VIKINGS SQUAD SHOW: Minnesota Vikings Comeback FALLS SHORT as Offensive Line Collapses

VIKINGS SQUAD SHOW: Minnesota Vikings Comeback FALLS SHORT as Offensive Line Collapses

What’s going on? Luke Inman here breaking down the Vikings 24-21 loss to the Steelers in Ireland. We got the full deep dive, instant reaction coming up next. But first, let’s meet today’s crew. What’s up? It’s Sam Extramm of Lockdown Sports Minnesota, and this was the Bears game without the finishing touches on the comeback. Hey, Ron Johnson, former golfer NFL wide receiver from the Ron Johnson show. I thought that the red head was going to get the luck of the Irish but just came up a little short. Skull. It’s the Viking Squad. Everything Minnesota Vikings every week. Breaking down all the big hits and gamechanging 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. What’s going on back in the lab back at it another Viking squad show immediately following Viking Steelers as the Vikings come up a little bit short at the end. They dropped to two and two after the 24-21 loss today in Ireland. All the instant reaction you can handle over the next 60 minutes. A massive injuries on the offensive line that needs to be discussed. Plus Carson Wentz’s uh we’ll call it an up and down day for the most part. We got the biggest turning point. stock up, stock down. Um, but before we get into it, make sure to like and subscribe. Keep up with all the action. So close to 10,000 subscribers. Uh, and of course, make sure to check out our guy Luke Braun on Locked on Vikings each and every day as well. Um, Ron, I’m going to give you first dibs. You can bat lead off here. Get the first crack. Last week it was a steamroll, right? Never had to sweat it. Uh, this week the the script is flipped, right? Uh, they get down big early in this one. Felt like they were down 30. You look at the scoreboard, they’re only down uh eight points at one point, but um they find a way to make things close at the end. Some some big drives at the end, a great defensive stand on fourth and one to get the ball back, but not enough as WZ throws that interception as time time expired. What What’s just the number one thing I guess you’re thinking about right now? Your your biggest takeaway after what we watched just unfold? Well, I’ll go positive first. Welcome back, Jordan Addison. Four catches, 114 yards. I mean, that is really impressive. Honestly, like I can’t wait to see him with J.J. McCarthy cuz him and JJ McCarthy like had something going. Uh JJ McCarthy and Justin Jefferson never really got going but just yet. But you put those guys together with JJ McCarthy, I feel like you get maybe a little bit more of the legs. Um you get a little bit more quicker play calling. Maybe Kevin Okonnell watches uh the Gopher game and he realizes let’s let’s let’s go a little uptempo, no huddle. Same way the V the Gophers did Drake Lindsay. I could see either Carson Wentz or JJ McCarthy doing it. But uh welcome back Jordan Addison. second turnovers like turnovers killed him almost almost luckily like I mean the fumble touched it laying out of bounds the interception just could not hold on to it though that would have been four turnovers that just didn’t go their way and then also like the luck of the Irish for for Aaron Rogers he’s scrambling fumbles it literally takes a perfect bounce back into the arms of one of his guys so um and and I think the Vikings had a fumble too that one of their linemen fell on so there it was it was it was kind of a sloppy day when it came to that um but at the end of the day the the Steelers did just enough to do it. Their fans were over there were super excited. I heard some people saying like, “I can’t believe the Steelers went for it on fourth down in the goal line.” Um, but that was Aaron Rogers. If you watch, if you were watching the TV copy, you can see Aaron Rogers and the offensive lineman were like, “No, no, no. You guys stay. Let us do this. We got this. We’ll get this touchdown.” And they got stopped. The Vikings had a chance. Uh, Sam’s right. This was the Bears game without the final comeback. I thought, I mean, just the way the Viking season had been going and always goes, it felt like they were going to go down, get in the field goal range. Will Riker was gonna knock through a 60 yard field goal and they were going to go to overtime and then probably win it in overtime. Um it just didn’t go that way. Uh Aaron Rogers 200 yards, nothing super flashy, nothing super sexy about it. Just, you know, really efficient early on. Uh what 18 for 22 I think is what he was. And uh Sam Darnold without those two interceptions had a great day. I mean that’s the thing that sucks. I mean it sounds cliche and stupid. It’s like you of course. But yeah, I mean honestly 350 yards, Justin Jefferson 126, Jaylen or uh um Jordan Addison 114. Like he had a great day, but those two interceptions still there’s nothing that cuz we were like, what if he throws for 300 yards plus in back-to-back games overseas? It it’s going to happen. But I still think it’s JJ J McCarthy’s thing cuz those two interceptions and then his inability to get out of the pocket and get positive yardage, that’s always going to loom over his head. Yeah, Sam, to Ron’s point, too, uh maybe they used all their creating turnover magic last week when they had what, five turnovers created versus the Bengals. No turnovers created as well, so you lose that turnover battle, two nothing. On top of that, you throw in the penalties, eight penalties for 82 yards, six sacks for almost 50 yards, and then third down efficiency, four for 14. Kind of pick your poise any different direction you want to go. Yeah. Well, we we thought the Steelers might have run out of takeaway magic because they also had five takeaways last week. They didn’t run out. Uh they they had, you know, almost a scoop and score in the first drive, then two big picks that were kind of game-changing. I I think we got to start with we’re now three out of four games into this season where the offense has not scored until the fourth quarter, a touchdown. That that’s pretty problematic. If your offensive line’s depth is incapable of of protecting, like you’ve got a serious problem. If you can’t have a functional operation with backups on the offensive line, th this is a a serious serious issue. And um I’m not sure they’re going to get healthy now for the foreseeable future. I mean, two two concussions in three weeks for Ryan Kelly with his history, that could mean an IR stint. Ryan O’Neal not returning with a knee where he looked in a lot of pain. I don’t know what we’re We’ll have to watch uh X to see if a report comes out. That could be a serious injury. That could be a season ending injury at minimum. He’s probably going to miss some time. Uh so this offensive line is now going to be patchwork for the foreseeable future. You do have a quarterback in Wentz who who did a lot of good things, but man, if the first read doesn’t go his way more often than not, he is not going to escape. Um he’s got a couple a couple tricks up his sleeve. Like he does seem to have kind of, you know, their their lively feet. Like he wants to move. He wants to get away from the pressure. he’s not mobile or agile enough to do it. Took six sacks and then a a crippling uh grounding play. You know, that would have been sack number seven on the final drive. Um it it’s really hard to be glass half full about this one with the injury situation because you were you were circling week seven after the buy. You get Jackson back, you get Cashman back, you got Ham and Chandler coming back, Aaron Jones is going to come. Everyone was going to come back after the buy and you could kind of breathe a sigh of relief. Now, I don’t know if you can do that. Yeah, Ron, let me ask you this. Just to Sam’s point, you know, going into the year, we had some discussions about just how topheavy this team was. Like, the starters on paper were great, but if you get some bad injury luck, as we’ve already seen two, three, four weeks into the year now, um, this depth was going to be tested that we all kind of picked and prodded as we watched them in the preseason. when you have three starting offensive linemen out and a backup quarterback out there, it just feels like a recipe for disaster to begin with. Now, granted, again, to your point, Ron, Carson Wentz did some good things at the end, but it felt like 50 minutes of the 60-minute game um was was like walking through mud. It just like looked like everything was so hard for this Vikings unit. and and you know, I don’t want to jump ahead to next week and what all it looks like, but when you watch this game unfold the way it did, um, you know, what are the things that I guess Kevin Oonnell is supposed to do when you just don’t have your starting offensive unit out there? Oh man, I Luke, that’s a billion dollar question. That’s why he’s getting paid a lot of money. Um, I don’t really understand the whole point um of some of the play calling. Like I do because I think in the broadcast they said it. They’re like, “Look, this looks like these are a bunch of deep routes and they didn’t have time to develop. You’ve got to shorten up a lot of some of these routes with this offensive line. Like you got to let them like Aaron Rogers came out quick, easy, get the ball out of his hands and then go for a strike.” He I don’t think he ever really went for a deep strike. Like it didn’t feel like he was trying to dagger the Vikings. It felt like he was just trying to manage his offense, not throwing to an interception. Um very like Mike Tom was like, “Look, I know I know Flores. I know what he does. like I’m not going to give him anything. I don’t want him to have time to do anything. And so I think that’s the key to this. Like he it’s just it is what it is. He just came out and did not like it. It it it was way too long development. Now again, some of the long development stuff worked, but I feel like you’ve got to do a better job of calling shorter plays. Yeah. Yeah. No, no doubt, Ron. Um Aaron Rodgers was by far the the king of the short pass heading into this game. like the the lowest depth of target in football and through two drives like you you had to have known that was going to be the game plan. He carved you up and then he hits the big play to Metaf again. Some some poor angles, some poor tackling. It’s one play. Don’t want to overreact, but he kind of did what we knew Aaron Rogers would do and he did it at a high level. It was super effective. And by the way, to touch on the takeaway point you made earlier, Luke, that snaps a 20game regular season streak of having a takeaway. They didn’t have one in the playoff game last year. 20 straight regular season games going back to week one last year. Unbelievable. How about we get into some of the biggest turning points, get into some of the uh the nuts and bolts here because, you know, I feel like there’s about three or four different directions you could go. You can go all the way back um to what Ron pointed out that uh that that force fumble scoop and score that ended up getting overturned. Uh right away though, it just felt like the Vikings were behind the eightball in this one. Steelers just had the edge from the get-go. Um, was there a biggest turning point from today from either of you guys, shout them out, that just really sticks out right now after watching the way the game ended uh with that Carson Wentz interception? I don’t know about you, Ron. I felt like the the TJ Watt interception was a a major backbreaker that that had been a relatively effective drive to that point. Um, then you take a sack, you get third and long, you try just a little check down. you’re just trying to get in maybe a long field goal range, maybe a go for it situation on fourth down, tipped and picked and then they score five plays later and at 21 to6 it was like Luke said, you’re moving through quick sand. You can’t you’ve got no progress whatsoever. You’ve got no protection whatsoever. Um it kind of felt over at that point. Now the Vikings did make it a game, but um when you were down eight in the second half, this felt like a coin flip. Vikings moving the ball and then that happens. Yeah. So turning point bad or good? Yeah, you could go either way. Yeah, either way. Yeah, because I mean for me it was the score with the two-point conversion. Like at that point I was like, “Okay, like they they they figured something out.” Like I I I was kind of I felt the same way though cuz I don’t want to beat up on what Sam Sam said everything I was going to say. Like when they were down I honestly like I mean I had to do this job so I can’t turn it off and I can’t stop watching it. But like just listening to it, the team looked down, the bench looked down, everybody looked down. And then like even Carson Wentz though, like I think towards the end of the game, the um the one that really was the nail for me that felt like, you know what, I don’t see a comeback coming was the intentional grounding. Like that to me was just like, okay, this offensive line can’t hold up. Like but but again, it was in my opinion, there was a lot of time on the clock when they forced the the the Steelers to punt. I felt like that should have been hitch hitch slant hitch hitch slant like quick stop like it was just it’s like he was trying to get big plays on every throw and it’s like where like again I go back to the Minnesota Gophers versus Ruters if you watch Ethan Calig Mannis in that first drive it was surgical nothing was deeper than 10 to 11 yards you know quick screens here and there Gophers turned around and said hey why don’t we do this and they did the same thing um I know Kevin Oonnell was in uh uh Ireland so he’s probably not tuning in to watch the Gophers versus Ruckers. Um, but that would have gave him some inspo as the kids would say. You’re my inspo. Like he should have he should have looked up both those offenses. Greg Shiano and PJ Fletch called great short throw games. Again, it just felt too long developing. And like you said, you talked about all the injuries on the offensive line. You don’t have time with that line. Like you just don’t. You know, it’s too bad. It It’s too bad that that was that was a first down play, too, Ron. First down at the 40 and you need 20 yards. That’s all you need. 20 yards and time at that point. not not a huge factor. 43 seconds when that play starts and you take a 16yd penalty plus the runoff. I mean, that’s that literally the worst thing that could have happened right there. So, I I agree with you that should have kept that short. You could have even run middle of the field, gotten up and clocked the ball as long as you make forward progress. Heck, if you’re at midfield, you could give um give Mr. Riker a shot. So, uh disappointing end when you you you literally had 20 yards to gain. give your kicker an opportunity to tie that thing and have all the momentum into OT. Speaking of uh Gophers, speaking of uh injuries, how many of you guys raise your hand if you thought, “Oh my gosh, we’re one play away from Max Bromer entering this game right now.” Carson got beat up today. And and remember, we didn’t know JJ rolled his ankle right after after that uh second game versus the Falcons. All of a sudden, KOC walks out to the to the, you know, presser on Monday morning, says he’s going to be out a while. Uh just a little flashback of just watching how beat up Carson Wentz got today and wondering if if you know he’s he’s gonna have some read by his name in the fantasy football columns this week as far as questionable goes. Uh biggest turning point as well kind of for the good but like that block field goal that ended up being a six-point swing. Um felt so massive at the time too or even the play before that Jaylen Redmond single-handedly throwing Aaron Rogers to the ground like a ragd doll. uh um you know he he’ll have in our stock up stock down um he’ll have a big stock up uh that man has been a beast but um you know that set up the third and 15 I want to say which set up the fourth and five and then all of a sudden they attempt the field goal that’s blocked Vikings march down get three points of their own at halftime and you get the ball back that was supposed to be the whole thing like we get the the double dip here unfortunately they come out of halftime they go three and0 but that at the point at that time definitely felt like a huge turning point for sure any other big turning points or even just big plays, big splashy plays um that come to mind. I know Ron, you talked about Jordan’s coming out party. Obviously, that huge wide open deep bomb down the sideline really rejuvenated things. And of course, as Vikings fans got our hopes up a little bit for sure. Anything else? Yeah, I was going to say the first the one I was going to say just the first play of the game you you hit it that Jaylen Redmond first play of the game to me. I thought that this was going to be a Vikings day. Yeah. Um Aaron Rogers snap back like that that that to me showed resilience and taking the first punch and punching back. Um but but the other one I gota I mean you said it to the Addison but I think Addison’s this this this might be a turning point in the season maybe or it could be um because Addison coming back shows that he him and and Jordan Justin Jefferson together are two of the best you know duos. They’re the best duo or if not the best one of the best duos in the NFL. Um, but it just sucks with the injuries because we’re never really going to know. Like Sam’s right, if some of these guys have to go on IR with, you know, multiple concussions, knee injury, Donovan Jackson’s not back to week seven, hopefully after a wrist surgery, you know, I mean, it’s just and then you have and you still have a just getting back Darasaw that who knows how he’s going to hold up as playing as many snaps as he played, being overseas, not having the same stuff that they have at home to do some of the rehab stuff that he would be able to just get to. Um, you know, it’s it’s interesting, but I mean, it’s it’s an awesome experience for them, but it is a lot on your body to be on that time zone for that long without your normal amenity. Like, you can’t just go to your local coffee shop like you would. You can’t just go to your normal cryotherapy place. Um, you know, you can’t go to your normal masseuse. So, it sounds real first world problems. It is 100% first world problems, but I just wonder how that weighs on these guys’ bodies as well for this next game against the Browns. Uh, lots more to get into. I got to pick your brain. A lot of stuff. Stock up, stock down. We just touched on Jaylen Redmond. Coach’s Corner. I want to ask you a little bit more about KC and Brian Flores. That’s all coming up right after this. Quick reminder, today’s episode brought to us by Prize Picks. Prize Picks, America’s number one fantasy sports app. Now with more than 10 million members to date for me and my money, um, I just swear by it, man. It’s by far the easiest. It’s the most exciting way to get into all the action while you watch your favorite sports and you watch your favorite players. It’s so simple, too. All you got to do, you pick more or less on two or more players stats, watch the winnings roll in. Football season, it’s officially back. So whether it’s anytime touchdowns, receptions, tackles, sacks, you name it, they got it. 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So, enough with the boring flavorless caffeine. Time to give your caffeine energy a flavor upgrade with 5-hour energy shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold. Try something new in store and online. www.5ourgy.com. 5hour energy.com or on Amazon today. You know, we touched on it a little bit of KOC picking and Prada, but let’s get into the coach’s corner. I want your favorite or least favorite. Uh coaching decision could be from KOC, could be from Brian Flores, whoever it may be. Game management, a challenge, timeout, play call, a halftime adjustment. Um, you know, what stuck out the I I’ll I’ll give you one. I’ll just give you a little appetizer. Fourth and one. You motion Justin Jefferson into the back field. You send him out on that fake toss. It was so beautiful. Uh Jordan Mason essentially kind of playing that CJ Ham fullback role too in that formation. Um and you stick it in his gut. All of a sudden he’s got some daylight. Looked like he had a chance to go for six. Shoestring tackle. But just love the design. Uh love the design. And I got to say anytime I’ve seen Justin Jefferson motion in the back field, not a lot of bad things happen. It’s like they’re batting 750 800 back there. Hall of Fame numbers. Feels like four out of five times KOC knows what he’s doing. Everybody hones in on what’s Justin Jefferson gonna do? Uh and at least somebody wide open. So I I really like that call and that’s just one kind of, you know, again little appetizer there of of a coaching quarter. What do you guys got? Yeah, before I get out of here, this is my last one. But my my coaching quarter decision for me was Brian Flor is not always going after the quarterback. Like he kind of set back a little bit. like I I I feel like he didn’t allow Aaron Rogers to do what he does best, which is pick them apart. Um he picked and chose and he got I mean honestly Jaylen Redmond, you talked about it, his stock is way up. They got pressure with four at times and I think that was huge um for me cuz again if you try to blitz him a ton I think Aaron Rogers probably beats you apart, rips you apart, but you know Aaron Rogers was not able to do what he normally does. So that’s that’s my big one. But you know you guys have a great weekend. Looking forward to uh London next week and uh hopefully it’s a W against the Browns. need it. Ron Johnson, everybody. Yeah, check him out on the Ron Johnson show each and every Tuesday. Appreciate you, Ron. Uh he’s got a roll. He’s got to bounce. Uh bigger and better things to do, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, he’s got more postgame to to break down. Let’s uh let’s dig into what Ron talked about, though, with Rogers game. Um Kevin Seaffort had this tweet moments ago. Uh let’s try to find he I think he tweeted 2.17. I say 2.31, but don’t quote me on that. Either way, um I know the reference that you’re 2.27, our guy Arie Assan tweeted out. Okay. And that could be and that that could be a different outlet. Seafford’s going with ESPN’s tracking. He’s saying 2.17 seconds before throwing. His lowest time since it was first tracked. And he was already one of the fastest to throw in the NFL. Um quick game very effective in particular early in the game. Um, I would say in the final three quarters of this game, I’m not sure that I I I give Rogers so much credit as I give their offensive line because they blocked their butts off. Steelers had 19 first downs, 11 of them on the ground, only six through the air. I didn’t feel like Rogers was daggering this team that frequently. I felt like you just couldn’t stop Kenneth Gainwell. Kenneth Gainwell. That’s the change of pace back for Saquon Barkley last year who was getting like four carries a game. Not meant to be a workhorse. And he carved you up for a 100 yards and five yards a pop. Not okay. Almost ended the game with his legs on that second effort, second down play right before the um or right before the two-minute warning. So, pretty pretty disappointing day with flashbacks. Luke, I mean, it was I mentioned the flashback to the to the Bears game. It was flashback to the Atlanta game. In many ways, you know, your offense came alive in this one, but your defense kind of played more lethargically, I would say, on the whole. I thought this was actually a worse defensive performance and maybe their worst of the year. Would you agree with that? Worst defensive performance of the four we’ve seen. I’m in on that. Yeah, I’m in on that. Obviously, the Atlanta game, you can kind of pick and prod and compare apples to apples there, but but I’m in on that. And and the thing, too, you know, Sam, we’re talking a lot about Carson Wentz’s struggles. Well, yeah. Behind a an offensive line missing their three out of five starters. What’s What’s the What’s the missing link right now to the defense, to the run defense? I mean, again, in half their games this year, small sample, nonetheless, in half their games, the Atlanta game and today, their run defense, it looks almost unwatchable, Sam. It looks almost like you can’t even line up and compete with the other guys next to you. Now, I know we threw out after the Atlanta game, this is why you don’t trade a true nose tackle like Harrison Phillips a week before the season. And that kind of got debunked, right, last week when they shut down Chase Brown. But what is the rhyme or reason for this roller coaster, for the volatility from week to week when you see him shut down a Chase Brown, but that’s sandwiched in between just two awful run defensive performances. I’m still trying to figure it out. Van Ginkle out today. Okay. But Cashman’s still out. We saw the impact that had last year with the pre- snap communication stuff. I’m starting to think it’s just it’s just maybe a talent up front. Maybe just the talent just isn’t that good. And I will say too to your point here, Sam, Steelers offensive line mauled out today. They were road graders. They’ve been atrocious all year these first three game. You ask any Steelers fan, Aaron Rogers has had to throw the ball so short and so quick because he’s got no time back there. So maybe the run blocking has been a little bit better than the pass blocking up to this point. I will say though uh they they mauled out today and and in general the the vibe out right now a word on the street Steelers coming in is their offensive line had played very very bad up to this point. Yeah. Yeah. Like I know they had a two in one record but the underlying stats did not really paint a picture of a team that did a lot of things well like their their passing attack had been good for one week and not not that great the last two. Their rushing attack had not been good. They had not stopped the run as well as they did today. So, a big trench win for Pittsburgh. And we go back to the same conversation we had two weeks ago off the Atlanta game. Is there enough girth on the defensive line? And they they silence that in a big way against Cincinnati, another team that struggled to run the ball. I I just have a hard time believing that with all the depth you have at tackle, with all the bodies, Levi Drake, Jaylen Redmond, um you know, Elijah Williams in that mix in Taki that you are are are you really suffering from the loss of Harrison Phillips and and heck, Bullard and Tillery, like did they have just a little more weight to hold their ground against some of these blocks or double team blocks? I think Cashman is a factor. I think Cashman like plugging those gaps is a really big deal. So, I’m willing to to, you know, give them some grace on that. But here’s my question, Luke, that I’d like to dig into a little more like maybe watching some film. Yeah. Do the safeties feel really uninvolved to you. Tell us. Yeah. Jackson and Harrison Smith have not been around the play nearly as much as we’ve seen in past years with Flores. You know, we’re going to get into our stock up, stock down here in a in, you know, a few minutes or maybe another segment, but I got to say, you know, without watching the tape, just my knee-jerk reaction, just watching what you can from the broadcast view, uh, this was Theo Jackson’s worst game that I’ve seen. Now, granted, small sample size, again, playing that hybrid role, it’s tough because it’s like, I don’t necessarily know if that was on him that play. I don’t know what his assignment was, but the DK Metaf uh catch and run 70 yard touchdown. Terrible angle. Terrible run angle. Blew right past Harrison Smith who at least got his hands on him and slowed, you know, slowed him down. Uh it’s Theo Jackson, next man up. You got to take a better angle on that. Um yes, he was non-existent today. Um and again, you know, this was a big question, Sam. these three safety looks. What happens when you’re relying and leaning into these three safety looks when a team just wants to run the ball down your throat? Where’s your big base defense? Where’s your big bullies? And you know, you get what you pay for. They spent a lot of money on Javon Hargraves and Jonathan Allen. You know, Van Ginkle’s getting paid a lot of money. Grenard’s getting paid a lot of money. No Van Ginkle today. We talked about the, you know, the the the impact no Blake Cashman has. Maybe Van Ginkle actually has a little bit more impact than we’re letting on. Um, but where are your big boys like Jonathan Allen and Jafon Hardgraves? You know, obviously they felt good enough to let Harrison Phillips go. They know more about the situation than we do. They’re at practice every day. If they said, “We’re good. We like our guys like Jaylen Redmond and company. Um, let’s move on now so we don’t have to pay them in 2026.” Whatever the conversation may be, that’s regardless. Um, Jonathan Allen though and and Javon Hargraves, they flashed for sure and I know they’re a little bit long in the tooth, but I expected more in the run game from them. Um, and and I think today was a good example of that. So, um, to your point, circle all the way back. Yeah, the three safety look has not really been panning out. Just too soft when teams want to run the ball down your throat. Yeah, it it it’s possible that this is an adjustment too that the league has made against the Minnesota Vikings that I mean you you really got to commit to running the ball well because you don’t want to drop back. Um and it it could be something that’s very um customized to this Minnesota Vikings, you know, defensive approach because if you give the safeties a chance to rush more on third and long, you probably see more activity. chicken or the egg, but they haven’t been present in run support that much either. Like like you’re used to seeing a Matelis or a Smith kind of getting to the ball in the back field once in a while for a TFL or helping out on the edge. The perimeter run support hasn’t been great. But to your point, running between the the guard and the tackle, running between the center and the guard has been too effective against this team. I I’ll give you a pass on Bejian Robinson. I’m not going to give you a pass on Kenneth Gainwell. You’ve got to be so much better than that where, you know, I I think Rogers is gonna get a lot of credit for this win. I think he was good for a handful of drives and pretty quiet to be honest after that. Let’s go back to the chicken or the egg. You know, the Vikings, Alec Lewis tweeted out and this is like two hours ago, so I don’t even know how much worse this got, but Vikings at that point were 1 for19 this year on third and long. So, let’s let’s kind of flip the script and and look at it the other way. Is the defense on the field too long here, Sam? Has there been just in these four games, maybe you take out the the outlier Bengals game, but these three games, Bears, Falcons in today, has the defense just been out there too long and and getting worn down and teams are committing to the run a little bit more and and trying to bully this this, you know, three safety look or nickel look or or, you know, hey, Harrison Phillips, you know, is is gone. Maybe we test that nose tackle situation a little bit more. um th this offense may be part of the defensive problem when it comes to stopping the run. Also doesn’t help when you’re when you’re down multiple possessions too going into halftime, right? Um teams just want to commit to the run a little bit more, chew up some clock and and when your offense finally gets the ball back and they go three and out, that that’s a huge huge problem I think in this league and teams good teams will take advantage of it every time. Yeah. Um, and before I get to that, look, sounds like an MCL is the concern for O’Neal. Um, could be a lot worse. Could be a lot worse. Better. Yeah. Better to have the consonant M than the vowel A in that in that, you know, acronym. That’s still that’s still an IR stint. I mean, that’s a Yeah. I don’t know, four to six, six to eight weeks. Uh, you might get Brian O’Neal back later in the season if that thing is torn or sprained. Um, not good. I mean that you’re you’re you’re now in Cam Robinson trade territory going and finding someone because I don’t know if Justin School can hold up. Back to your point, sometimes the box score is deceiving. It felt like the Vikings were giving up the ball quickly. In the end, they had the ball 33 and a half minutes. Um yeah, they ran a lot more plays, didn’t they? Yeah. Ste Steelers, you know, obviously they they had a oneplay scoring drive. They had a short field play scoring drive as well. some some quick scoring drives for sure and then you know at the end they gave the ball up fairly quickly three and out at the end. So that that got manipulated a bit. Still feels like when the Vikings get in third down with this quarterback. Mhm. It’s going to be tough. He’s not going to make a lot of plays with his legs and he doesn’t he doesn’t have the decision making um in those situations to to work through to his second and third read and make an ontarget throw. Is it just this quarterback though? because even when JJ was in there, things didn’t look great either. So, I don’t know if it’s a and and we can pick apart Carson Wentz just kind of how slow the double clutch, the second guessing. You can see when the ball should be out and he’s taken that extra half beat. Um, and it’s happening way too often out there. He’s just not trusting his eyes. Um, but when JJ McCarthy was in there, things didn’t look any better. And granted, you can always say this too, there there’s always case that no Christian Darasaw at the time in there and obviously we saw what a huge impact we know what a huge impact he has, but um things didn’t look really any better with JJ McCarthy on those third and long situations. Uh maybe that’s a conversation for another day. But maybe it does truly all start up front with this offensive line and protection. They spent a lot of money in free agency bringing in two studs, the center and the guard. They used their first round, you know, rich draft capital on another guard. Um, that was their a topic. We got to figure out how to not just protect JJ McCarthy if he’s going to be our quarterback the next 5 10 years, but um, we got to figure out how to run the ball. And so far through four games, we have not even came close, Sam, to seeing the starting five that we had on paper all summer. And that’s that’s proved I mean that’s proven to be a huge problem. And don’t look now. We’re not going to touch on it or do a deep dive on the Cleveland game, but Miles Garrett’s coming to town in London uh next week and that could be an absolute uh disaster for sure. Yeah. Well, they and they haven’t like that offensive line has not been together once. Um you know, at at most what like two series of joint practices when Daras trotted out there for a couple minutes like that’s it. They haven’t had that group together at all. And if O’Neal’s got an MCL, they’re not going to until November. So, it’s just it’s it’s a huge it’s a huge about face from what this team was supposed to be in the trenches. And we’ve seen flashes of what they can be. The way they ran the ball last week, uh the way that they, you know, have have stopped the run last week. Like last week was a great example of what they want to be. Tougher test today. Um lost a couple more guys, got bullied. Um so it’s a work in progress and unfortunately in a in a 17 game season, you don’t have a lot of time to figure it out. Yeah, 100%. Can we uh try to find a positive here? Stock up, stock down. Uh Jaylen Redmond’s an absolute beast. Um and I don’t want to I don’t want to steal all of yours, but I got to give a shout out to Xavier Scott as well. He just he’s got the juice, man. And and we saw it in the preseason. Lot of times, or sometimes, I should say, preseason to regular season just doesn’t carry over for, you know, a variety of reasons. Um but but Xavier Scott so far has taken that great momentum from the preseason that we saw and taken advantage of his opportunities, these valuable snaps um as a UDFA last year. Um and and you know, he just looks the part, man. He just looks the part of a an NFL running back. Maybe not a bell cow, but an NFL running back. Two guys that uh you got to give the stock up to after today. No doubt. Xavier Scott would have been my number one. Um, I think it’s just it’s interesting and telling how involved he was in the game plan, right? Like like this was not this was not a two drive deal where they’re like, “Okay, let’s get him a touch. Let’s get him a touch here and a touch there.” Kind of like it was last week. They he was a big part of this thing and not just on the ground through the air. And I I might be jumping the gun on this almost makes Aaron Jones feel superolous. It kind of feels like like embarrassment of riches now if this is what you’re going to get from your backup Xavier Scott. I mean, and I’m not saying they’re going to take Jones off the field this year, but I mean, it makes your offseason decision-m pretty interesting if you’ve got Jones under a $14 million cap hit and Xavier Scott sitting there at a and like, you know, a norainer undrafted rookie deal. Yeah. 14 mil and you know we see the renegotiations all the time but 14 mil that that’s like I mean done deal non-negotiable I mean there’s no way you’re rolling 14 mil with Aaron Jones another year longer in the tooth you know after seeing what Xavier Scott’s giving you and we haven’t even seen you know CJ Ham and and and Tai Chandler really in in this running game and just what it looks like as a whole at all um stock down you know I’m going to go with Theo Jackson again it’s not just the one bad angle he took on the DK Met CF um you know big big catch and scamper for 70 yards to really spark some energy into Aaron Rogers which is the last thing you want to see but um just kind of non-existent today and not very effective in run support either. Um and I’m sure there there’s more to it once we watch the film. But Theo Jackson stock down for me after a a a subpoor game especially u in the tackling run department. Yeah, I mean I would I would look back to the the conversation about the safeties we had earlier. Just where are the safeties? Where’s their impact? What’s going on there? Um I thought Okuda got picked on a little bit early and I just felt like stocked down on on Flores not being prepared for the quick game. It didn’t seem like the Viking they were doing exactly what they’ve done and they carved the Vikings up a couple times in a row and really I mean they were going in for another score as well before that blocked field goal that could have been 213 shortly before halftime Vikings caught a break. Thank you Isaiah Rogers. Also stocked down on the Croak Park play clock which we are hearing postgame. Say it again. Say it again. I don’t I’m I’m gonna I’m gonna fumble over my words. This is not going to end well. the Croak Park play clock. Say that 10 times fast without saying something uh FCC legal. I think um that is the play clock that cost the Vikings five yards on the final play. Um Carson Wentz took the delay of game which seemed outlandish that that could happen. At that point I’m like what are they doing? They’re not even trying to get the playoff, right? Sounds like they couldn’t see the time. So no excuse but um not you know what is this? Soldier Field 24. I was just going to say Allah Soldier, Teddy Bridgewwater, Mike Zimmer, can’t figure it out. Um, do we have a linebacker problem? Is Ivan Pace one of the uh is he It’s tough because you wake up tomorrow morning, you open the Star Trib, you see, oh my god, Ivan Pace last week had what 13 14 tackles. This week, seven tackles. I’m wondering and we’re gonna have to go back watch the tape, talk to Luke Brun or Reef and everybody else tomorrow morning, but I’m wondering if Ivan Pace has been a liability in the run game. I because again, something’s going on in this run department right now after the Bejang game and and you know what we saw today. Um and without Blake Cashman in there, without Harrison Phillips in there, it just feels like they’re missing something. I wonder how much Ivan Pace was a liability today. And and I guess we won’t know until we watch more of the All 22, maybe tonight or tomorrow morning. Um but possible potential stock down for Ivan Pace as well. So yeah, I mean we’ve only got actually we do have some initial grades. Interesting. Um Ivan Pace credited with one missed tackle today. He had five missed tackles in that Atlanta game. Um five missed tackles. Wow. Which is which is terrible. And you know it’s been the pass defense that was kind of the knock on him last year when Cashman was out. And he does rally to the football really well. He kind of splits blockers. He he can go um he’s got like a low center of gravity and he’s got some really fun agility and he makes splashy plays but um not the type of backer that’s going to stop a running back in his tracks or stop a tight end in his tracks. He needs a little help from his teammates to get a guy down. Yeah, he gets to the ball for the ground. Not a thumper. Not a thumper. Um good. I I I’ve I’m still high on Ivan Pace as a player. I think he’s got a very unique skill set. Um being he’s not a run stuffing linebacker. He’s not your traditional Mike. I I think what we do in the conversation, this is maybe for another day, but but you know the net return dude was undrafted. You’ve gotten so much return on your value for what you you had to pay for him, right? It didn’t even cost you a draft pick. So in that sense, in that light, it’s like, oh man, what what a what a great pickup. But as far as just starting in the NFL down in and down out, um yeah, he’s not your Rocoan Smith out there. He’s not your Patrick Queens out there. Um and he’s definitely got some liability to him. Uh for sure. Uh plenty more. Uh quick, uh quick break, plenty more. What we loved, what we hated. Um that’s all coming up though right after this. Quick reminder, today’s episode fellas, I know you’ve heard about Viagra, Seialis, maybe even tried them. But if you’re looking for something beyond the generic pill, it’s time to meet Roette Golong because it’s not just another ED pill. It’s a gamecher for confidence. Golong combines two doctor trusted medications in one formula so you can get hard and go the distance with effects that can last up to 36 hours. That’s confidence all day, all night, and even into the next day. So simple, too. All you got to do, you connect with a boardcertified doctor. It’s all 100% online. If you get prescribed, your treatment ships discreetly right to your front door, ready to level up your confidence in the bedroom. Head to ruget.com and use promo code lockdown NFL for 15% off your first order. That’s rugg.com. Promo code lockdown NFL. Make sure to use our code so they know we sent you. Um, obviously the a topic this year through four games has been injuries. And we had a long conversation about this, Sam leading up to the year, very topheavy team. Love the starters on paper, but oh man, if they catch an injury bug like they have, they could be in trouble. Well, here we are four weeks into the season and that definitely seems to be the case. Um, Brian O’Neal, you touched on it, MCL. Um, what other injuries can we add to the list today? what their injuries may have missed or or maybe glossed over at the beginning. Well, we we got to remind people about what Ryan Kelly’s history is with concussions. So, he he has five NFL concussions that have been documented. He’s probably got and he’s done interviews about this, had concussions pre-NFL. He’s probably at about eight now for his life. And he was very forthcoming. this is a couple of years ago that if the head injuries became too serious, he was willing to walk away. Um, now we’ve seen, I think, kind of a precedent set with head injuries. If you have a concussion, it’s almost an automatic one game out. Yeah. Almost impossible to clear the protocol earlier than that. Um, if you have two concussions in a short span, and this has been the case with Tua, the second one often triggers a longer absence. Um, could be IR. They could just shell them for four weeks. That’s possible. He did miss five games with concussion issues back in 2017. Guys react differently. They recover at different paces. Um I I think it’s 100% he doesn’t play next week than they do of the buy. Eagles probably, you know, up for grabs. We don’t know. They’re probably not going to make a decision on that. But like it it it very well could be a longer absence because of his history with concussions and because of his own interest in his health. the team may hold him back even if he does clear protocol because they want to make sure his head is in a good place. So, the center position now is Michael Jurgens, I think, for the next next few weeks. Um, Donovan Jackson not back until the Eagles game. Brian O’Neal talked about it could be long term. Um, other injuries, Luke, I mean, I think you’re still getting a number of guys back in that week seven. If the offensive line wasn’t in complete shambles, you would actually be looking at a fairly healthy football team. Um, but you know, Van Ginkle misses this game. Neck injury sounds like it’s been lingering and then he fell on his head, I think, in the Chicago game. Not great. Um, so we don’t know about Van Ginkle. We don’t know about him, but I don’t believe there was another injury today. Do you do you recall one? I I don’t believe so. I think you touched on the big two, right? Brian O’Neal and and and Ryan Kelly. And and and by the way, I mean, we should talk about and it’s tough to grade offensive line you, you know, 30 minutes after the game without going back and watching the tape, but um you mentioned Michael Jurgens. I thought he had a really hard time out there today. Um Blake Brandell filling in for Donovan Jackson. um anything stick out as far as Blake Brandell um goes because even if Donovan Jackson comes back sooner than we think, Blake Brandell knowing how highly KOC has talked about this dude and his versatility being able to line up pretty much at all four if not even five positions it sounds like, which I didn’t know he was getting reps at center, but apparently he has been. Um Blake Brandell may end up being somewhere on this starting five from week to week all the way up till week seven, week eight, maybe even beyond. Totally possible. Early grades, PFF’s gotten faster. Already got grades up. Michael Jurgens, four pressures allowed today. Justin School, four pressures allowed. Blake Brandell, three pressures allowed. Those are the three highest pressure rates um allowed on the offensive line. Yeah. So, your three backups, not a great performance. Um you know, Blake is certainly, I think, the most trustworthy of your backups. I would prefer him to Jurgens. I’m interested where they’re at with Walter Rouse. Walter Rouse had a good preeason for a couple of years. He was inactive today. You know, the inactive sometimes tell a story about about who that they who’s in good favor. And obviously they didn’t go with Rouse when they had the the chance to and they put in school. Um, I I’d be interested if they would be willing to try Walter Rouse and just look look to capitalize on some upside because I’m telling you the Justin School acquisition in the off season I think was a a little bit um galaxy brain by by Quas like thinking that there was something in this guy who had less than a thousand starting snaps at tackle in in his career. Like you can fi find me a guy who has started one full year at least. Uh school not not a David Quenberry by a long shot. Like Quenberry started for full seasons, played at a high level. Cam Robinson started for full seasons. Debatable about the high level part, but school looks like a backup, like a lifetime backup who’s only played a couple games at a time. So, I’m not I was never thrilled with that acquisition and I think it’s showing that that was maybe a miss in free agency when you probably could have spent another million or two and gotten someone better. Yeah. To oversimplify the first four weeks here, Sam, it just feels like the overarching Well, really the overarching difference from last week’s blowout to now is, you know, last week you got Christian Darasaw back, you got Van Ginkle back, you got Harrison Smith back, who really Harrison Smith kind of helped light that fire last week. You know, the tip ball to Isaiah Rogers took at the house. Clearly getting those studs back turned this team into a different animal. This week, you lose Brian O’Neal in the first quarter on a special team play, no less, which just salt in the wound. Uh you you you lose Ryan Kelly. You go from those two, Brian O’Neal and Ryan Kelly to Justin School, to your point and Michael Jurgens. It’s the total opposite from last week’s theme and you get these monster drop offs in play. Not to mention, you’re already missing Donovan Jackson as well. Um the the you know that that was I feel like you know the finger being pointed last week to like well we got our studs back this week it’s it’s you lose your studs and I guess the bigger conversation to oversimplify things is the bad drafting of Quasy. I mean yes you you you’ve patched everything up starter-wise on paper which we were all excited about. Vegas had us at what nine and a half games uh over under win total with with a quarterback that’s never played. defense was potentially gonna be top five under Flores. The starters were great, but when you have this bad of drafting year in and year out for three, four years, uh, and your depth gets tested, this is when you get the Michael Jurgens and and, you know, guys like Justin School because you didn’t draft a good backup left tackle. Maybe that is Walter Rouse, but we haven’t seen it yet, right? Um, and this depth being tested through four weeks, it just doesn’t feel like it’s going to let up anytime soon. the the Vikings for and this is going back to you know Zimmer Spielman era as well they bank a lot on on continuity on the offensive line and to their credit this year they they didn’t they didn’t do that they went out and they got three replacements um unfortunately they counted on you know some continuity at the backup spot they assumed that Jurgens and and Rouse could take a step and be serviceable um those are sixth and seventh round picks like the hit rate on those guys is pretty low um Jurgens I’m sorry. He gave up two sacks today. I’m not sure that Michael Jurgens is a starting player in this league. I don’t think he is. I don’t think he is. I know our guy Luke Braun watched a little bit more films from time to time, right, than he pushed back on that. I don’t think Michael Jurgens is a a NFL quality center. Granted, still early. Small sample, but just from what I’ve seen, I don’t think the dude can hang. I think they’re in a lot of trouble if Ryan Kelly is out an extended period of time. Yeah. Feels like we’re back to Bradberry days. It feels like we’re we’re we’re again we’re just we’re this is a very 2000 Bradberry. You use a first round pick. You use a first round pick on a center, you expect the guy to be a 10-year Pro Bowl Hall of Fame candidate. You miss on your first round pick, it sets your team back. And here we are almost a decade later still feeling the ill effects of missing on a guy like Garrett Bradberry. You got to hit your first round picks. Yeah, you have to. I mean, the the hit rate these last four years of Quaz has been uh abysmal. I will say I think Donovan Jackson might be might be the guy. Well, his his first round picks and Dallas Turner jury’s out. He’s been up and down. Flashed last week. H this week. What do you think about Turner? I I I have not been impressed. Like there’s so many other edge rushers that are his age that come along in their first or second year that look way more explosive. And maybe I’m I’m judging him on like kind of the the curve of like what the Rams got last year, but man, he does not seem impactful. The apples to apples Jared Verse versus Dallas Turner is a little unfair just because you know Jared Verse was 24 years old. He’s 25 now. He’s just got played so much more football. Dallas Turner was 20, one of the youngest players drafted. Allah kind of like Denil Hunter was uh when he was drafted LSU and it just took a couple years. I’m not giving up on Dallas Turner by any means, but um I think it was counterintuitive to look at the season and the roster right now and say they’re kind of all in this year, are they not, Sam? I I know they have a quote unquote rookie quarterback, right? But like the roster is primed to go on a deep playoff run right now, right? 2025, right? Salary cap is going to get a little dicey next year. If you knew that, right, if you could just think two steps ahead, why didn’t you draft a guy like Jared Verse that was more pro ready than the guy like Dallas Turner who was clearly I don’t want to call him a project per se because he was supposed to be more impactful than I think he is now, but knowing the dude was so young and probably going to be a couple years out before he even starts to hit his stride, develop properly, hit his peak, so to speak, Jared Verse was the pro ready guy. if you knew you’re building this window, this two, three-year window, why not go with Jared first, the the more pro ready guy. We’re not in the draft rooms, we’re not in the scouting department. We don’t know how those conversations went. Um but but that’s something that was counterintuitive. Like if you’re in rebuild mode, yeah, go with the young cat for sure. If you got them both graded the same, go with the young cat. Um but knowing that they were building for this window right now, drafting JJ McCarthy, you know, five picks, seven picks before him, um it just seems counterintuitive. So yeah, lack lackluster uh for sure. so far from Dallas Turner. Flashed a little bit finally last week. I thought, you know, with Van Ginkle out that now his, you know, his time to shine getting 40, 50, 60 defensive snaps. Not much, man. Not Not flashing. Not flashing much. Yeah. Let’s do just a very quick on air research. So, among the edge rushers from his draft class and how they’re doing this year, um, he’s got the most snaps of anyone. Um, Verse is kind of Verse is right behind him. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. He and Verse, um, actually pretty similar statistics so far this year. Um, like Verse has 13 pressures, Turner has 11, and those are the top two from from that class. Um, so I guess with that perspective, maybe you realize, okay, we have to be a bit more patient. But my I the eye test is is not is not popping. And by the way, Verse is graded like 30 points better on PFF, which is not gospel, but he’s like graded way. Maybe last year, to your point, Sam, maybe if we draft Verse, the Rams don’t beat us and dominate us the way they did in the playoffs last year because we got Verse and uh Sam Darnold doesn’t get sacked nine times as well. And it’s not just the Dallas Turner pick. Um, as Taylor points out here as well, it’s all the assets you traded for him. You know, maybe maybe maybe we don’t have the luxury to trade thirds and fourth and fifth round picks and second round picks because our depth isn’t that great for one dude. Maybe we’re not one player away as much as you know we all we all were excited about him obviously when we drafted him, but uh just definitely feels like more of a project on a team on a roster that’s more win now in 2025. Um let’s uh let’s let’s go to quick uh quick break. One more final segment coming up. uh what we’ll be talking about tomorrow morning. That’s all coming up right after this. Quick reminder, today’s episode also brought to us by FanDuel. The NFL season, it’s here. FanDuel’s making sure you’re ready for this can’t miss offer right now. New customers, you bet just $5. If your bet wins, you’re getting $300 in bonus bets guaranteed. Why I love FanDuel, they got everything. Uh player props, same game parlay, jumping in live as the action unfolds. My favorite. You name it, they got it so quick. So easy. Best way to add a little bit more enthusiasm, a little bit more excitement to your Sundays. Are you ready to play? Download the FanDuel app now. Visit fanduel.com today to get started. That’s fuel.com. You’re getting $300 in bonus bets guaranteed when you win your first $5 wager. By the way, as always, full deep dive from this one on the Viking Squad Show with our guy Reefan tomorrow morning. Make sure you like, make sure you subscribe, uh keep up with all the action. Um, I do want to ask you just at the very end about our gambling picks. See how those went. But, but first, before we get into that, what we’ll be talking about tomorrow morning. It’s all so fresh and so raw right after a game. A lot of emotions involved. Vikings aren’t going to win another game. We’re done. Hopefully get a top three draft pick, but you know, obviously that’s not realistic. Sam, a lot of es and flows throughout a long season. Tomorrow morning, once the dust settles a little bit and we can breathe, what’s the a topic? So what’s what’s you know take the emotions out of the equation. What’s the biggest talking point I guess after you know we just watched you know what transpire unfold the way it did? Yeah I think once we calm down about the offensive line injuries. I don’t know if we will but um and well during your your read I did Google MCL recovery time um clevelandcl clinic.org or everybody’s favorite website. Grade one, grade one, mild, right? Yeah. Um recovery one to three weeks. Grade two moderate four to six weeks. Grade three severe six or more weeks. Um so that’s where we’re at with the MCL. Wouldn’t be season ending, you know, necessarily in any of those cases. But um I think this conversation, Luke, probably comes back to where it was all week this week, which is what what are you doing at quarterback in week seven? um trade for Dimes. Can we get him back in the building? There um there’s going to be there’s incre there’s already we’ve seen some of it in the chat today some some Darnold regret that you let Darnold go and he’s looking great with Seattle. Um I will remind people that they tried to sign Danny Dimes. They did gave him an offer, pretty good offer, wasn’t it like $14 million and he correctly assessed I’ve got a better chance with the Colts. Anthony Richardson stinks and I’m going to start there and he did. So that I think that was not necessarily on the Vikings. Um but the conversation will be is Carson Wentz does he give you a better opportunity and despite the the box score today 350 yards? Yeah, I think today brings him down a notch to where it becomes a little easier to pass the torch back to JJ McCarthy. Um JJ McCarthy um engineered a very similar game as Carson Wentz did today back in week one, right? Like that was a it wasn’t it was it not a carbon copy of you know JJ McCarthy can go out there and struggle for three quarters and and then turn it on against a prevent defense in the fourth quarter too. I I think we agreed on the the squad show earlier in the week that Wentz would need two games in Europe better than we saw against Cincinnati. And even though the yardage was there today, I’m not sure the performance was there’s some some inaccuracy issues with him that I think are a little bit concerning throwing behind receivers. Um had some good throws. I want to I mean had 46 attempts, had some good throws, also had some misses on this day. So I I thought today, Luke, and you can, you know, weigh in on this. I thought today actually made it more likely we see McCarthy against the Eagles. Yeah, 100%. It’s tough. Again, back to the chicken to the egg. Do you want to throw JJ McCarthy out there just watching Michael Jurgens and Justin School uh get put on skates rep after rep? But regardless of that, you need to get your young kid, your top 10 pick. It’s already been a year on the shelf. You need to get him some valuable reps. He’s got to get some learning time. It’s the at this point, he’s watched enough film, he knows the playbook inside and out. You just got it’s the only way he can get better is just get out on the field. Um and and that’s going to be, you know, I I think a huge talking point as well for KOC. How can KOC, the quarterback guru, make things more simplified for his quarterbacks, knowing, you know, you’re out three of your five starting offensive linemen? There’s got to be more to it than these sevenstep drops. You know, we go back to that conversation after the Atlanta game. Um, you know, quicker stuff. Ron even pointed out, three-step drops, get the ball to your hand. Um, you know, I I I’m I’m having a hard time finding the balance of leaving such, you know, valuable weapons like T.J. Hawinson in block so often, but I guess if that’s what you have to do, Josh Oliver as well, we’ve seen him be a dual threat. Great, you know, run blocker, pass blocker, but also a threat in the in the passing game as well. There’s just got to be more creativity and more ingenuity, I think, on Kevin Oonnell’s part. this quote unquote quarterback whisperer at times just doesn’t seem like he’s making things as easy and as simplified for his young quarterback, whether that was JJ or whether that’s the veteran Carson Wentz at this point. Yeah. Um I I’ll play a slight devil’s advocate. I I agree with you for the most part. I also think that when your offense, we talk about the phrase chicken or the egg a lot, like Yeah. Yeah. It’s very hard to drive the field, dink and dunk when you have problems in the operation. Like when you have an offensive line that’s battered, a young or inexperienced quarterback in the system, it is hard to do that and sustain a whole drive. Um, and it’s you need to generate explosives. Yeah. Way easier when you generate just one explosive. All it takes is one hit and it totally changes your field position. It changes your momentum. Um, I understand why Kevin Oonnell does what he does, but I think there’s got to be a better balancing act. Um, when you see the quick game OP executed so effectively on the other side, you wish that that could be the case a little bit more here. I thought there were some good third down connections to Thelen like that. Yeah, that’s what you want. Like sit at the sticks, complete the easy ball, and just continue to make good decisions like that over and over. um for whatever reason it hasn’t it hasn’t worked out that way and I think that because of your offensive line woes you probably need to reel in be a little bit more conservative and simple in your play calling and just move the chains if man and hey running the ball is going to help running the ball better is going to help today was not a not a great Jordan Mason day yeah 100% yeah if you can get Mason a little bit more involved a little bit more consistent stay ahead of the chains and maybe that means passing to set up the run sometimes. Sam, um, when we talk about being simplified and keeping things a little bit easier and quicker, I’m not talking about like ripping it down to like the techmobile fourplay call sheet, right? The Musgrave sheet. You still got Justin Jefferson, you got Jordan back, you got TJ Hawinson, Jaylen Naylor was on a heater up until this game. Um, you got so many weapons, dude. I’m just saying let your guys just go win and just get the ball in their hands. You know, give them opportunities to go make plays. You don’t have to do all this on your own if you’re Carson Wentz or JJ McCarthy for that point. Um, but I think there’s there’s there’s some sort of happy medium in here. We’re missing some sort of balance between KOC, the play calling, too many sevenstep drops when you’re down three offensive linemen, the running game not setting up the the, you know, short yardage situation and third and manageables, if you will. And then Carson Wentz the past two weeks just just looking a little slow, a tick slow, double clutching, second guess in his eyes, uh, and his footwork there. And and you add all that up, plus penalties, plus a couple turnovers. Um, and and you know, they’re lucky to lose by three, honestly, Sam. I I mean, for 50 minutes, uh, the Vikings got stomped out of the water in this game. Yeah, that would have been, you know, if you toss because I I don’t know if you noticed it was fourth and 18 um on that final play of the game for the Vikings and I thought fourth and 18. I heard that before. Bills game. Bills game. Justin Jefferson catch. We were a Justin Jefferson catch and then some craziness around the goal line away from having like a total repeat of that uh Bills comeback. Alas was not to be. You want the gambling results from our uh Just real quick, fire them off. Fire them off. Rip them off. Uh, I had Addison over. That was a hit cash in a in a major way. And in fact, I think I I think my not official bet, but kind of mentioned 100 yards plus would be a good one, and they hit that, too. Um, Rogers, more yards than Wentz did not hit. Wentz had all the garbage time yards. TJ Hawinson, Luke Enman, you needed him to get 40. How many did he have? 38. 39. Hey, Vegas, you’re sick. You’re sick. Oh my gosh. Unbelievable. Having fun though. Fun game. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you were in first. You got You went 0 and2 this week. Vikings by one to 13. Did not hit. Arie got Jefferson 25 plus yards in each half. That’s a hit. And a Jonnu Smith first drive reception hit. Lucky guy. Freak. Who bets on that? Who picks that? That’s that’s degenerate behavior. Uh War Jaylen Warren anytime anytime TD for Braun obviously didn’t hit and Steelers money line did hit for Luke Braun who was at the stadium that’s why he’s not here today. Uh well done. Can’t wait to break more of that down tomorrow morning. Uh Vikings fall short after a plethora of injuries that dismantle the offensive line today. Final score versus the Steelers. Uh 24-21 in Ireland. Huge shout out to all you guys, all the everydayers out there that always make us at first listen. all you guys coming in the chat with us from show to show as well. Um, go check out Ron Ron Johnson show each and every Tuesday. Luke always crushing it over on the lockdown Vikings. Get all your daily content there. Make sure you like and subscribe. So close to 10K. Uh, stop by again tomorrow morning. Another episode breaking it all down. Until then, thanks for watching. Signing out.

The Minnesota Vikings went to Ireland to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers and fell 24-21 as Carson Wentz was sacked half a dozen times. Jalen Nailor and Zavier Scott scored late, but it wasn’t enough. We’ve got the full deep dive instant reaction immediately after the game.

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