knee. Uh, but that's
fascinating what you just laid out, because Allen is very
familiar with not only the New York Giants, but the
interior of the Giants offensive line.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You got a quarterback who can move.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
Not sure at the stage of the equation how many
sacks Jackson Dark takes, but uh, there's a there's a
million dollars on the horizon for Jonathan Allen potentially.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I mean, just look at it. Just just go ahead,
watch these final three.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
He's gonna go throw back up. It's like the NFL
version of the NBA Cup. Well, I get what how
about that? How about this with McCarthy. Now again, they're
probably not in the locker room talking about this, or
maybe they are right sadly by the way, Josh mittelis
playing with a torn labrum.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
His his season is over. He won't be reaching. Oh
they talk about it, man.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
They think there was a non playoff year, final game
of the season. Somebody was sitting on a boatload. Somebody
calling the plays knew they were sitting on a boat load.
It might have been twenty targets, maybe fifteen, and the
boatload landed. Well, do you remember, wasn't it a Riley
(30:17):
Reef playing.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Time incentive that he didn't hit because they paid I
think they ended up trying to pay him, but then
Reef left anyway.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Oh wow, No, with the money, Yes, with the money.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
He took the money, he got in his airstream and
he just waltzed out of town.
Speaker 2 (30:32):
Yeah, it was he didn't hit that, he didn't hit
the threshold. The Wilfs, I believe, either paid the full
thing or were like, here's a million.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
They gave him the full incentive.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
I believe you all incentive leaves three weeks later free
agency agency with the money in the airstream. Oh, just
one of the of the great side pieces. Wow, what
a memory.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
So if they're talking about this in the locker room,
then let's talk about Josh All three games to go
kid QB connecting in some big spots with the tight ends.
Josh Oliver one of those. Now overall this season ten
catches one hundred four yards and four tds.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
If he gets to six tds PA. Oh wow, two
hundred and fifty thousand, I.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Mean after taxes. Yeah, fucking middle buck and middling change.
Well that that has to be a can what of
your families watch the child McCarthy's child. Yeah, because I
want to use a large chunk of this one hundred
grand and change after taxes to take you and your partner,
(31:42):
your girlfriend, your significant other to like turks and caacos,
then antigue, and we're going to spend all the money.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
Brother, thank you.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
Blake Brandell, he's played in sixty six percent of snaps.
He has earned two hundred thousand dollars in incentives already.
Blake Brandell has if this thing turns out and he's
got to play full games, the rest away.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
Remember we got brandal terrorism and.
Speaker 5 (32:06):
He gets to uh he gets to seventy percent.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Yeah, another one hundred.
Speaker 2 (32:10):
Thousand, that's true, ritic man.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
And then CJ. Ham he's played.
Speaker 5 (32:16):
He's gonna have trouble this year if he plays low.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I mean, if he has two touchdowns, it should be
seven hundred and fifty k.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
But he's he's got a snap's incentive.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
But the tough thing with this offense and his injuries
CJ ain't getting on the field a ton. I think
he's played like fifteen percent, but if he gets to twenty,
hevin't likes CJ a lot.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
I think if we're.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Going, if we're going to thirteen, if we're going bigger
personnel packages rest of the way, and he gets to
twenty percent of the snaps, he's gonna house fifty.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Grand I mean, yeah, Brandle, all right, so let's say
he let's say he doesn't play okay, and he got
CJ with the part time stuff. Oliver doesn't play as
much as Hawkinson, but he plays clearly. The key here
is getting a big lead on the New York Giants.
Yeah so you hey, I mean we got two games left.
(33:02):
He's a crafty veteran. I think he might be a captain.
Got to Paul Bryan Randall's in, all of a sudden,
they're running CJ. They're they're going no huddle up to
scores so they can get more plays, so they can
get CJ in the game more.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
And who was the other? Oh yeah, Oliver?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
All of a sudden, Oliver is primo Fantasy football NFL
tight end, red zone threat. Just target him play after
play and O'Connell is fond, quite fond, and coaches aren't
quite fond of everybody that they have in their chats,
but nevertheless those three Yeah, yeah, he's quite fond of
(33:40):
those threes. Yeah, there's an opportunity, old head coach might
make it happen.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
Well, how's number eighteen gonna feel if he's he's wide open?
Like this is I mean, we've we've tried to force
a tea in the red zone, We've tried to do
everything we can. We got formation penalties, taking gritties off
the board.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
The whole thing sucks. And he's wide open. He's done
everything he can.
Speaker 5 (34:00):
JJ looks off eighteen to find the tight end for
TD number six and an incentive.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Yeah, I mean, but see Justin, I'm Justin. Justin would
be in support of that. He probably would, I mean
Justin as the kids would say, got the bag.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Or Justin would would Justin just say, look, Josh, like
stats are cool.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
Love that. I'll give you two hundred and fifty grand
I'll just give that to you.
Speaker 5 (34:24):
If we could do the one time gift, we can
eliminate some of the tax related things and we'll just
let me have just please, I.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
See you at Viking's Chapel. You believe in God? Right, Yeah,
I believe in God. Why don't you start a ministry five?
What's the five? The the LLC thing? And I'm just
going to put five hundred grand in it that probably
won't get taxed and you can just have it. That's
how much I appreciate playing with you Vikes bites.
Speaker 5 (34:51):
And we're going to continue the McCarthy conversation around the
corner as it relates. As you noted, PA to some
audio from Kirk from Cousins Cousins, Kirk, cousins Cousins. But
JJ McCarthy, what the hell was that? Oh it's an
old iced tea song.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Oh I thought we were going cousins to yours as vide. No,
there's no color. She throwing it back. Yeah. Ice T's og.
He's og with Big Daddy Kine and cool mod.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
I liked, I got fresh, I got some cuts that
might play a couple next segment as well.
Speaker 1 (35:22):
But here he is just things kind of slowing down
for him.
Speaker 6 (35:25):
Obviously the more reps you see, the live bullets, but
like I talked about, the overall understanding of the offense,
it slows everything down. Tremendously because you're not using that
extra thinking of you know, the balls snapped, I have
it in my hands, is he running that route? So
it eliminates those split second kind of miscues and processing.
That's helped tremendously throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
And just just listen to that part of it. And
that wasn't even Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
No, it wasn't.
Speaker 5 (35:49):
And it's all part again of the growth process and
just I mean, we're about to get taken through a
college of a four hundred class of passing from Kirk
in a two minute stretch next segment.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
But that plays into handling the pass.
Speaker 6 (36:02):
Run, emphasizing where my outlets are in checkdowns, just knowing
where to scramble to. You know, it's one thing to
get out of a fight or flight situation, but it's
another thing to you know, kind of not necessarily predetermined,
but just be aware of where the slide's going, where
the man's side is, because that's usually going to be
where the gaps that are going to open up, and
what concepts are over there, what routes are over there.
So just understanding the offense more as a whole has helped.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
Kids learning all and all of that has to transpire
in two and a half seconds or less.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Wow. Ye, if you haven't.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Heard what Kirk Cousins had to say at at his
press conference, I believe it was yesterday down to Lantaway, Flowery.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Branch, Georgia.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
We think you'll like it and we're gonna we're gonna
take that what he says, and segued into McCarthy. But
the O'Connell and the Rams are going to catch strays here,
strays of kindness.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 6 (37:17):
It sucks not to have a chance to get into
the dance and achieve the ultimate goal that everyone tries
to achieve every single year. But the next best thing
is how do you get better as an individual? How
do we get better as a unit? And that's our
focus right now. Each and every day, we're just trying
to stay present and focus on our weaknesses and how
to make those strengths and vice versa and amplify the strength.
So yeah, it's really just staying present and join our company.
(37:39):
You know, every single year the team's going to be different,
and we all love each other in that locker room,
so we're just soaking every single well for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
As JJ McCarthy. That was from his press conference yesterday.
Welcome back to nine to noon. This is your things
are fluid leader.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
I made a mistake.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I miss reading a in order to text late last
evening and Paul Charchian will not be joining about eleven
thirty five today, But the fantasy focus is quite important
for a lot of people listening right now, including the
Kahn Nordo Mad producer on the other side of the class,
So fantasy inclusion with touts required today. Scott Fish from
(38:17):
fantasycares dot org will be joining at about eleven thirty
five to maybe give a long winded answer on Rushie Rice,
which has been people have been looking for, been bouncing
around the side studio in my head pretty much every
day this week and has nothing to do with me,
but a lot to do with the producer.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
And we like when the producer wins.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
So therefore we will have a fantasy focus into a
very important fantasy football week beginning this evening with the
Rams and the Seattle Seahawks. Now, off what you just
heard from JJ McCarthy, Kirk Cousins. There's some couz buzz
like that, like that floating around the internet. Off the
way the learned quarterback describe the complexity of playing quarterback
(39:02):
and what goes into a popular term we've heard a
lot of late called pure progression.
Speaker 1 (39:08):
Take a listen involved.
Speaker 4 (39:09):
This week's conversation about progression versus coverage rates and all that.
Speaker 7 (39:13):
No, but I'd love to get into it. I can
get on this soapbox if you want me to, Like,
I can get on. This is because I lived the transfer.
I lived the jump right, So I came into the league.
Even at Michigan State, it was you see coverage, and
you pick a side and you basically take five eligibles
down to two down to your check down, and so
you cut the field in half. And it was I
got single high. I'm going, you know, outside the red
(39:35):
line to inside to my back, and you're really only
thinking about three eligibles because the other two over here
were meant for split safety, and I got single high,
and so it kind of protected you. And then sometimes
you would alert that other side if you got pressure,
so you'd be like, I'm working this route or split
safety or pressure. If I get single high, no pressure,
I work the other side. So that was everything was
you know, single high, split safety, pressure, quarters off, bump
(39:56):
man's zone, all these things. But what happened was defense
has got so good at disguising it that I would
be so stressed going into games going the whole game
plans built on is it single high or split safety,
and I can't see if it's single higher split safety,
Like these defenses are just making it money until I'm
three steps into my drop. So it's coaches started to realize,
like if we asked the quarterback to do that, it's
it's gonna be really hard because defenses know that's the
(40:19):
game we're playing. They're not gonna let us play it.
So then it started to become let's just give you
peer progressions and let's just go one, two, three, four, five,
and then you know that has his pros and cons.
I remember when Kevin O'Connell was bringing a lot of
peer progression reads back to him with me from LA
back to Minnesota. It was like whoa, Like I got
to get back to the dagger backside after already exhausting
(40:39):
this progression, Like that's a lot. I mean in my mind,
like I'm used to kind of simplifying it and cutting
the field in half, So you know, had to kind
of work through that and get to where that was
more natural. And then there's a lot of positives of
it two where you're not stressing as much during the
week about what if I can't see coverage because you say, well,
it's okay, I don't have to see coverage. You know,
seeing it can be a benefit, But it's more at
(41:00):
the snap where they're going and I can just kind
of progress through. But there's no doubt with the way
the pass rush is, if you truly try to go one, two, three, four, five,
you're gonna get sack fumbled a lot. So there's still
a level of yeah, it's pure progression, but like, I
got to rule him out pretty quick here so I
can get to the backside because that guy's coming around
the hump quick. Can you repeat the part of this
(41:20):
stuff where you said all about the thing?
Speaker 2 (41:23):
Oh my god, Kirk oat too, So what do we
pull from that? Playing quarterback is hard and is the
most difficult position to master in all of sports. But
we already knew that Cousin spits it out like a
Rhodes scholar. It's second nature to him, and even near
(41:44):
the end of a career, Kirk's level of understanding is impeccable.
But we knew, we knew that, and we've heard that too. Now,
Kevin O'Connell and the Vikings and Rams were mentioned in
that clip. That's where it's meaty and its current. All right,
(42:06):
JJ McCarthy is improving game by game the last couple
and there's another opportunity to tie all of what we
heard together Sunday at MetLife Stadium. But the full arsenal
of potential offered by the head coach Kevin O'Connell clearly
(42:27):
cannot be released until the twenty two year old quarterback
is properly prepared for said progressions, schemes and beaters. What
is fact with all we just heard is when the
bid is that full strength, talking about the Vikings offense,
(42:47):
talking about the approach to the Vikings offense, When the
bid is that full strength and up to speed and
all involved are on the same cliched page, it's winning
off and has been since Sean McVeigh entered the league
close to a decade ago. Cousins time here with O'Connell
(43:11):
that the years were mostly terrific and he may have
pushed five thousand passing yards in twenty twenty three were
it not for the Achilles at Lambeau. And while Cousins
had big box scores at times with Washington, the book
on Chains, the book on Kirko before he got here
(43:33):
was he was easy to stop when things became hot.
That's part of the half field concept he mentioned in
his press conference. He talked about Michigan State, but that
was also the case early in his run with Washington.
So now take that, Take what you just heard, the
reality that it's hard but we know that. And the
(43:56):
twenty two year old quarterback for whom most of us
are pulling, if not all of us are pulling on
a weekly basis, JJ McCarthy and segue it to Rams
quarterback Matthew Stafford. All right, McVeigh, McVeigh tree, O'Connell, limb,
McVeigh tree, Matthew Stafford, always good, never great, always tough
(44:23):
until he landed in Los Angeles with McVeigh. And now
he's tops in the league in passing, touchdowns, yards per
attempt at nearly eight and passer rating for the analytics group,
his eight point four to two adjusted net yards per
pass attempt eight point four two is caudy. I mean,
(44:44):
that is a fat number. Stafford's number one, and it's
the highest of his career. Matthew Stafford turns thirty eight
the day before Super Bowl sixty, and sure Matthew is gifted,
but Matthew always has been gifted, and what has been
unleashed with him is handling.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
Is the handling of the.
Speaker 2 (45:08):
Complexity of what works with this rock star approach to
offense that we just heard from Cousins. When it came
to I'd love to get into it because I lived
the transformation. JJ McCarthy is living that transformation right now.
(45:30):
All of this is what JJ McCarthy faces as they
build from the ground up with something that is tried
and true really over the last decade. It works, It
works at a very very high level, and McCarthy is
in the very early stages of all of what you
(45:50):
heard from Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1 (45:52):
It's confusing, it's complex.
Speaker 2 (45:54):
In the Dallas game, McCarthy started to become more comfortable
with the middle of the field. That hasn't been the
case with much of his early career in the NFL.
That's why we see the best throws from McCarthy generally
being outside the numbers and displaying a cannon for an arm,
(46:17):
baby steps arms good.
Speaker 4 (46:20):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
The the level of effort, level of tribe label, level
of absorbing what's expected quite good with JJ McCarthy, but
for whatever the reason, they weren't throwing a lot of
passes middle of the field until last game. That the
middle of the field is where these high end defensive
coordinators full of the kids and mostly staying away from
(46:45):
that greatly hinders with Kevin O'Connell and staff have been very,
very good at unfurling since the minute he arrived, attacking
middle zones short or inner mediate and getting big time
yards after catch.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
Haven't seen a lot of that this year.
Speaker 2 (47:05):
Last game we started to see it baby steps with
a quarterback and Kirk Cousins you saw it a lot.
Why because he could handled the menu. Same was true
in twenty twenty three with Dobbs and Jaren Hall. Then Mullins.
Nick had issues with turnovers, no doubt, but when he
(47:25):
played the menu went deep to the steak and lobster
and didn't stop at chicken tenders with sweet and sour sauce. Thus,
in the three, Nick Mullins, a veteran who had twenty
some odd starts into the Stars four O'Connell. In twenty
twenty three, Nick started three games and went for three
(47:46):
oh three, four eleven and three ninety six passing. They
went from scoring ten and three to twenty four to
twenty make that twenty four, twenty four and twenty This progression,
with the pure progression and coverage reads and safety splits
and refusing to limit the quarterback to half field reads,
(48:08):
are where we are with the twenty two year old.
JJ McCarthy. I'm really glad Kirk went down that road
because it is the most eloquent, simplistic and detailed approach
to this term that's being used pure progression so frequently locally.
He really really laid it out simplistically. And the leap
(48:32):
or the next step we can take is to recognize
what we have with a twenty two year old, who, Hey,
all of a sudden, the middle of the field's open
a little bit. What's off that Dallas's defense gives up
a lot of yards A, but B gives up a
lot of yards middle of the field. Hey, the twenty
two year old was able to capitalize repeatedly on something
(48:54):
the other guy does bad at a part of the
field they weren't using him much. Why because he probably
wasn't seen as super clearly in practice. Because these coordinators
are really really good. As Cousins shared the peer progression
and the coverage reads and all that. His passes at
Dallas to Hockinson and Oliver late both for eighteen, those
(49:18):
were big steps in this equation. We know playing that
position is hard, and we thank Kirk again for eloquently
and simplistically explaining just truly how hard it is. So
the patient's game very much is in play with our quarterback,
(49:39):
and it's fun seeing him purely progress and navigate his
way through the sometimes choppy waters of NFL defenses. The
Giants are next, and here's to hoping the five star menu,
with winning selections up and down, it continues to advance
past the kids part to the equation. Then perhaps the
(50:03):
Minnesota Vikings will start winning more games and will do
so with a cherry on top.
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