VIKINGS SQUAD SHOW: Carson Wentz STRUGGLES in FRUSTRATING Loss to Philadelphia Eagles

VIKINGS SQUAD SHOW: Carson Wentz STRUGGLES in FRUSTRATING Loss to Philadelphia Eagles

I’m Sam Extro. Welcome to the squad show. That was frustrating. And the Vikings are in last place. I’m Luke Brun from Locked on Vikings. Carson Wentz. GMO. When win. And I’m Ron Johnson. I guess AJ Brown didn’t need to read books this game. Skull. It’s the Viking squad. Everything Minnesota Vikings every week. breaking down all the big hits and game-changing plays from the land of 10,000 lakes the way only the Locked on Podcast Network can. It’s time to gear up. The Viking Squad Show starts now. Hey, welcome in to the squad show on a losing Sunday afternoon. Vikings fall to Philadelphia 2822 to drop to 3 and three. You met Ron Johnson, you met Luke Brun. Lukeman’s off today and I’m Sam Extramm. Scratchy voice, but who cares? We got to talk about um a game in which the Minnesota Vikings allowed way too many big plays and they scratched and they fought and in some ways this was a heavyweight fight, but it felt like whenever the Eagles needed it, they had the out card. They had the wild card. They had Jaylen Herz. The Vikings had Carson Wentz. Way too many red zone errors. We’ll of course dive into that. and Jaylen Herz, man. I mean, just unstoppable. And we’ll we’ll take stock of where the Vikings stand in the NFC North now at three and three. We are brought to you today by prize picks. Download the prize picks app and uh use code lockdown NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Ron Johnson, that was tough. That was tough to watch. It was two steps forward and one step back. Um, every single time it seemed like the Vikings had a little bit of momentum. Every time it looked like they were going to close on the Philadelphia Eagles. They couldn’t come up with that big stop. They couldn’t come up with that big conversion. They trailed the entire game virtually. Um, that that was just really difficult to consume. Yeah. When you look at the the plays run, so 49 to 57, the Vikings had the edge there. You look at time of possession, the Vikings had the edge there. And you hit the nail on the head. It was big plays. like the Vikings way too many times gave up big plays and and the one that really hurt was the uh Josh Matelis one-on-one with um I think it was AJ Brown. He had him covered in the first part of the play call and Dallas Turner just played Patty Cake for like 5 seconds. If he could have spun, if he could have ripped, if he could have dipped, done something for a secondary move once the bull rush didn’t work. He just doesn’t have that secondary move. He kind of just gets locked up in the bull rush and assumes like, “All right, well, this is just it.” And that’s going to come with time of him learning that he needs to have a secondary move. It can’t just be a bull rush all the time because he’s not going to work when you’re going against a guy twice your size. And AJ Brown kind of saw, okay, my quarterback still has time. And then he kind of gave him the like go up field look. He goes up field, throws a deep ball, touchdown. Josh Melis is looking around like, hey, I had him covered. What happened? That was one of the daggers. The other one, of course, then is towards the end of the game, same thing. AJ Brown down the field. The other one, Dvonte Smith, running the dig route, wide open in the middle of the field. It looked like it was Isaiah Rogers was passing him off because they were in some kind of zone. But for Isaiah Rogers, why cover grass at that point? Clearly, the quarterback still has the ball. He’s still in the pocket. Play’s not over. Don’t go cover grass. Stay close to Devonte Smith until Harrison Smith or somebody you know can walk down. Maybe they’ll cover behind you. But a lot of that was happening and that was another big play. So, it was just big plays. Um Saquon Barkley, you know, they had him contained for most of the game. So, it wasn’t like they ran the ball down your throat. Jaylen Herz just beat him with his arm. I think everybody was saying like, “Let’s make Jaylen Herz beat us.” I don’t think the Eagles offensive coordinator even really knows what he wants to do half the time. And he figured it out today was just let throw the ball and hope that no pass rush comes. Yeah, Herz knew the assignment and it wasn’t necessarily great schematic work, Luke Braun. It was just Jaylen Herz extending plays, making plays, finding time. the third and 13 late in the game particularly stings. Of course, the the big lob down the sideline at the end really really hurts. Um couple big third downs in the game. He finishes 19 of 23, 326, three TDs, no picks. Uh that’s just efficiency. A perfect passer rating. Third one ever in Eagles history as the broadcast said right at the end. Um, yeah, that you can’t you can’t call that a good game, which sucks because I thought there were a lot of people on the defense that did have games worth praising. Like Jaylen Redmond, somebody’s bringing up in the chat, had a had a great day. And I I really feel like every individual had at least a defensible day, right? You have a couple of really bad day plays for Isaiah Rogers. Probably a day to forget for him, but not one where you’re going, “Oh my god, do we have the right cornerback in?” Right? Like there’s enough leech. like you you can you can kind of burn the tape on this one and move on with Isaiah Rogers and you know with with Matelis losing track of uh of the dig route behind him as he goes and hugs the checkout like that kind of stuff but everybody had like a defensible day to me the indefensible days were on offense with two guys that shouldn’t be in one is Carson Wentz we got to get him out of here as soon as possible as as soon as you can justify getting JJ McCarthy out there you just have to do it it’s I’m sick of hearing about the hot hand. I’m sick of hearing about the guy that makes the offense go, “No, he doesn’t. He makes the offense throw pick sixes and uh doesn’t have any idea what he’s doing on third downs.” Like, he just can’t see. It’s horrible. It’s the wheels, Luke Braun. Clearly, it’s he’s got um so I I’m sick of hearing about it. I get it. He’s the backup and he and you have to put up with the backup for as long as the starter is injured. But there is no longer, in my mind, any ambiguity about who is who here. Uh, and and I think if you if you want to go to bat for this game, good luck, man. Cuz this was awful. I mean, miss after miss, misread after misread. Just th this is I feel like a team where 51 guys played reasonably at least, and two guys held the team the team hostage. And those two guys were Wentz and Blake Brandle. You’re talking shouldn’t have been in it. Like we’re talking right now like this was Kurt Cousins week two in 2022. It was not that level of bad. It was not that level of bad. 42 pass attempts. 26 of 42. Absolutely some mis throws. Absolutely inexcusable intercept. The offense is so simple too. If you can throw outs to Jordan Addison every as soon as you take away the out to Jordan Addison, everything falls apart. It’s Yeah. I’m talking about this like this was a bad game. It was a damn bad game. It was horrible. There are levels to these there are levels to these things. I’m not going to I’m not going to go to bat hard for him. I also think that we’ve seen much worse quarterback play around here and we saw an offense that moved the ball consistently. Praise. I guess I’ll give you that. Yes. We did see the Atlanta Kurt Cousins game after Raheem Morris came in. We did have that one. Yeah. I’d say I’d say 50% of it is on Carson Wentz and 50% of it on some of the playmakers not making plays like Justin Jefferson on that fade route in the end zone. If he catches that different game ball game, you know that that one he had in his hands. He let uh it wasn’t Reed Blankenship. I think it was uh Cooper Deene. Um who would ever thought Cooper De would be able to stop Justin Jefferson 101. And the minute he lined up for those that were sitting next to me in the press box, I I you know, the media and Sam, you know this, we’re supposed to be a little quiet. We’re supposed to be a little bit unbiased. But the minute he ran out there and they did the little motion and he was manned up, I literally kind of yelled like, “You got man coverage.” And then everybody kind of looked at me and I’m like, “All right, my bad.” But and he and then he throw cuz I’m like, “Oh, you’re going to give him man coverage with Justin Jefferson.” And I don’t know if that was the call, but you saw Carson Wins look over after the motion and realize like, “Oh, shoot. I got JJ.” Throw the great ball. Justin catches it. Cooper Jazine knocks it out. That changes the scope of the game. Second and one. Three plays. Put it over there. Three plays. Second and one. All All he had to do was run the ball to get a first down and get four more plays. He gets too cute. Gets too tricky. So there’s there’s a few things that are on JJ M or sorry on Carson Wentz, but there are some things on some play calling. There’s some things on the playmakers. But the interception with the linebacker, Blake Brandle just get absolutely beat like a drum. So I don’t even think he felt like he had time to throw the ball. But you know, that wasn’t the throw. But the deep ball is 100% on him. that deep ball is 100% on him. I mean, you there’s no reason to heave it up there. Um, and then I think at the end of the game instead of throwing it out the back of the end zone, he I think he takes a sack. So, there’s some things there where it’s like, and Luke and I were talking before the show started, like, yeah, this is your 10th year. You shouldn’t be making these mistakes. These are things that you should be able to just accomplish and know with like time. Um, so I can’t say it’s it’s it’s it’s like blow it up level bad, but it it was it wasn’t great either, though. But there again, they’re if you change some of those plays up, but I and the one throws everybody’s talking about like the Jordan, I think he was in the flat, missed him. He he missed uh TJ Hogson in the flat as well. Like he had two of those where it’s just like if you just throw the ball, it’s a first down for Jordan Addison. He’s walking. Maybe who knows, he might even turn a corner and score. But some of those throws are just very troubling of like why can’t you make that throw? U I saw JJ McCarthy walking around on the sideline. He looks fine, but again, it’s pain tolerance of play. So clearly when he has to move fast, he doesn’t have it yet because there’s no reason for him not to be the backup. So the fact that he’s walking around fine, but he can’t play in the game and can’t be the backup. Just I wonder how much pain is he in there. There’s a lot of layers to what is going on with the JJ McCarthy timeline. Um that’s probably a lot a really good topic for tomorrow’s show. The the chat is mixed. I think the chat probably leans Luke Braun on this probably about twothirds and then Arlington Renegades go. you’re done. People like me who who are saying, “Let let’s have let’s have a complex conversation about this.” The the Pittsburgh game, I’m with you. Pittsburgh game, I would not have needed to see another performance. And I don’t think that he was great today either. He’s was not great. I’m not saying that. Also, Blake Brle snaps it over his head. Yep. Carson Wentz throws a touchdown pass. Blake Brle commits a holding call. Um play calling like Ron mentioned by, you know, by by KC. Um, we are there there’s a a fingernail, you know, away from a TJ Hawinson touchdown on on that final. Horrible throw. Not wide open and he had to lay out that he missed by two yards. So, let’s let’s let’s not say he could have had a touchdown. That was there was still there was ri there was at least a semblance of movement and rhythm to this offense. um that I I find myself just wondering what if the Vikings had just executed on a handful of more plays in the red zone. This is a different game. Now, it’s also pointed out in the chat that the early went struggles putting you behind throwing a pick six. That matters, too. It all matters. It all matters. I feel like a reef on this. I feel like I’m the one going I can’t believe you’re going to bat for Carson Wentz after this game, dude. I like I’m I’m genuinely astonished that we can watch this and be like, “No, it was fine. What are we doing?” He He missed like half of his throws. All he can throw is outs and flats. This is the simplest offense in the league right now. How many pages of the playbook does KOC have to tear out? And he’s still trying to find ways to get something a little bit interesting going on. This was if you had kind of fallen for it in the end of the Browns game with that that that interesting little dink and dunk game-winning drive that was so cute. Uh if you had fallen for it, this was that getting exposed as the unsustainable offense that it is. I like statistically moving o the ball, okay, with the simplest concepts in the that are in everybody’s offense and he still can’t find the reads on half of them. This is not an NFL quarterback. This is not an NFL quarterback. The problem is that we don’t know if JJ McCarthy is either. That’s the problem. He’s got the upside. And that’s what we hope. He’s got the upside. I mean, he’s not healthy. But I if you bench JJ McCarthy for what we’re seeing right now, if Kevin Oonnell’s like, “Well, I can only use three plays a game over and over again, but at least it’s not McCarthy,” then you trade him. Trade him to the Raiders or something because it’s over. If that’s what we’re doing, if we’re choosing this over McCarthy, it is Josh Rosen bad. It has to be. He’s never seen the field again. If that’s the case, I’ I’d call it right now. If a healthy JJ McCarthy backs up Carson Wentz after this debacle of a game, here’s the one thing, too, though. If that throw down the sideline to the right in the first quarter to Jordan Addison that Jordan had to make a ridiculous like falling out of bounds catch. Yeah. If he just throws it down the field, that’s a touchdown. it like he was wide open or just just not even down the field. Just throw it to him. Like literally just throw hard as you Yeah, just throw it as hard as you can. That is not that for an NFL quarterback, you should expect to put it on him in that situation. The fact that they miss Addison like that if he drives the ball off his back foot and just sticks it on his chest. Now he can run after the catch and he’s cuz even if the backside safety would have come over the top, I think Addison in open field makes him like he plays the game and makes him miss. He’s going to wiggle and waggle and get to the end zone. But the fact that that was the same drive that then he goes out of bounds, you have a couple bad plays, and then Brandle does the snap over the head for a 59 yard field goal. Again, that’s those are things that probably don’t happen if you just score right there. So, you could I mean, again, you could always play devil’s advocate to both sides of it. But, yeah, he missed some throws that you know, and and Sam, I agree with you, too, though. Like, could JJ McCarthy have made those throws? We don’t know. And that’s the problem with this. Like I wish he was healthy so we could have saw what he could have done against the Eagles cuz they’re a beatable team. They are very vulnerable and beatable team and the Vikings just could not make the plays on defense to get him out of trouble. Quarterback debate is going to rage um for the next I can’t believe this debate is going to rage, man. I’m closer to saying Max Bromer, dude. Get this dude off of the field. The t the timeline. Okay, but this is this is not a conversation anymore about Carson Wentz being good or bad. This is just a conversation about every report keeps pushing the timeline back, pushing it back and back and back. It’s now it’s weak. It was Yeah, they they they were like maybe they were playing games in London. And honestly, I kind of don’t think they should have brought him because a six week high ankle sprain is like normal. If it was an eight, nine week high ankle sprain, I’d start to be like, whoa. But if you’re accusing the Vikings of lying about injury reports and stuff too, like get then take the draft pick away. Do I mean if that’s what we’re doing just to what? save face cuz we got a guy that’s Do we really not expect somebody to improve who has played 54 dropbacks? Do we really just think that that the Atlanta game was his median outcome? I think that’s a completely insane take. Um I think there’s a lot to chew on and you know how I feel about you know it injury report stuff but we’ll we’ll get into that as it’s always a conspiracy. Get I wish I showed the tin foil hat. Yeah. Oh, you should. Um it broke. Let let’s break down some of the red zone failures. Vikings go one for six in the red zone. They kick five field goals. They lose by six. There’s your difference in the game. That’s coming up next on the Squad Show. Brought to you today by Rippling. If you’re a business owner, here’s the truth. SAS promised to make work easier, but now the average company is buried by hundreds of apps that slow down your teams and simply don’t work together. That’s not SAS. That’s sad. 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Use code lockdown NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code lockdown NFL for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup. Prize picks. It is good to be right. All right. Vikings lose 28-22. They’re three and three out of the buy. Um Vikings go one for six in the red zone in this game. Five field goals by Will Riker. So I Where where do you point the finger in particular with the red zone issues? Because the Vikings had arguably more success on a driveby drive basis than the Philadelphia Eagles. The Vikings scored six times in this game on offense. The Eagles scored three. So Ron, are are you how are you carving up the pie chart there? KOC. Um, offensive line play. Carson Wentz. Uh, where do you place the blame? This is a tough one. I got to go I just got to go everywhere. Like I’m going to go 50% of it is play calling. I’m going to go 25% of it is on the quarterback and then 25% of it is on the uh the playmakers. Um because again, people always say this like because I every time I tweet this out, people always want to have Kevin Okonnell’s back. second and one, go run the ball three times that that like the Eagles would have tush pushed you three times to get a first down on second and one in the red zone. And the fact that Kevin Oonnell didn’t do that just to try to get more down opportunities and like all these tricky passes and all this other stuff, putting your quarterback and your line into a situation where you don’t want to be in um you you got to blame a little bit on the play calling. I just I just don’t understand it. And and Luke’s Luke was right with like the out route was killing the Eagles. Like I don’t know why they weren’t protecting the edges. I don’t know if they were so worried about Justin Jefferson on the deep overs and the they were the out like that small little that small little out to the side wherever like he was figuring it out too. Whatever the backed up corner was at it was just a man beater like they were playing underneath man a ton. You saw a little bit of twoman, you saw a little bit of four, you saw some two to one side, four to the other and and Carson figured it out but then he missed throws. So I don’t know why you don’t just keep attacking the edges. I mean, Justin Jefferson caught a freaking stop route like a a smoke standing out there by himself as an outlet guy and ran for 50 plus yards like go after those edges cuz those corners did not want to play or tackle today it seemed like for the Eagles. Ron, I I would defend the play calling a little bit. I I’m not going to disagree with Ron about, you know, second and one and you passed three times in and of itself is crazy, but all three of those should have been touchdowns. You got to you got to fade to Justin Jefferson. You got to catch that. You had a wideopen CJ Ham, but your quarterback can’t throw it. I’m sorry. I I think half of the college quarterbacks make that throw. Get out of here with that. Uh like find the fullback there. You just you have to go through the read like at all. Doesn’t find it. Takes his And then the the after that there was one to Jaylen Naylor that should have been a touchdown but went sails it but he was open. And then you had the holding penalty that could have been a touchdown but that one’s on Brandle. And that holding was BS though. That was a BS call. that. So I I think sees the sees the pad tag tug right at the beginning before the whole snatch and trap. I think that’s what gets called. That’s how the broadcast tried to explain it at least. Yeah, it was so bad. It’s quick. Yeah, if you watch if you watch that I don’t know if they showed on TV how like they um I don’t know what part it was, but we could see it on the field. Um Brian O’Neal goes over and he’s explaining literally to the ref like seven times. He’s like like frantically and they’re trying to like back him up like, “Hey, don’t do not get a do not touch the ref. Don’t get a penalty. Don’t touch the like you can see the the staff like trying to say don’t touch him. Don’t touch him.” Like pulling on and then soon as the refs get to the sideline, Kevin Okonnell rips into him and they’re literally like, “Dude, that is literally textbook. He’s blocking and he just pushes this momentum down and they called it a hole.” But you’re right, like it is the little bit of a tug, but it’s not because he he went downward as a shove, not a pull. And so it’s just it’s one of those things offensive line you see you can see it in slow motion I think if whenever they see the pads they’re going to call it so dumb which is yeah but like they don’t call any of the Eagles like the Eagles offensive line moves before every play and the guard never comes set before the snap. The guard literally is moving tucking looking up moving jumping and then he snaps the ball. They never once call that and it’s so bad. Yeah. The Vikings got very unfavorable ref calls in this one, which is an excuse I’m not gonna allow them to take. Um because they they they killed themselves with making a bad decision at center. That’s the other thing, right? I’m going to I’m going to put this 50/50 on W and Brandle. I think it’s truly those two guys holding a team hostage that is otherwise playing well. Um and you just shouldn’t have done this. You had an okay game against the Browns and you overturn your depth chart. Everything the Vikings do is crazy overthought. We’re we’re trying to put Tyler Baddy’s neck in a hydra hydraulic press to stop the to just line up and play football. We’ve got trying double moves and and endar rounds and motions. Just line up and play football. When they were just handing off and running the ball, they were beating the Eagles. But when they try to do this fancy crap, when they overthink it, we’re going to put the back. We’re going to put Blake Brand in at center because he looked halfway okay. Snaps the ball over the head. Gets beat like crazy a million times in huge situations. gets the holding. He You can look at each one of those red zone possessions and say either Wentz cost him the drive or Brandle cost him the drive every single time. And the only reason this one was close is Will Riker. Okay, let’s let’s look at it drive by drive. So first drive down. It’s seven to nothing. Vikings get down there. Brand snaps it over. Uh but als and and that comes one play after WZ Mrs. Addison on the out. So they share the responsibility in that. Next time it’s 14-3. Vikings get down there once more. This was the the second and one sequence. Good throw, I would say, to Jefferson on second and one. Got to make the catch. Sails Naylor um and then throws a touchdown holding on Brle. So Brandle culpable for a couple of those. 14 to six. Got another chance. You can draw even um in the third quarter. Uh this was the Wentz intentional grounding. That’s dumb. Oh, what are we doing, man? You had it. throw the ball to a receiver. I feel like I’m talking to an eighth grader. This is not the standard that the NFL holds. And Sam, before you get to the next one, like I because I’m going to take off here, but here’s here’s what I say with that because I know you’re going to go through the rest of it and I’m thinking the same thing. You could put it on the center, you could put it on the quarterback, but at the end of the day, too, it’s everybody. Like, cuz I and I know Kevin O’Connell’s probably in his presser this week is going to talk about everybody. It’s a short week, too. So, it’s everybody. And if he doesn’t do this, what about this? You you got to take it. But Luke’s right, and I and I hate to say that, like some of these throws, some of these throws, even if your guys are messing up, the quarterbacks just got to keep making the throw. You know, if you watch Jaylen Herz, like there’s a lot of stuff early on in the season, he could have blamed on a lot of people, but he said, “You know what? I’m going to keep throwing it. I’m going to keep throwing it. I’m going to keep throwing it.” And today was one of those days where it worked. You know, they kept throwing it. They kept throwing it. And like all the turmoil, all the arguments, all the stuff that was going on receivers, he never put receivers under the bus like, “Oh, you guys are doing this. You’re not seeing this. You’re not.” It was just play. And so, yep, Justin Jefferson dropped the ball. Yeah, you know, this guy held, but the quarterback has to make the simple throws. You know, it’s pitching. It’s like a second baseman getting the ground ball, throwing it to first. That’s what some of those throws were. And if you saw a second baseman with the yips like that, I I think you take them out the game, you know, like, and that’s that’s the problem. So, yeah, uncatchable downfield throws are frustrating. Not even giving a guy like Justin Jefferson a chance. um you know this Dylan Gabriel kind of stuff like in from London you know when when he was missing everybody although Dylan Gabriel hung like a pass on the Dolphins. Yeah I I think Ron’s got a head out. Uh we appreciate Ron Johnson’s contribution. Um I mean we can keep rolling through these red zone failures. There was a sack on third and five that WZ took in the fourth quarter that made it 2119. So that could have given you the lead, right? Could have given you the lead at that point. And then again at the end they score on the Hawinson play on a third down and two overruled incomplete. Uh quick game management question at that. Yeah. Then clock management strikes. Would you have just kicked the field goal on that fourth and two? Because I think I would have based on the clock because they left themselves no margin for error. Like if it’s if there’s three minutes to go and three timeouts, you’ve got two chances I think to stop Philadelphia versus one like versus first down and it’s over, which is what happened. Um, I think I would have kicked, but maybe maybe you didn’t all maybe you didn’t anticipate bungling the clock in the way they did. No. And I think that I I was sitting there going, I think I would kick this, but I’m tend a little more conservative in those situations, just saying, hey, make it a one-sore game and keep your time because I think I value the clock a lot more than a lot of coaches, which maybe I’m just wrong about, but that was that was me. I was literally saying, I don’t know if I would go for this. This is a pretty pretty ballsy one. And then he gets it and he’s like, “Okay, vindicated.” I don’t think that the clock debacle that happened afterwards overturns that Kevin Oonnell was vindicated to to go for that and and and hit the flat, man. Hey, if you can get Carson Wentz to throw it to the flat, he’ll only miss one or two of them in a way that makes you want to throw up. Um, but like I I can’t believe we we are going to have another game of this probably. But the I then you get Yeah. that that two, three plays and especially the one where Wentz takes the sack and doesn’t just throw it up over somebody’s head. You just have to know to do that. You have to have to have to know to do that. This is the situational masters coach and you could sense the frustration on Kevin Oonnell’s face this whole game. This man is held hostage. This is a man that is not able to call the offense the way he wants to call it. And he’s not able to see he he is he is dialing up wide openen touchdowns over and over and over and over and over again. So I I I if we want to talk blame chart, this is why what I’m how I’m going to bat for Kevin Oonnell. Guys are wide open all day long. You can’t throw it for him. Um yeah, that final drive after they converted on the fourth down, then he got he got sacked. can’t take that sack and that threw everything off because Yeah, because then I mean then you’re like obligated to run a couple more plays and those plays are going to be over the middle of the field because it’s first and goal from the 20 or second and goal from the 20 and that ran it down to two minutes and then they lost the two-minute warning and um it became what it became. The Vikings never got got the ball back. Um, there were also a couple third downs on defense in this game. Um, and just big plays given up in general and I think the secondary probably got exposed the most it has all year. I think that’s got to be part of this conversation as well and we will get to it next on the Squatch Show. We’re brought to you today by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride. With more IHS Top Safety Pick Plus Awards than anyone else, can feel the Japanese craftsmanship in every detail. From the metallic accents to available Napa leather upholstery. With all-wheel drive standard in every crossover SUV, you can drive with confidence through almost any season. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every mo every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. First half hour we’ve spent on the offense as the Vikings lose 28-22. Talk a bit about the defense, which today did, you said it, there was a lot of good stuff. And then there were the then there was the Jaylen Herz Superman stuff which just usurps and wipes out all of the progress you feel like you’ve made. We were worried about the defense uh defending Saquon Barkley. They did that wonderfully. I thought the Eagles were going to overcommit to to getting back to the run after their their mini by week. Early on it seemed that way. I think they ran it like nine of the first 12 plays on that opening touchdown drive. Didn’t matter. Jaylen Herz bailed out the Eagles time and time again. And Bronn, I don’t even know. I don’t know how much you can knock the secondary for 7se second plays where Eagles receivers are just freelancing and coming back to the football. Like that’s just good. That’s unbelievable work by Jaylen Herz knowing where to put it to AJ Brown and Devonte Smith. couple couple big plays you can rightfully knock Isaiah Rogers, Josh Matelis. Some of those though that’s just a big ask for your secondary. Yeah. Like there’s what So the the big lob at the end to AJ Brown that functionally ices the game. I it’s you’re not going to say that was fine from Isaiah Rogers, but I kind of get what he was trying. He doesn’t think that’s going to be a double move. It’s third and nine and a first down ices it. There’s no reason to go deep. So, he jumps the slant really hard and it’s like, okay, I get why you were that confident that it would be a slant now. Maybe just stay in front of it and tackle it with, you know, three yards to go and and make them punt, but like or like don’t like be a little bit more conservative about that just in case. But like that was just a really really diabolical time to dial up a double move and I kind of just tip my cap to the play call there more than I like blame that. But what I do blame is they sent everyone and nobody got home and that is what happened a whole bunch. Just looking at the pressure. Um, carved up the blitz. Carved up the blitz. Absolutely carved it up. Absolutely. 20 blitzed drop backs here. 246 yards and two touchdowns on those. I mean, just absolutely smoked the blitz, which this is crazy. Going into this game, Jaylen Herz’s had this huge, this is my nerdy stat of the day on Thursday. The difference between zone blitz and man blitz was strong. He was way struggling against zone blitz. And it was like, okay, this is the game where Jaylen Herz has to figure it out. And boy did he ever. He found the answer to a problem he didn’t have all season. And you know that’s that it was the get-right game for him against uh uh what’s has been the best coverage unit in the league. That’s really unfortunate. And you just you just got got. But I do think the lack of help from guys up front. Gard having a really quiet day, Turner having a really quiet day. The Blitz is not getting home. It’s a it’s a credit to one of the best fronts in the league on offense in Philadelphia. They have a phenomenal offensive line. Credit to them. This isn’t getting beat by like, you know, the Rams twos like what happened last year. Um, but that is probably the the strongest blowout that we saw was was the Vikings pass rush versus the Eagles pass protection. Just nothing to get home. He was blitzed on 77% of dropbacks per PFF. Um 14 of 17, 246, two touchdowns. Yeah. Um insane stuff. Five of six on throws 20 or more yards down the field. Demoralizing. Um one of those is on a fourth down, the Matelis one in the first quarter. And that was that was just a tone setter for the entire game. The defense gets a couple of third down stops. Eagles go for it aggressively. And again, there’s a third and 13 there where they’re waving the white flag. You let Saquon Barkley stumble for like 10 yards and give them the idea that they’re going to go for it and they they throw it to uh to Brown for the touchdown. Just a lot of moments like that in this game and the Vikings could never uh get back into it. Is the run defense’s performance enough to satiate some of our concerns? Because we’re going did it. No, I mean that was nasty at the beginning and you saw Javvon Harkra get pushed around quite a bit. Um the Eagles run game is a lot out of sorts. So I I but yeah the the like they had like four or five drives in the first half after that first one were three and outs and a lot of that came from run stop. So yeah, you definitely have to give credit. Yeah, no question. 44 yards. I apologize for Saquon Barkley. Moments of run game for Minnesota. Nothing that was was consistent and again put Carson Wentz in a lot of tough situations. Vikings run game finishes 23 attempts for 89 yards. Jordan Mason 15 for 57, 3.8 yards per carry. Um, another conclusion we can draw from this game is that Jordan Addison is good and valuable and open and open. Um, some pretty some pretty good box score performances from your receiving core, 128 yards for Addison. So, he’s got what, two 200 yard games out of three. And then in the third one, he had the game-winning touchdown. I mean, what a And he sat out game or like Yeah. What an unbelievable start. Um, and I this the the question that is going to loom about him about whether he’s going to get another contract or whatever. I think this off seasonason you make the fifth year option decision. I mean, you’re not thinking twice about it. I know you’re mad about the Yeah, you pick up that easy and then so you got two years of team control left and then you really think about what you’re going to pay him and how it is. And I think by the time you are having those conversations, you’re in, you know, May of 2027 or whatever and you’re thinking that DUI was a long time ago. Like it’s it’s different if he can stay out of trouble for a couple years. That’s the big if though. But uh yeah, Quinan Mitchell rough day at the office against two really good receivers. And I don’t think that’s because Quinan Mitchell is like bad. I think that’s just two good receivers doing a good job. Quinn gave up five receptions on 10 targets, 77 yards. That’s per PFF. That’s a very a very quick grade by PFF today. Well done, PFF. Just getting it out there. Um, let’s let’s circle back to where we started the show because it’s the topic everybody’s going to be discussing. And again, the reports this week are maddening because Kevin Oonnell is spouting words salad about his quarterbacks. I’m not sure he knows how he wants to message this. I think it was probably poorly messaged from the beginning. Like, how should the Vikings have handled this? Because it’s not the way that they’ve they’ve done it. Um, I put out on Twitter that and I’ve said it on the on the squad show that JJ McCarthy should have been placed on IR from the beginning. I don’t care if you have like at the time people are saying well they’ve used six of their short-term IR slots. Not at the time. I mean at the time it was probably like three. Um, that would have bought you all like number one you get a roster spot. You need roster spots. Number two, then there aren’t these week-to-eek questions. Is he coming back in London? Is he coming back in week seven? He’s got to come back in week seven. Now we’ve gone four games, five weeks since this injury that was initially reported, Braun, as a two to four week injury. So now they’re going, now they’re saying, “Yeah, it’s a high ankle. It’s four to six.” Um to always an insane thing to say about a high ankle. I don’t I never got that. But when it’s Adam Shfter, I mean, you’re inclined to believe it. The Vikings have uh you’re inclined to believe that the team told them to say it. Yeah, I think they have. Yeah. Okay. So, why did they leak? Uh wouldn’t they want to be more conservative with the timeline? Like this is a Viking this is a chronic Vikings problem with how they injuries underelling injuries. This this is like when you’re sitting on the taxi way on an airplane and they say, “We’re going to take off in about 15 20 minutes here. You just be patient. Sit back and enjoy the flight.” And an hour and a half later, you are still sitting there. That’s what this happened to the Packers before the game they’re playing right now. I think it did. Um don’t know. Yeah. Don’t know how they’re doing right now, but um I have no idea. Somebody in the chat tell me what the Packers are up to right now. Yeah. So So now we’re hearing like, oh, week nine. Week nine is the target date. Um so that means Thursday. That would be that’d be Carson Wentz’s game on a short week. Um how would you have handled this? Could they have done it better? because I think they’ve they’ve really kind of bungled the PR aspect of this whole injury kurfuffle. Yeah. At the center of your critique, Kevin Oonnell never wants to tell you anything. You know, he never named JJ McCarthy the starter before week one either. He never said that. They just had him do week one reps. He never said it. So, technically, it could still be Aaron Rogers if if you’re brave enough. Um, but like he he’ll never say it. He never he was KG all off season for no reason. He’s been KG about this. I do think that uncertainty about who is going to start, as long as it’s not uncertain internally, works in your favor, right? Because it makes the gives just one more wrinkle to the opponent’s prep, it probably helps more than it hurts. So, like to to be ky in, you know, Cleveland about what ultimately I mean, we were not even close to JJ McCarthy playing. to be ky about that is I think understandable to just be like ah well you know we don’t just to screw with the Browns and hope that it helps them not prepare as well because I think if you know Carson Wentz is playing you only have to practice against like four plays. You got you got to throw in whatever you can to help defenses not be as ready for you. Um, and then the other thing that I’ll say is like ankle like injuries aren’t like in Madden where you’re said you get a timeline right off the bat where you this will be six weeks. It is sometimes hey if it responds well to the treatment we’ll see how it feels tomorrow. Like it is an ever evolving thing that doesn’t always present with the timeline you end up having in the end. So I don’t necessarily feel comfortable saying oh they knew the whole time it would be six weeks and they were weird in the media. they might not have known and that wouldn’t be that abnormal to happen. Um, but now that the the timeline is in total 6 weeks with a high ankle sprain, that’s a much more normal number for a high ankle sprain. High ankle sprain being two weeks would have been insane and I would have started making jokes about what chemicals they gave him. Yeah. Yeah. But and then so so either way I think they look bad because if they misdiagnosed a high ankle sprain and thought that he could come back within four weeks and then didn’t put him on IR for that reason. It happens. I don’t think that that’s that that’s that weird. I think the VI but I I just think the Vikings are actually pretty perceptive about knowing, okay, this player like with Blake Hashman, let’s IR him. We’ll get him back after the the by-week. It’ll be perfect. Donovan Jackson, he’s going to have a surgery. Probably doesn’t need to go on IR because he’ll come back. Like, I think they actually get this right most of the time. So, that the fact that they seemingly didn’t get it right. And also, you’ve got the like what is it? Is it that he needs to practice or that he’s hurt? Because he’s the emergency third quarterback. That tells you something like you’re willing to You’re putting him in over Cam Acres if two guys get hurt, but that’s a pretty weak endorsement. Yep. don’t don’t love how it’s been handled. Um, this is just I will I I I do want to say to the footwork thing. Um, so there is a podiatrist that sometimes emails me. He’s he goes by Skull Dock on on Twitter. Um, and he has sometimes emailed me with like when there have been like other ankle or foot issues in previous seasons with like some sometimes he’ll he’ll tell me his like medical opin and he actually did tweet about this and said all the footwork stuff does sound like it’s about dealing with an ankle that’s compensating for pain and working through that and either it’s going to be painful all year because you’re going to play through this sprained ankle because we can’t stand Carson Wentz anymore or we’re just trying to get you back to normal as you know this a as you know this this the stiffness wears off and it’s different. It did sound like uh like footwork responding to pain. Um and also footwork responding to you’ve now had over a month to just sit and dwell on this disaster class you had in prime time in week two and maybe kind of rebuilding the game from there and and trying to kind of like get get a reset and get back to where you were going into week one where you actually did find a way to win a game. Um probably looking at Carson Wentz on Thursday. Um, I would guess the Vikings don’t I mean it would I would love to see Harbaugh against McCarthy. Love to see it. Also, you get like one practice in a short week like this. You get he got a full week this week. So, if I think if he’s healthy enough like I think this game was bad enough where you think about it and you go, “Yeah, I know your ankle’s maybe not all the way, but like I don’t know, man. This this game feels a little bit like I if I’m Kevin Oonnell and you can see it on his face, I don’t think he wants to do this again, man. I I think he’s pretty defeated. Um the season can get away quickly when your division is as good as it is. Green Bay is 3-1 and one. The Lions are 4-2. The Bears won again. Easy schedule. Um but the Bears are beat the Saints. They’re 4-2. The Vikings are 3-3 and in last. Um this is actually about where they do you remember last year the Vikings dropped to 5-2. And if the Bears had completed the hail or not had the Hail Mary completely about it, um NFC North is competitive. It’s deep and the Vikings uh cannot afford to fall much further behind. So um I don’t want to say it’s a it’s a mustwin or win now situation. Like you absolutely need Thursday’s game against the Chargers. You go on the road for it. Um it’s a tough circumstance for either quarterback. No doubt about that. I I I like the difference when when you’re, you know, one game behind or a half a game behind and you have tiebreers or whatever. I’m not sweating the division standings when it’s this tight. I’d sweat the division standings if I was like Houston and I’ve got, you know, oh man, like now I’ve got a hole to dig out of. But by next week, this could completely all shuffle up and I think everybody could be in any position depending on what happens. Um, so I’m I’m not going to sweat it too bad. Just know you are 500. You’re you’re not one in five. 500. You have five more opportunities to hand those all those really good NFC North teams losses personally. Mhm. And you still have 11 games left to play in this season. We’re not even halfway. Not even close to halfway. We still got a ton of time left. So I I think it it still needs to be about figuring out your issues, finding a way to play w when the Vikings play offense and just everyone does their job. Not everyone wins their rep. Not everyone you win every single you we block everybody. No, just everybody is trying to do the right thing. Every when everybody is just attempting to do things properly, the Vikings are really good. And the problem is they cannot get all 11 guys to do stuff without blocking the wrong guy, running in the wrong place, throwing the ball to the wrong place, making inexplicable mistakes, jumping off sides or whatever. They can’t get all 11 to do that. I think we very much chocked that that part up to coaching. It’s not a play calling thing. That’s an execution thing. And the execution was poor. They were lucky, I think, to still be in this one. The Eagles let them really hang around a lot more than I think they deserve to hang around. And I think I have said that about every game but the Atlanta game where, you know, the Bears probably shouldn’t have let the Vikings hang around. The Steelers shouldn’t have let the Vikings hang around. The Browns should have put away the Everybody should have put away the Vikings. But they’ve had these, you know, another team gets a bad penalty at the wrong time and they get to make these fourth quarter comeback attempts and you you’ve gotten a couple of them, you haven’t gotten a couple of them. How about this? Can we score a touchdown in the first half? They’ve done it one once this year. One one game they’ve scored touchdowns in the first half and that was the Bengals thing. That was such an X factor last year. They were constantly leading. I mean, I think they led for an absurd number of snaps last year. Definitely number one in the NFL. Um, this hasn’t happened this year. That’s a big regression. They’ve been really bad in first halfs. What are you doing, man? What What’s your game plan? Why are you coming out and taking Don’t snap it over Carson Wentz’s head. Why are you taking 40 minutes to figure out how to snap the ball? Snap the ball. Throw the ball to where you’re supposed to like snap the ball and go through reads. This is day one stuff. I love Greg Olsen was not kind to Carson Wentz in this game. And I don’t think he should have been kind to Carson Wentz because the mistakes he were making were frequent and inexcusable. And to to Ron’s point from earlier, there were a lot of other people making a lot of other mistakes. I know I’m going really hard at Went specifically, but yeah, you had Blake Brandle in his whole thing. You had losses from, you know, up front and in against other blocks and all that, but like if they just like do this right on like I don’t even think these guys can move the ball on air. They can’t do the right thing all the time. Um, who’s coaching these guys? Jaylen Herz was, we mentioned this, five of six on deep throws. By contrast, Carson Wintz, yeah, that’s his new nickname, was three of nine on deep throws today with an interception. Bad. You want to see, you want to hear? So, this is uh TJ Hawinson was apparently really hot in the locker room because two refs apparently came up to him after and said, “Oh, we had that as a catch for you.” Um, and that New York overruled it and that those the onfield refs disagreed. So TJ Hawinson was very mad. We have we we’ve got the Vikings have to lead the league in like apology letters from the NFL because they’re going to get one. They’re going to get one. One of those deep throws. The one that was like wide open middle of the field. Devonte Smith. Did you see the hold they missed on Jonathan Gernard? That dude got horseered. That could have been 15 and they just didn’t throw it. Grard was losing his mind. Broadcast never showed the replay. There was a mo so there was just a moment where I didn’t get a chance to see the replay on the challenge flag that Kevin Oonnell threw on the presumed incompletion. What was the what was the verdict on that? Um I have no idea. I couldn’t see the Okay. Okay. Well, I don’t know what Fox was not like showing us anything. It was wild. No, I I was I was briefly on the radio um away from TV. the radio said that it should have been overturned, that it should not have been a completion. Maybe the chat can chime in on that. Um, yeah, I can’t remember what that drive led to. It might have just led to a punt. Um, yeah, and and I want to make clear cuz the chat’s like, “Don’t make Hank says they never show the replay.” So, okay. Thank you, Hank. Oh, goodness gracious. Uh, yeah, chat’s saying like, “Don’t make ref excuses.” Um, you’re super right. Yeah. No, and I’m not making ref excuses. The Vikings deserve to lose this game by way more than six, but I’m pointing it out that there were still they they did get That’s bad ref luck. It just we can’t expect them to overturn the game on that. Well, that’s interesting from Hawinson, too. Um, I understood the interpretation. The the ball was the right call. The ball hit the it did contact with the ground, came dislodged on its way back up to his chest. It’s frustrating because of how like effortful it like Hawinson absolutely made a great play on it. Um, not his fault. That’s just I got to throw that halfway reasonable. I just need 90% of the reps from all 11 to be at least attempt to do the the thing you were supposed to do. Don’t even need you to win the rep. Just try to do it right next time. Maybe short week. There there’s a there’s a lot of crazy plays in each game. We’ll talk about the ones that uh we forgot about. We’ll empty the notebook when we come back. Also, some uh some turning points from this one. We’re brought to you this afternoon by FanDuel. Total went over in this game. Vikings did not cover. Two and a half point dogs. Eagles win by six. Uh that’s the verdict on this one. New customers though, you can still bet just $5 and get 300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet. Put down five bucks. It hits you unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Uh, you know that crazy uh Browns Dolphins game with the crazy overunder at like 34 and a half that went over 37. How good is FanDuel? They just know. They know. They know the lines. Um, makes watching football fun when you got a little riding on it. Whether it’s live wagering, same game parlays, future bets, what have you. Visit FanDuel.com or download the FanDuel sportsbook app. Download the FanDuel app today and get started. All right, Vikings squad show back tomorrow with Arie Assan and Luke Ginman breaking it all down uh with even more granular detail. Um plays that stood out in this game that we haven’t gotten to. KC go to a couple of trickeration type plays. We had a wild pitch back to win the double flee flicker for uh DPI earned them about 15 yards DPI. Is that deemed a success when you waste your trick play for a a DPI which wasn’t even that uncovered of a target? Is that a successful trick play? I don’t know. I I don’t think I don’t think so because what they wanted was a deep post that looked like it was covered. At least Wentz didn’t throw it, which I can’t really trust that that means it was covered, but Wentz didn’t throw the deep post that it was supposed to be and ends up just kind of tossing a stupid one up to TJ Hawinson that who was like blanketed and you just kind of get lucky that the guy was too physical. And hey, who says the refs were all against the Vikings? They overturn the direct snap to Jordan Mason for a touchdown. He reached the ball across the plane. Yeah. And uh Cam in a big spot. Got a TD. Yep. That that was Yeah. Wildat. Like I I was about to go absolutely insane on like you can’t you’ve been so bad in the red zone all day. And you are going wildat motion from under center almost as a as a dig at the Lions so that you can run a toss the other way. And then it looked like it got stuffed and I was like, “What are run zone? Just play weird like normal football.” They refused to challenge Jaylen Carter up the middle. Um they What was the run pass balance today? 42 throws, something like 20 carries, I think. 15 for Mason, fiveish for for Scott. Um they really didn’t want to challenge that defensive line. And I think, and you’ve said it a million times, Bronn, it was there in the passing game. Like, went through for almost 300 yards. He could have four touchdowns if he was semi-normal quarterback. Jacobe Brassette has four touchdowns in this game. Like, how many how many quarterbacks in the league do we expect to hit CJ Ham on that spider two wide banana debacle? 35. I mean, I feel like everyone’s depth chart can do that, which is why I just I can’t possibly buy that they’re looking at a rookie like JJ McCarthy and thinking he can’t do that. I think everybody else in the class in in this year’s rookie class can do that. It’s the easiest thing in the world. I think Carson Wentz is one of one in that he can’t do that. Carson Wentz was graded with one big time throw in the game. What do you think that one was? I don’t know. What what would be his one big time throw? He had one actually. You know what it was? I bet I think it was at 143. He had a really pretty fade down the left um sideline. Yes. Hitting that one wheel to nailer for a big one. Yeah, that’s that’s got to be it. Yeah, that was nice. I don’t know if it’s a wheel, but it felt like a wheel. Like a late deep deep ball. Um on the pick six. Did you watch that back a couple times? What um was was that throw there at all or was he just blind to blind as a bat? Okay. Uh it was it was the same thing as the Van Ginkle pick six in London last year. Exact same idea. You’re trying to get a slant. Somebody Sims backs off and you didn’t and you didn’t see it. And because the linebacker that usually like so basically he just honed in pre- snap the line this this is how they described it on the broadcast. I thought Greg Olsson did a great job. Um the linebacker that usually has that zone vacated to be I think part of the pressure or just part of a rotated coverage. So Wentz went, “Oh, sweet. There’s going to be space.” But he didn’t see that there was somebody else simming that then gets it. And so you get you throw a pick six to an edge rusher that way. It was the same exact thing. Other wacky plays from this one, Braun. Um, we had a we had a 59yard field goal. That was pretty sweet. Yeah. It’s really good. After the Blake Brandle thing, I was like, you like nobody in the world ever makes that field goal. Yeah. But Riker drills it. I was like, I’ve this guy’s awesome. And the Vikings got some field goal luck with a an easy miss by Elliot um to keep him down five. I think if I’m picking a a turning point in this game, and there were there were a number of momentum shifts, it’s probably at 2116. It’s probably after the Elliot miss. It’s the fourth quarter. You’ve got to cash that one in. And all the red zone failures feel like this is the the Ford Field game in week 18 last year. The red zone failures run together so much. I got to try to remember what happened on this one. So, this was the first and 10 at the Philadelphia 15. Uh, and you’re coming off Addison had a couple of, you know, great catches, good throws by Wentz. First and 10 at the 15. Mason stuffed minus two. Okay, you’re set back. Jefferson for seven. Third and five. Wentz sacked. That’s your dad. Yeah, that’s your day. Brandle lets it through and you take a terrible sack. That Brandle culpable on three red zone failures on big downs. Yep. and then went on the other two. That’s I think that’s the story of your game. That’s why I come into this one going so hot saying like these guys are holding the team hostage. And here’s what kills me about this. This is the the biggest coaching uh to the Inman’s coaching corner. This is the biggest coaching critique I have because those play calls I can at least understand, oh, you know, we’re trying to get a fade to Jefferson in the red zone. I get, you know, we maybe wanted to run more, but I get what they were going for on everything. I just can’t fathom how you watch that game go by and you never think about taking Brle out and putting a guy who plays center back in. Michael Jurgens was healthy and active. He was ready to go. He did go in because Brandle had a helmet issue at a certain point in this game. But they so he like he did play a couple like I I don’t understand what more do you need to see to pull a guy in the middle of the game and say this is not working. We need to do something. And their refusal to do that like going into the game and and and oops we kind of overvalued the Cleveland game. I’m not gonna kill you over that. It’s a mistake. But again, at least I saw the logic. But by the third quarter, after the third time he’s killing a red zone drive, this dude is like single-handedly losing you the game. And he’s playing out of position. And you have a solution for that on the bench ready to go. I cannot fathom not pulling Blake Brandle in that one. I’ve never seen a guy need to need to get the hook more and not get the hook. Unbelievable mistake. And I think if you don’t do that, you win this game. Like if if you put Jurgens in, even if he loses some reps on his own, you can win this game just by virtue of having a center that plays center that knows how. It’s uh uh I’m more of a PFF guy than you, but um you’ll you’ll like this. You’ll this will support your argument. Pressure is allowed today. Guess who led Oh, yeah. Led the Vikings. What? Like eight of them from Brle. Six. Six. Yeah. Six. No one else had more than two. Donovan Jackson in his return. Two pressures allowed, no sacks. Um, and in fact, no other sacks were credited to the line except for the one that Brandle gave up. Um, I’ve also got one more nitpick. One play prior to the fateful third and 13 when again it’s 2119, you’re going to get the ball back. Jonathan Gard has a clear lane set. And I think he went for the ball. I think he went for the ball and forgot to touch the guy. Um, and it turned into an incompletion. If he sacks him there, we’re probably talking about third and 22 and like a draw to Bsby. Y, you know, like that that probably wipes out any chance of a first down. You’re getting the ball back. Down two. There would have been eight minutes to go. Oh, so many times when you could have grabbed this game by the horns and like like the the Vikings shot themselves in the foot repeatedly but then were given chances to write the ship a lot. They could stabilize this thing. Yeah. And that’s why while we can acknowledge that like they got a couple of bad ref calls, you can’t use that as an excuse because it’s not like you didn’t have the opportunity. It’s not like you’re going into the room saying, “Well, we did everything right.” If you’re doing that, shut the season down now. Um, squad show back on Monday and then game day edition on Thursday. That’ll be fun. Um, Thursday Night Football, Al Michaels, Amazon Prime, who’s going to be the QB. More word salad from KC this week. That’s what I can promise. Yeah, you just have to kind of not take like it’s this is just one of those coaches. There’s a lot of coaches that just like whatever they say about injuries just doesn’t count. Have we not information? any any inflammatory quotes coming from KOC or Wentz after the game? Anything that’s come across Twitter that you’ve seen as we close? Uh chat’s gonna have to help me out. I don’t I don’t know. I haven’t seen anything. Um that’s okay. Quick update though. The Chargers are getting absolutely destroyed at home. The Chargers are losing. They’ve just given up a a uh an interception. They’re down 20 to3 and the Colts just picked off the ball. Um, Daniel Jones. Danny Dimes getting it. Two words, Danny Dimes. Yep. I got to insist though to people, they offered him a contract. Now, could they have upped their offer? Sure. But to make him your We didn’t know. We didn’t know Daniel Jones was going to be this good. I I think most of you probably would not have liked it if they offered Daniel Jones $20 million, which if they had Yeah. I think they offered 14. I mean, a high highest backup paid in the league. Yeah. Well, there’s one, but there’s Kirk, but that’s that’s we don’t need to. Yeah, we won’t relitigate that. No, I I think I think they wanted the guy. It um Yeah, they wanted him back in the building, but he chose it. It wasn’t about the money. It was about the fact that the Vikings liked JJ McCarthy more than the Colts liked Anthony Richardson. Jones sensed that and went to the place where he could win a battle. Great instinct by him. And the Colts look like they’re going to sense. So again, the Vikings might get a team that’s hot after a loss. They got the Eagles when they were down. Might get the Chargers when they’re down. Chargers are a weird unpredictable team. We’ll preview that um as the squad show rolls on this week. Big thanks to Ron Johnson. Big thanks to you, Luke Braun, and I’m Sam Extramm. Um, we do this after every game. It’s the Viking Squad Show, unlocked on Vikings, wherever you get your podcasts.

The Vikings lost 28-22 to the Philadelphia Eagles thanks to a pick six thrown by Carson Wentz and some struggles in the red zone. Minnesota drops to .500 with a loss and falls to last in the NFC North. Join the full crew for the instant reaction after the game.