Minnesota Vikings quarterback plans and NFL Takes after Week 6

Minnesota Vikings quarterback plans and NFL Takes after Week 6

Purple Daily is daily Vikings entertainment. I just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die. I will ride with this group. Seriously, man. Please. And away we go. And welcome in Purple Daily NFL takes. If you’re watching this and you see the banner and you’re like, “What is going on here?” Well, folks, we are combining them. Phil out today still. He will be back tomorrow. The Vikings, of course, get back to work today. They have tomorrow off because it’s a normal Tuesday off and then they’ll begin preparations for the Eagles on Wednesday. Uh but we do not take days off here at Purple Daily. So Dex, before we start though, I want to talk to you about of course our friends, a quick trip. Uh in fact, their Gatorade border battle is on. Now they are asking I think I know the answer on this show. If you are team purple or green and gold proud, uh you are obviously team purple here. Either way, score the ultimate fan experience. two turf sweet tickets to the week 18 Vikings Packer showdown at US Bank Stadium, plus a $250 Quick Trip gift card to fuel your fandom. And head to your local Quick Trip and purchase any Gatorade product with quick rewards and you’ll earn bonus Vanzone points. Let the Gatorade border battle begin. No purchase necessary. Get full details at quicktrip.com/ sweepstakes. All right, so before we get to the takes off of which, by the way, a glorious day again of watching football ducks. Before we get to the takes though, I want to talk. I want to ask you a question and I think Phil and I have talked about this some. Don’t think you have weighed in while you do Declan Monday and Friday, but not Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday because Sunny Sunny needs someone to change his diaper and you, God bless you, are doing that. Um, this four game stretch, and we talked about this a little bit in picking the schedule, but this four-game stretch the Vikings are about to embark on. Eagles on Sunday, Chargers on Thursday, Lions at Detroit the next Sunday, and then the Ravens. When we originally looked at the schedule in May, we’re all like, “Oh my god, that is like you you got to get off to a great start or else you’re screwed.” Well, the Vikings are three and two, so they didn’t get off to a great start. But what is your take on this now? Now that you could take a step back and sort of have seen the beginning of the season unfold, which always changes things, what is your current assessment of this stretch? Uh well I think three and one is definitely possible but two and two you you I I think two and two is more realistic. Um so yes Eagles look very vulnerable right now. Um Chargers are battling a ton of injuries. Uh stay tuned by the way on NFL takes. I have Dex’s tears. So we’ll figure out where the Chargers and where the Vikings uh fall into the tears after week six in the NFL which is another glorious week. Um and then the Lions. I mean Lions clearly are are better. I mean that even though they lost dropped a game to a Chiefs team last yes last night in Arrowhead, they’re clearly better. Um and Baltimore um you know isn’t nearly as dangerous because Lamar is out and the defense is a wreck. So they’re kind of already honestly maybe punting on 2025 which is pretty crazy cuz obviously they were probably one of the four or five teams that were picked to win the Super Bowl um before the season began. So I don’t think it’s as daunting as it looked. That being said, when you’re going on the short week, um, and you have to go on the road to to Detroit, that it it’s not a gimme. It it it certainly is easier than we anticipated, you know, 6 months ago when the schedule came out. I still think two and two is probably the more realistic scenario. So, it’s interesting, too, because things are going to unfold with all of these teams um, as the as the schedule continues. For instance, the Ravens are one and five. Their defense, you’re right, is a complete mess. I think they’re hopeless. But that being said, Lamar’s supposed to be back by then. So that will make it harder for your defense, but the Ravens defense looks to be epically bad and I don’t think unlike a year ago, I don’t think it can be fixed. Um, the Chargers could have Joe Walt back at left tackle by that time. We don’t know. But yeah, that’s a weird game, too, because I think you talked about this on the Sunday episode. The fact is the Chargers play the Sunday before the Thursday, but they’re at home. The Vikings are the Vikings are are uh going to have to travel obviously from playing the game here on Sunday this week against or this coming week against Philadelphia. So I think I think what this shows too and we’ll get to the quarterback because that’s just a whole different topic that’s going to be so intriguing and will start to unfold I would guess really in earnest on Wednesday. But I guess what this really shows also too, Dex, is just the week to week and it’s not new, but the week toe volatility here, right? Like you like you’re watching that Detroit game and and Phil’s going to hate this, but I’m still content. So we can look at and look, the Vikings have been hurt. Okay. But Detroit had I believe five defensive players, mostly defensive backs, out last night. So like everybody at this point in time for the most part is missing guys and some I mean San Francisco Yeah. Fred Warner got hurt yesterday. He’s done for the season. You look at them, it’s a miracle. It’s a miracle that they’re competitive. So, I don’t know that injuries are a great talking point now because like Detroit goes in without five defensive players. This happened to them last year. They lose. Good game. But this to me just speaks to the complete absolute volatility from Sunday to Sunday and why it’s so hard to know. you know, 6 months ago or four months ago, the Baltimore Ravens, you would have never been like, you know what, they’re going to suck. Yeah. They’re they’re and and Philadelphia, whom the Vikings play on Sunday, to me is a wild card because a Okay, they’re what, four-2 now, right? They’ve lost two consecutive games, including a bad loss to the Giants on Thursday. They appear to be somewhat of a especially an offensive mess for sure. And yet there’s a lot of folks that think, well, I mean, this the same thing. I think they were two and two a year ago and then they lost one more game. So, like, is this going to be a repeat of that? I could make a case that it’s a different OC. You guy Kell Moore, who by the way is is looks like he is, despite the fact the Saints are terrible, working miracles with Spencer Rattler. Like, he’s maximizing that kid. So, when you look at Sunday’s game, is it, oh my gosh, watch out, Philadelphia is coming to town and they are angry. for is that Philadelphia is coming to town and at least offensively they’re sort of a mess and it presents an opportunity and and the one thing that I so I tweeted this out and the one thing Dex that I got back was well the Vikings suck too or the Vikings are terrible too. That’s not my point. Yes, the Vikings aren’t as good as we thought, but nonetheless, like we have to talk about how how do the Viking shortcomings now, if this makes sense, stack up against their uh the majority of their opponents of obvious shortcomings because nobody is probably as good in this stretch aside from Detroit who’s injured as we thought. Yeah. And and you know, it’s a game of the fewest mistakes, as cliche as that sounds. And that’s where, you know, going into a game like Philly whose offense is different and they’re not running the ball. Now, Philly looked dysfunctional early last year and then they, you know, went on a run where they won the Super Bowl. So, I’m not certainly writing off Philadelphia clearly as dead in the water and this is the new Eagles and they’re going to completely fall on their face. Now, speaking of volatility, that is a volatile franchise at times and fan and fan base more more more of a volatile fan base than it is a franchise because that because they’ve done a good job drafting and been to a couple Super Bowls in the last four years. So, you do have to give them credit. Um, but with the Vikings being three and two, yeah, to me it’s still a miracle. Um, you when and and this is where you have other teams that you know like the Patriots. I did not think Drake May and the Patriots would be this looking this good too where they have a plus 30 point differential. Um, but the Bills have have you know they dropped a game last week to that same Patriots team. Uh, the Giants come out of nowhere with Jackson Dart and now all of a sudden they’re super fun. Like I mean the Gi I mean and look the Giants still by the end of the year could be the Giants and mostly a mess and dysfunctional and picking in the top five, but the last two games the Giants are fun. Like it the volatility in the league is is crazy to predict. So um when I look at the Vikings and this upcoming stretch, even with maybe Lamar probably being back for Baltimore, um I’m I’m trying I’m just trying not to get too far ahead of myself. And as much as we try to project things long term, which we’ll always do, whether it’s in forms like this or on Write That Down, I have a very difficult time just saying because of some of these other teams that look softer that, oh, three and one is a cakewalk for this team over the next four games. Oh, hell no. It’s It’s almost I think that’s that’s way too far-fetched and probably even silly to assume. Two and two, as as you know, vanilla or maybe lame and not hottakey as it sounds, is definitely the more realistic path. So, you bring up the Giants. The Giants last three games to me are if if you had uh um someone land from outer space and say, “Hey, this football looks fun.” Explain the national like like explain how it works. Explain the week to week, right? I think the Giants right now are the poster children. They beat what the Chargers in an impressive win. They come back and lose to the Saints and it’s like, “Oh, okay. The Giants are back.” And then to your point, then the Thursday night game on a short week, they beat the Eagles. So like that to me, you talk about the volatility, you talk about how this league operates. That to me is like the week toe complete unknown. Now I So if the Vikings are going to go, let’s just say for from what you’ve said, let’s just go with that. Let’s say they’re going to go two and two. Okay. And I know like I see the Chargers game as a complete wild card because those Thursday games I have no idea. Like those Thursday games are so weird. But if they were going to go two and two, how do you see it going as far as the two wins and the two losses? Like who do they beat in those in those four? Yeah. Yeah. Uh I see them beating Philly on Sunday. So I I do think coming out of the buy that they’ll be ready to rock. Um I’ll start with another guaranteed like I’ll go with a guaranteed win, guaranteed loss. I think at Detroit it’s a loss. I I just I just think it’s on the road. Um it’s probably a loss. I am as much as uh and by the way I have pushed back on the Chargers between us three the most on this show. Um most because I don’t really believe Justin Herbert’s elite. Justin Herbert’s having a very good year. Um, and they have an incredible amount of injuries on the offensive line where now like even though I’ve always had questions about them, it’s hard for anyone I feel like to pick the Chargers given their injury status to make a huge run here. But going on the road, short rest, Chargers staying at home too on Sunday going into that Thursday night football game, I just I also think that’s a loss. Now, I I think it’s getable. Like I don’t think it’s impossible for the Vikings, right, to win that game, but I do think it’s a loss because it’s just a short travel week and it’s weird and Harbaugh knows if McCarthy’s playing, by the way, which we’ll get into here in a bit. Um he knows some things about McCarthy. So I think that’s a loss, which means then the Baltimore game um after the 10 days off would be the win. So I would go uh win, loss, loss, win. I I and I feel like that’s probably the more realistic path for the Vikings than going two and two. And I think the one game now that you’re for sure going to be disappointed if you lose and you shouldn’t lose is Baltimore. The Philadelphia game will be tough, but I think I’m with you. I think it’s getable. The um on the Detroit game, if I am correct on this, Okonnell beat Detroit in his first year once and he has not won since. So he is one and what? One and five. So until you beat Detroit now, which is an incredible thing to say considering the years and years of uh complete ineptitude from the Lions, until you beat them, I’m not going to buy that. And then the Chargers, I guess I would be inclined to say the Chargers are going to win, but I don’t know there on Herbert. And we saw this a little bit that incredible I don’t know how he’s escaped it. I mean, that guy, he was dead yesterday and so were the Chargers hopes and he escaped a sack. Um, you know, Justin Herbert for sure in the regular season scares me a little bit. I agree with you. In the playoffs, he he has not proven a thing. Like Justin Herbert, Justin Herbert might be the the uh quarterback equivalent of Kevin Okonnell in the regular season. He’s been really, really good, but it’s like, okay, what happens when you get to the playoffs and you sort of shrink there? But yeah, I’m with you. I I would say Philadelphia, Baltimore, and I mean, if you go one and three, I think you’re in big trouble. But here’s the weird thing. You look at this conference. I mean, with all and this is a conference, this is a leaguewide thing. With all of the injuries, too, I think you’re in big trouble, but it’s a weird year. Like, can San Francisco continue to be competitive? Mhm. I know. I I have no idea. Like I I don’t know. It’s not fair It’s not fair to assume that at some point in time you just don’t run out of good enough players. Like it’s one thing uh as you’ve talked about and I agree completely. It’s one thing to criticize the depth of the Vikings draft and so they don’t have a lot of you know they probably don’t have the quality of depth that you would like. But with the NerS it’s they have they have like a one or two guys it feels like key guys going down every single week. And so at some point it just feels like you’re going to fall off the table and it could be your fault, but it’s hard to blame you. That’s where coaching makes a huge difference. So like the Niners are are dropping like flies and maybe they now do start regressing just because the injuries are tough to overcome. Detroit last year was playing with a JV second string defense for the majority of the year. They won the division, won 14, 15 games. They were on a roll. They had the number one seed in the NFC. So they overcame it cuz Dan Campbell sets a culture there. That’s really different. The Vikings are 3-2 with again more teams uh more players that are completely banged up on the injured list and here they are three and two. The NFC between the third seed which right now is technically the NerS and the 12th seed which is the Bears all but one of those teams in that in that cluster between third and 12th have two losses. So like and and we’re in we’re we’re in week six. Not that say that there should be huge separation here, but the the parody right now is insane. So yeah, like one and three probably, you know, puts you in the hole to not make the playoffs, but if if you look at the rest of the conference and other teams are, you know, continue to being beat up on each other, it’s not a death nail to say they couldn’t make it. Um, I still think uh I kind of contend even before the last win against the Browns heading into the by-eek, I think playoffs are likely going to be very tough for the Vikings to make this year. I I just given the three and two start. Um the questions at quarterback, who is going to be the quarterback, and the injuries that they have, I just I I don’t I don’t think that this is maybe the year we thought it was going to be. doesn’t mean they couldn’t sneak in, but I I don’t think that they’re going to be a playoff team when it’s all if you’re asking me right now, are they a playoff team? I I would say no. I would say no. Well, that gets us to our next question. So, we will get I can I guarantee you Kevin Oonnell is set to address the media today at like 12:30 or so. And I can guarantee you we will not find out. We will not get a definitive starting quarterback announcement today. I I can’t believe that that’s going to be the case in part because I don’t know that they know where McCarthy is yet. Like they need to get him practicing. Hopefully he can so that they won’t practice today. They will get on the field on Wednesday and hopefully what we see is he can start to practice. But your point leads us to the question of if JJ McCarthy is ready to go. So, like cuz if there’s any concern, and they could use this, by the way, as a really as an easy and valid excuse, but if JJ McCarthy is set to go on Sunday, goes for a week of practice when Wednesday, Thursday, doesn’t miss the Thursday practice, the Friday practice, who do you think starts? Who do you think Well, no, two-prong question. Who do Who would you start? And who do you think Kevin O’Connell starts against Philadelphia? Assuming he’s healthy and he’s a full participant, not limited. Full full. Yeah. Yeah. He’s ready to go. So, no, there’s no excuses here of Well, he’s still not prepared. McCarthy full. McCarthy, you you are you are you are no longer you’re not going down this Carson Wentz plan. They they had to change up the entire Look how pissed he was at the end of the Browns game because he had to change the plan. And WZ Yes. Hey, quarterback wins. Oo, taboo subject. Wentz goes two and one. It’s not like WZ is lighting the world on fire. Now, yes, winning is the most important thing at the end of the day, but it wasn’t like Wentz was playing super well. I know I’m critical of him, but let’s be honest, like, do you think Carson Wentz uh deserves to be the starting quarterback of this team going forward? I I don’t know. Like, I I it’s it as as cliche as it sounds, again, it’s week to week because he just really hasn’t like lit it up by any means to say like he is definitively uh lighting up and deserves to be a starting quarterback in the NFL. It’s McCarthy. You need you need to figure out there’s no stop gap here. There there there’s no just oh well we went twoin-one with Carson Wentz. Start the McCarthy process if he indeed is healthy. What the hell are we doing starting a bridge quarterback who probably isn’t going to be on the team in 2026? Yes, there is some vitriel with me when it comes to Wentz. That’s obvious. I’ve made those points over the last two months. But I want to see what JJ McCarthy looks like with the Vikings. That is my biggest goal going forward. What does he look like with McCarthy? Wentz. Thank you for your service hashtag, but I want to see what JJ McCarthy does. That’s my biggest thing over the next stretch. So, if he’s a full participant, I better see him out there on Sunday. Okay, that’s that’s your response. What does your gut tell you that Okonnell will do? I I I if if he’s a full participant, my gut would also say Okonnell would start him. Like, what I guess in what world, if he was a full participant, would he not start McCarthy? The only way that he wouldn’t start him as a full participant, it would be if he truly does not believe he’s prepared to play in a game because of things that that he had seen in practice and or to go back to the Falcons game. Just to be clear, I would start him too, but I’m just like I don’t think I don’t know that it’s as cut and dry as we would like to think. Um, I also think that there are ways to hold him back from some drills in practice where he’s very close to playing, but they’re like, I don’t know about this game. But, but then the problem becomes this. If you go down that path, unless you don’t think he is prepared to play, unless you saw enough from seven quarters of football, which I refuse to believe is possible, but unless you just don’t think that he is prepared to play and that you actually made a mistake by starting him against Chicago, um I don’t you need to to your point, you need to play him. And the other thing is if you don’t play him now to me, you’re starting to get into a very murky area because who do you play him against then? So like do you if you don’t trust him completely because you don’t think he was as prepared as you thought coming out of training camp. You don’t play him against let’s say Philadelphia. Do you start him against Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers then? That seems to be dicey to me because that’s a road game against his old coach. Okay. Okay. So, let’s say you don’t play him, then you throw him in against the Lions. So, like that’s the thing is you can go down this entire schedule from here on out and I mean maybe maybe Baltimore with how bad the defense has been, but my god that’s what a month away. Yeah. So, I think the Vikings are sort of in a way, and this is not necessarily the worst thing in the world, backed into a corner here where you just have to rip the band-aid off again and play him. And no, it won’t be perfect. And yes, he’s going to make mistakes and and I think the thing with Wentz is we sort of know his shortcomings and he’s got them for sure, but with JJ, it’s an unknown and that’s sort of exciting, but I think there’s some fear of that. But I just don’t see like a good game in the, you know, coming up where I’m like, you know what, that’s the game that he comes back. And once you do that, do you think he gets so much confidence from like a game against the Ravens that from then on out he’s going to ball out? So, I’m with you. I think I think given the circumstances, if Carson Wentz looked great, this would be a different discussion. I get that. But but he didn’t. So this is a very So yes, given the circumstances, I agree and I think that Kevin Oonnell will agree that JJ McCarthy should start this game. Yeah, it’s welcome to the party, pal. Like like it’s the NFL. It the league crazy league, crazy league, but also super tough league. So if like are we we’re going to baby the guy who was the first round pick quarterback. And I’m not saying you run him out there if he’s not healthy, by the way. Like if if that ankle sprain’s still bugging him and he’s limited and he can’t go, you don’t play him. Like I I do want to be clear there. So I’m not saying even if that ankle is at 75% start him and go him out there. No, no, no. I do want that ankle at a spot where it’s, you know, probably closer to obviously to 100, but you know, 90 to 100%. If it’s less than that, I understand why you’re not playing him. You don’t want to you don’t want to completely ruin him and have him, you know, completely limited of what he can and can’t do. But we got to figure this out, man. And you bring up the point of, you know, this this creates an interesting circumstance. And this is why like if if if you drafted the kid and he was your quarterback one throughout all of training camp and you said no to Aaron Rogers and you said bye-bye to Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones. Um yeah I I mean you can criticize Kevin Okonnell for some play calling and some other things. This this comes back to Quy. So what the what the hell have we done with player development in the four to five years that he’s been the GM? And honestly, if anything, Kevin O’Connell should be getting a lifetime contract because every draft pick that this team has made has pretty much made almost next to zero impact. It’s been free agent editions and UDFAs and guys that they inherited from the Zimmer years. So, that that comes right back to Quacas. And I’m not saying that if McCarthy fails, it’s not on Kevin cuz certainly Kevin deserves the chunk of pie for identifying him. Also, when Bo Knicks was was was also chilling right behind you, like I I I maybe this we start our transition year to NFL takes in a bit, but you know, like, oh, they should have paid it for Drake May. The Patriots might have just said, yeah, that’s the price, but you’re not getting it. Like I that that’s another thing of of if they wanted Drake May, if they wanted to trade up to get Drake May and the Vikings were willing to say, “Well, they should have traded the I saw it yesterday. They should have just traded the three first round picks to get him.” That might have been the price. And New England still would have said, “Yeah, that’s great. Thank you for saying all that and offering all that. We still say no. We want Drake May. Yeah. No, I think they tried. I I think it was multiple. I do I don’t think that they said, “Hey, uh, take our first round pick from 2024.” No, I I think they offered multiple first round picks. Like, we don’t know exactly what the price was, but yeah, it sounds more like from the reporting that Okonnell identified May as his guy and that the Patriots hung up. So, yeah, it’s I don’t think this was the Vikings got cheap. I think this was very much the Patriots said, “No, we like the kid.” I mean, when he was here, Dex, for the joint practices, you stand anywhere near this kid. He’s 6’4. I mean, he’s a quarterback. Like, like there are certain guys that just look the part. If you were to if you were to go to central casting for quarterbacks, um Drake May would be uh you you’d pick him. It’s like, okay, yeah, this guy identifies. And guess what? He also got off to a bad start. Like, this is the thing, too, like the McCarthy thing. I understand we have seen seven quarters that we don’t like and I understand that it doesn’t look great at times games. I know I know but there’s a lot of people I I think Viking well I think football fans and VI and being a Vikings fan make it very tough because one is football fans all of us including us are eager to judge. So, it’s like two games, one good quarter. That was a really good quarter, but and then I think the other problem though with being a lifelong Vikings follower is the amount of busts that you’ve seen. You know, Christian Ponder will leave an indelible mark. Go back in 2006, Tvaris Jackson. Now, I know he’s a second round pick, but remember Brad Childress identified him. He didn’t work out. So, I think with Vikings fans, it’s twofold. I think it’s one, hey, we’re not patient. The majority of the world’s not in 2025, but probably Dex just as as importantly, it’s also Oh, it’s another bust. We’ve seen so many busts. And I’m with you. It’s two games. You’ve got to give this time to find out. And by the way, you also have to find ways to generate offense that doesn’t rely on JJ McCarthy to carry the show. I.e. the running game. I.e. If Kevin Oonnell truly, as much as we thought or I thought, despised that Cleveland uh g plan, I got bad news for you. He’s got to do that for JJ at times. Yeah. Like Carson Wentz, you put the kid gloves on Carson Wentz for a while here. You’re going to have to put the kid gloves on McCarthy and eventually it’s going to come. But I mean, this is not a straight uphill climb of okay, I’m there. It’s going to take some time. Patience is no fun. But I also think that one, you can win football games because the Atlanta game was awful. Like, let’s erase that one. That was a terrible game. But you can win games and you have to understand, and this includes Okonnell, that you’re not going to get there in two Sundays. It’s going to take some time. Yeah, absolutely. Hey, by the way, uh so we’ll have some NFL takes here after week six. I got some tears. Um Jud on air production meeting. Are we going to are we going to reddraft some of those quarterbacks from last year’s draft? Is that still on the docket for today? Are we going to put a pin in that? Circle back. Let’s put Let’s put a pin in that. Okay. And do that with Phil. But I do think that it could be fun at some point in time to reddraft the first round QBs of 2024. Absolutely. So, hey, by the way, by the way, standard heating and air conditioning, uh, they power our hot takes after every Vikings game. And they they they power your HVAC systems, obviously, too. They want to make sure those are working appropriately. man, 45 degrees I think this morning here um on the east side of the metro. So, uh winter is coming. Uh so, want to make sure that HVAC system is working appropriately. This is the perfect time to do it now through the end of October, too. $30 off a furnace tuneup. You don’t want to wait till November, December, January when old man winter is slapping you in the face. Make sure that thing is ready to rock for the entire winter months of Minnesota. So, contact Standard Heating, join their smart club. Um, and you can also get discount on repairs and priority bookings and tell them that Purple Daily sent you. Shout out to Standard Heating and Air Conditioning. A place Jud loves to grab a beer. I love to grab a Patty’s uh premium as well is is Padres’s. That’s one Declan to another Pod Patty at Padres’s. One Irishman to the other. Love me some time at Podrick. We had a blast there a couple weeks ago, too, for Vent. Yeah. 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Uh shout out to our friends at Underdog as well. Play $5, get a hundred bucks in bonus funds right now at Underdog. Plus, it is Boosttober. Okay, Vikings fans, there’s a time period we loved Kirktober, but Boosttober at Underdog is where it’s at, too. You you’ll find Boost of promos. There’s there’s boosts every day uh in in your promo lobby. So, go download the Underdog app, sign up with promo code score, get in on the pick action riding higher or lower. Shout out to Underdog and our Purple Daily listeners. Keep sending me those winning pickoms. I love seeing our our our audience win some big time money. Okay, Judley. Um, NFL takes. Do we want to transition into that? Do you have any else or not? Um, no. No, I don’t. I But I do want to get uh back to what’s going to occur tonight, which is another Monday night double dip. We have another two game Monday night. And And well, and I was looking So, I agree with you, but more than that, I was looking at how it’s done. And can we please stop doing them, especially now? So here’s the So I researched this cuz I’m like okay the opening night one I sort of get because it’s you know it’s opening night. It’s pageantry of Monday Night Football. But here’s my problem. So we have Monday Night Double headers which means an ABC game ESPN game both owned by Disney in weeks 2 4 6 and seven. All right. That means that tonight we get it’s week six. We get Buffalo at Atlanta and Chicago against Washington. They’re staggered an hour apart, so that they’re going to overlap. Uh, and here’s what I don’t like. We have started the buys and we also have a game in Europe. I’m fine with all of this individually aside from the two games on Monday. But the league is, and I understand they’re making more off this, so they don’t care what I’m about to say, but as a football connoisseur who has a who has a pallet for the game, I feel like I know the game. Okay, you’ve got a Thursday night game, which I’ll always object to just cuz I think it’s I I don’t like trying to bring teams back that quickly, but that’s a different story. But furthermore, now you’ve got a game that starts this week, for instance, at 8:30 on Sunday, right? So, and that’s and that by the way, that’s the Jets and Broncos and the Jets suck. So, that’s so like like that’s a new like God invented the sport to put that game at noon. All right. Because it should be part of the red zone package where we dip in until the game sucks so bad that we stop dipping in. But instead, it’s a standalone. Okay. That alone I can sort of go with. But then we’re also going to bring two games which by the way are going to be simultaneous tonight. And now we’ve diluted, if I’m not mistaken, there were seven noon starts and three late afternoon starts. That’s not enough. And furthermore, you’re putting bad games in exclusive windows. Like I have no interest in watching and like you can watch Declan. You can watch the whole Denver Jets game. I don’t want to I want I want Scott Hansen. I want it on the Octobox and I want Scott Hansen to dip in until the game’s bad and then he doesn’t. And I’m fine with that. And then like tonight, give me one of those games. That’s great. But I don’t need a sim an hour apart double header of two games when really if you’re going to have a Europe game, you got by weeks and a Thursday game. I want one of those games shoved back into the noon window. I understand it’s about the money. I understand the league and Roger Goodell don’t care, but I do care. So what what’s also weird and I noticed this yesterday just looking at the scores like I was trying to Same thing with you. I was trying to figure out what what games do I want to watch yesterday. Um, and I noticed that so in week five, a week ago, we had the Falcons, Bears, Packers, and Steelers as as the by-week teams. Those teams were all off uh this week in week six. Just the Vikings and Texans. That’s it. Those are the only two teams that were that were off this week. Okay. Right. Next week, Bills Ravens. Those are the only two teams that are off next week. It’s like, okay, so again, only we go from four to two. Week eight, we had the Jags, the Seahawks, the Cardinals, the Rams, the Raiders, the Lions off on by weeks. So now they we have we’re playing with what, five, six less teams. Can there be like more of a uniform amount of teams that are on the buy, you know, like Good question. How I don’t know how they stagger that. That’s that’s a great question. And and and maybe maybe I’m just making uh maybe I’m reacting to reactionary too much in the moment here, but like why is it that you know why is that with my windy fingers that only two teams get by weeks between this week and next week, but then like you know in week nine we’re going to have six teams on a buy. Um I just I I I would rather it just be more st and I’m by the way like I’d be cool if it was just like two or three teams each week. Like that’s fine. I I like I would like to pick a more uniform number so we just kind of have a general idea of who and who isn’t playing. It might be because they’re going to have so the Monday night um the Monday night double dips end after week seven which is ne next week and that might be why. But my point is I don’t need like if you have once you start the buys let’s just let’s just change this. I got no problem with week one Monday night. Now, they do count. It’s funny. So, there’s no Monday night game in week 18, but they do give them a double header in week 18 on Saturday, which by the way, I’m fine with. I’m fine with a Saturday afternoon late season cuz I can sit on the couch then and watch that. But this feels so forced. And what this league doesn’t care about, and I do, is you don’t have enough good teams to justify this. Yeah. Like the Jets and Broncos were playing a game that you could watch solo. That’s a terrible idea, right? The Jet I mean Justin Fields was sacked nine times. The Jets net passing yards minus 10. How can you do that to the How could you do that to your loyal following? Make them watch this absolute crap. So that’s my my first statement or my first take is we need to get rid of the double headers uh far the frequent ones on Monday night. I can take one game. I want one game. I I do too. Plus, like selfishly and and not that they have ever cared about what else is going on. The NFL cares about the NFL. They do not care about what else is going on. But like yesterday, uh I I mean I and and actually shockingly uh baseball playoffs have been up in viewership. I think it’s like the division series is their most watched series in 10 plus years, which is, you know, great for base and they were great games. The Seattle game on Friday night, absolutely incredible going to 15 innings. Um, but yesterday, and this is where, you know, the NFL points the finger back at me and says, “Haha, cuz we always win. It doesn’t matter.” I wasn’t able to watch any of the baseball game because I was watching Chiefs and Lions. Like, I didn’t really dip into that cuz I was watching that on top of taking care of my son and eating food and trying to survive. No, I didn’t. Um, click back and forth a little bit. Yeah, I I I No, I wasn’t. I didn’t even I didn’t even do that. You missed Jorge. I know. Palano, a huge game, which is great. Like like And today I’m on on on, you know, the baseball side. I I’ll get off baseball takes here in just a second on NFL takes daily daily Vikings entertainment. Hit the like button, subscribe button. Um you know, Seattle and Toronto are at four. You know, Dodgers Milwaukee are at seven, but like also um the two Monday night games that obviously you just talked about, like Bears and Washington, like okay, maybe Caleb Williams and the Bears are figuring it out. Jaden Daniels is great. Um, and then Bills and Falcons. Like Bills are, you know, they’re looking to win, but like I’m not really captivated by those two games, so I’m probably going to default to baseball tonight. Like I probably will default to baseball tonight. Okay. Uh, but but yeah, the two Monday night games, I’m with you. Or just I mean, would you be if they did the two Monday night games, would you rather them do what they used to do, which is, you know, one starts at 6:00 and even though it’s late, one starts at 9 or 8:30? No. No. I just need one. I don’t need two. I’m mostly with you. Sunday. Sunday is a game where I am prepared as a human to sit on a couch and consume mass amounts of football. I I feel I feel like I OD on Sunday, which is fine, but then on Monday, I just want one game and you know, as a standalone one game, either of those games is fine tonight. Either of those games, but also either of those games would have been absolutely fine in a 3:00 or noon window on Sunday. Totally. I agree. It’s that simple. Yep. Um, all right. I’ll give you the next uh NFL take here. So, it’s dysfunctional, but also I guess where do we side or how do we feel about Tua and the comments he made yesterday about about the Dolphins, which I’m obviously assuming everyone uh everyone saw. So, the Dolphins lose again like Mike McDaniel, you know, in the quote my guy the Undertaker, dead man walking right now. um they’re one in five and he talked about cleaning up some of these little things but he had he had this long quote um saying about meeting saying I think it starts with leadership and helping articulate that for the guys and then what we’re expecting out of the guys we’re expecting this are we getting that are we not getting that we have guys showing up to players only meetings late guys not showing up to player only meetings there’s a lot that goes into that do we have to make this mandatory do we not have to make this mandatory. It’s a lot of things of that nature that we’ve got to clean up. And it starts with little things like that. Now, like Tua has had his own um deficiencies and and injuries with concussions, which are, you know, have been have been a scary situation. Um at times, Tua has played, you know, really impressive football. Um and even after, you know, the horrible week one performance he’s had against the Colts, he’s actually played pretty well since then. Um, not I’m not saying perfect, but like he has he’s had QBRS of 75, 69, 60 or 60, 60. Like he’s been an above average QB the last few weeks, but the Dolphins are just such a train wreck. Um, obviously Mike McDaniel is on borrowed time. That ownership has historically been unstable. But I guess what what what the latest here? What do we make of these two tug of comments? Basically calling out the lack of accountability, the lack of commitment. Um, where do we how much blame I guess or what do we think of to a you know basically airing out this dirty laundry on a post game? Well, first of all, it’s uh 9:41 by the clock on my computer, Central time on Monday. How is Mike McDaniel still employed? Because it’s it’s 1041 on the East Coast. So, how is he still employed? That’s my first question. My second question is, so a year ago it was known that there were problems with players from the Dolphins showing up to meetings, but those were those were Mike McDaniel le or position group le, right? Sure. So that that that’s a problem. What I would like to know is how many unless this is a subset of the National Football League culture that I don’t know about, how many players meetings are there? Like ordinarily that’s for a special circumstance of we suck, let’s meet, let’s close the door and talk. Like like are like is he talking about position groups? Like the last time I checked players were not calling meetings on a regular basis by any means. So I either that’s a new thing or I have no idea what he’s talking about there. Now, if he wanted to say players aren’t showing up to meetings that the team is supposed to be at, then just say that. Um, but here’s the scary thing. So, Mike McDaniel going to be fired. I think in our perfect world, he becomes a consultant for O’Connell and draws up a bunch of cool plays here because he’s going to be bored and and he has a really good offensive mind. But, I looked this up yesterday. Okay, Tua is signed through 2028 and he’s going to have a salary cap hit next season of $56.4 million and he is throwing teammates, right or wrong, it’s wrong, but right or wrong under the bus. You talk about having problems and and this is why investing in the quarterback position, I think, is so much more than like arm talent, right? Or physical talent. Like what teammate is going to look at Tua today and say, “You know what, Tua? Really appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you.” And I guess McDaniel tried to get up to the podium and say, “He’s talking about one guy. He’s only talking about one guy.” Uh, but why Mike McDaniel is still employed is beyond me. It’s It’s hopeless. And I said this a week ago, fire him for his own sake. Like, he looks like a guy who is beyond defeated. He looks miserable. I think he is. I think he could go help a team. I think he could help a team as a consultant for the rest of the season. I’m not joking about that. But what I make of this is you have a your quarterback and supposed captain, I guess, selling out teammates at the podium after he threw three picks. Is that correct, against the Chargers on Sunday, and he is going to break the bank. It’s a complete mess. And good luck to whoever has to clean up that mess. Uh Judley, what is your uh next NFL take? I will have NFL tears here in a bit on NFL takes. Oh, man. By the way, like spoiler alert, tough tough sledding with the with the tears. Like I guess a little tease. It’s it’s very difficult to pinpoint who the best team in the NFL is, which goes back to the volatility we talked about earlier. Um just some injuries that have happened around the league. I I don’t really like right now I was looking this on FanDuel side rant. Mhm. So, right now, uh, Super Bowl odds, the Bills still have the best odds to win the Super Bowl. They’re plus 500. Here come the Chiefs. They’re now plus 700 after a 1 and3 start. They now have the second best odds to win the Super Bowl. Obviously, a lot of that’s baked into who they are. Patrick Mahomes, you know, all that stuff. But, I really have a tough time looking at one team. Like if the Bills beat the Falcons, you know, whether they beat him handedly or or just or or sneak by or they lose, I don’t really like look at anyone in the NFL right now and say, “God, that is a Super Bowl legitimate contending team. They are the be they’re who like the best team in the NFL.” I have no idea who it is. It it I don’t I don’t think we can definitively answer that question. It’s funny. I looked at this last week. In the NFC, there are zero surprises. like there is nobody who is like overachieving. It’s like I can’t believe it. And there’s no team that has now in the the AFC there’s like four. Baltimore to me huge surprise that they’re this bad. And I know that Jackson’s been hurt. But even before he got hurt, that defense was putrid. Um so there’s definitely like four surprises. I’m not saying that they’re great teams or terrible teams. They’re just surprises. The National Football Conference, I found zero. Like zero like, “Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening.” Yeah. Dubs saying it’s the Bucks and look the Bucks are fun. Like I I think they’re super Baker’s awesome. I I love Baker, but he’s been awesome. Yeah. But four four of their and yesterday was different. Like they had their first and they have put out the cheeky, you know, tweet yesterday like victory formation for the first time all year because four of their first five wins came in the final minute of the game. You know, the Vikings got ripped for being cardiac kids all the time and and and sneaking by with these fourth quarter comebacks. Now all of a sudden we have to praise the the Buccaneers because they’re basically doing the same thing. It’s not I don’t think it’s as simple as that. Well, and the Bucks but to get back to your point of like tell me who is the bet like definitively the best team in the conference. I can’t The Bucks are the Bucks are a nice team, but they’ve been a nice team for a few years. Um San Francisco is now beat up beyond belief. Seattle looks good. They’re fun, but Jacksonville gave him a game, too. So, it’s not like they they went in there and and spanked him. I mean, to your point at the top of the show, the parody and it’s always there’s always been like that’s the goal, which is why there there’s a ton of bad games, but parody is the goal, but the parody right now in that conference in particular to me is off the charts. It’s why the Vikings, you can’t you can’t dismiss them. It’s like three and two doesn’t just cuz it doesn’t feel and it doesn’t it doesn’t feel like it was supposed to. uh you know it was supposed to be McCarthy and you’re healthy and the offensive line’s kicking ass but just because it doesn’t look or feel like it’s supposed to doesn’t mean that you can say oh they’re dead they’re three and two there’s a lot of Washington three and two correct I believe they’re the exact same boat now Daniels missed a couple of games there but we’ll see tonight and that is the game and by the way Chicago going back there they that’s where they were playing well the Bears were actually playing well a year ago and and the defensive back was taunting fans and then Daniels threw the Hail Mary pass and the kid and the kid was sprinting across the field the defensive back and he like tipped the ball up and the guy caught it and from then on the Bears were absolutely dead. All right, here’s mine. Okay, here’s my take. How do you not run a trick play past the officials to make sure that they know what you’re going to do? So, so it’s common place to alert officials when you’re going to try something that involves formations or motions that could draw a flag. Okay. So, last night, Jared Goff, great design, great play design. Jared Goff catches a touchdown pass uh from like what the three it was, as Okonnell likes to say, the deep red and Goff catches it, goes in, it’s a touchdown. Nice play. Great design. Nice play. and it draws a flag. And in fact, the NBC Terry McCauley, the NBC rules expert, he immediately said, “Goffen comes set in the back field. Therefore, this is not going to count. Illegal motion or or I forget the exact call. I think it was that.” Anyway, how do you not Yeah. How do you not go because you can go to the officials and say, “We’re going to do this. Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.” Mhm. And know exactly what everybody not only has to do, but what they can’t do. And so I guess and Goff claims, and here’s my complaint. Goff claimed afterwards the podium that he was told because he didn’t put his hands under the center, which which he’s not supposed to do. So he did that, right? But he was told that because he lined up so close to the center, it was a penalty. Okay. So that gets to back to my question. If you’re Dan Campbell and the Lions, how do you not go to the officials before the game and say, “Here’s what we’re going to do. We need to know that all of this is is okay.” Clearly, they didn’t. Like, Goff’s whole thing was, “Well, I was told this after the fact. After the fact’s too late, Jared, you got to know before the fact, and there is a way to do that.” So, my take is if you’re going to run a trick play like that, good for you. But you, there’s means to make damn sure that you’re doing the right thing. So, if it works, it doesn’t dry flag. And now, one, it didn’t count, and two, it’s on film again. So now teams are going to be, “Oh, okay. This is what if Jared Goff does X, Y, and Z, we have an idea.” So anyway, clean it up. Of course, if you’re a Vikings fan, you’re very happy that the Lions didn’t clean it up. Yeah, it at first I was like, “Holy cow, that that is an awesome play. Love I mean, and classic Dan Campbell, classic Lions.” Um, and it’s just a kind of a shame that like a sweet play like that gets erased because they either didn’t communicate it or the refs maybe even like potentially screwed it up. And yeah, I thought it was a fun play. I thought it was going to be awesome. Um, and then it’s and it’s taken away and you know, I’m sure Dan Campbell’s going to have some tricks up his sleeve uh when they do play the Vikings. It always feels like they always do. They man, they they go for it every time. Fourth down, man. They you talk about you talk about four down territory which uh I know announcers love to use cliche oh it’s four down territory when the games the lines like yes thank you for reminding us that it’s four down territory. It is four down territory with 11 minutes to go in the first quarter for the Detroit Lions. It does not matter uh who you are. So yeah it was too bad cuz I thought the play was pretty sweet too. It was very sweet but just be but just check it like all you had to do was check it and say okay here’s our plan. Jared Garop’s gonna line up behind center. He’s not going to put his hands in a position to receive the ball. He is then going to go in motion. I guarantee you at that point in time before the game, the refs would have said that’s fine, but he has to come to a stop. Yeah. Right. Just clear on it. Yeah. Just be clear. Come on, Dan. You’re you’re expert at communication, man. If you’re going to run the play, know the play is legal. And that is a very good lesson for the rest of these coaches that want to run trick plays, too. And I think a lot of them do actually go to the officiating crew beforehand and say, “This is our plan. Is it going to cause problem?” Hey, uh, some more NFL takes. Some some tears likely coming up here too as well. Uh, but Jud, my bookie is a fun time on on every NFL season. Tell us more about our friends at uh, at My Bookie. Okay, so football if nothing else, college pro, it is all what? It’s all great fun. If the Vikings are playing, that’s great. If they’re not, that’s okay because guess what? My bookie allows you to get a sweat on and it makes it even more fun on a Sunday or Saturday to sit on the couch and watch this grand game. We’re talking National Football League games, of course, college survivor pools, all the spreads, the player props, and in-game lines you could possibly want. And it’s as simple as this. Go to mybookie.ag and use the promo code as you can see right there on the screen, purple daily. And any bet you choose up to 500 bucks is going to be fully covered. make your play and if it doesn’t hit, you get it right back. That’s right. When you opt in using your betback bonus token, that is mybookie.ag. mybookie.ag making well, heck, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, any day of the week that there’s football even more fun. Also, uh, NFL takes every week powered by our friends at grandpa’sbcue. Grandpa’sbcqhop.com uh to learn more. You can get your dry rubs, you can get your sauces, plus your proceeds, help uh help zero dermapigtos, which is a rare genetic disorder that that uh affects people with UV light disorders locally in the Twin Cities. You can find them too at a bunch of fratal locations. Um also, but grandpa’sbcqhop.com um to learn more. Uh NFL tiers coming up here, Jud, you ready for these? You or do you have another NFL take? I I I got one more. I got just one more. Okay. See it? Yeah. It is this. I am now officially I’ve been sort of out but I am now officially out on the tush bush. It has become it has become a boring play. It’s a boring play and what it does is because well first of all the amount of teams that run it that have no clue what what they’re doing. Baltimore I am looking at you with I believe a direct snap to Mark Andrews yesterday with Derrick Henry in your backfield. What are you doing? Um, but it’s a boring play and it is a play that replaces, for instance, in the case of the Ravens on Sunday, Derrick Henry being handed the football. Like, I want to see Derrick Henry carry the football. If he fumbles, awesome. If he scores, awesome. But I do not want to see a contrived play where, first of all, for TV, it’s a terrible play because especially on the goal line, you can’t see squat. Like, you lose the football entirely. All you see is a bunch of men pushing and a bunch of defensive guys pushing back. Okay. So, it’s as boring as it possibly gets. And I’ve got the rule change, though, because I don’t want to I don’t want to end pushing guys into the end zone on plays where it’s not from a formation. So, here’s my rule change. You cannot have a player pushed from a formational lineup. So, in other words, if I’m running with the ball, if I’m a receiver and I’m at the one, okay, and a guy’s about to tackle me or something and my teammate comes up behind me and shoves me in, I think that’s fine because you can see all that. But from a formation where it’s a tight formation, which is what that is. The and the tight formation also for TV sucks because again it takes away your view of it. It’s a boring uh um poorly orchestrated by teams. And was it on Thursday night where Philadelphia just tried it like three or four times consecutively? They do it all the time. Yeah. Right. But I’m saying I think they just kept trying it and kept trying it and kept trying it. I’m done with it. Tush push out. Doesn’t mean that you can’t push a guy on a free flowing play. But anything that comes from a formation, you now have to actually go back to playing football. If Derrick Henry is not going to get the ball at the one, then I don’t want to watch football anymore. It’s not the sport I love. Uh, obviously I mean I love goofy plays. I love We just talked about the Lion situation, but wide receiver pass, a halfback pass, you know, the tush push has I wouldn’t say is a trick play necessar I mean it’s a schemed play, but I wouldn’t I wouldn’t put it in the same boat as the wide receiver pass or do Yes. Like like the opponent can see it coming. So no, I agree completely. You know it’s coming. So, um, NFL takes coming up here, um, on I, uh, on on Purple Daily, by the way, Daily Vikings Entertainment, we’ll have dukes, uh, you guys will have dukes tomorrow. Phil back, um, uh, in town for tomorrow as well. Feedback Friday, always a fun time. Thursday on Thor on Thursday, write that down. Predictions, there there’s a ton of stuff still happening here at Purple Daily. So, thank you to everyone. Uh, if you haven’t already, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button. Jud, before I get to the NFL tiers though, uh a butcher and the boar, shout out to one of our favorite places every week or anytime the North Loop to go find either the patio, which I know it’s we’re getting ending towards patio season, but it just closed. It just barbecue season year round. Absolutely. Absolutely. And yeah, put Butcher in the Board is the place to go. North Loop, Minneapolis. If you’re going to like a Wolves game or something, I’m going to tell you right now, if you want to stop in for a great craft cocktail, a drink, or perhaps some apps, or a delicious meal, Butcher and the Boore is the place to go. We’re talking uh I can think of the perfect time, celebration, right? You got a celebration, going an anniversary, a birthday. Butcher and the Boore is absolutely the place to stop in. The atmosphere, it’s great. The atmosphere is fantastic. Love that. but also the food. Dex has tried it. I’ve tried it. Phil has has tried it. The food off the charts. So, make sure that your next stop in. And again, if you’re going to a Wolves game, it’s uh it’s very close by. So, Butcher and the Boore North Loop, you are not going to be sorry that you at in this case, listen to the sports dad. All right. So, NFL tears coming up. Zesty Dex here with his tears. Uh here I think that that’s what that’s what the purple dillianis calls us. This is a zesty deck photo. Yeah, that’s perfect. I made the face. Phil made the screenshot. Okay. So, I just It was a tag team effort. I didn’t mean to throw Phil under the bus last week when we did these with Jeremiah. You know, he takes the screenshots. You did. I guess I did. You did. All right. So, with my first tier here, I kind of teased it. I I don’t have a Super Bowl favorite. What I have is in week six in the NFL. Fun but flawed teams. Oh, I like it. Fun but flawed. All these teams I could see honestly, you know, not all of them and I’ll because there’s one humongous asterisk here. One of these is not like the other. I’ll explain that in a bit. Um, but for the audio audience, YouTube audience can see it. The fun but flawed teams are the Lions, the Bills, the Broncos, the Bucks, the Seahawks, the Giants, put a pin in that, the Rams, and the Colts. Uh, all these teams have gotten off to very nice starts. All these teams except for the Giants so far probably have a case to be in the conference championship game, maybe even the Super Bowl, right? Um, they’re fun, but they’re flawed. And yes, a lot of teams are, it’s hard to be perfect in the NFL, but I think all these teams are grouped together here. The reason I have the Giants in this is because Jackson Dart is fun as hell and Cam Scataboo is also having a blast. So, I I probably could have separated the Giants from these teams. I’m I’m certainly not implying that the Giants are on the same level as these teams, but because they cuz they are certainly more flawed, but they have become fun because Jackson Dart and Cam Scataboo have made that team a lot of fun after, you know, kind of being a punching bag for the last few years. So, I don’t have a Super Bowl favorite yet. I don’t have a legit contender team. I have a fun but flawed team. Yeah, the I mean, the Giants are well, they’re more fun now. They’ve been absolutely dreadful for the last year plus. And with dart playing they are fun. Um interesting. Yeah. I I mean I don’t blame you. I right now I think it’s very very tough. Uh and I’m going through this for fun. The Lions are fun and really we still think really good, right? Bills really good. Yeah. Broncos probably to me fall into the next like next rung. Especially I mean that game on Sunday was oh my god. Again, a standalone game that makes your eyes bleed. Congratulations, National Football League. In fact, I think that Europe should say no more. We do not want Take your crap out of our Take your crap out of here. You made us watch the Jets and Broncos. Tampa Bay interesting. I don’t know that they are. So, I would say this, the Bucks are fun and Baker’s been great so far. I don’t know that I would put them in the Lions and the Bills tier yet. Seahawks, Seahawks, same thing. Uh, Giants, no, but they are, but at least they’re interesting now, which has not been true. The Rams, Rams are interesting as well. I’d probably put the Rams in tier two. And the Colts, Colts look legit. I would, you know what’s funny about the Colts decks. What’s funny about the Colts is Daniel Jones deserves a lot of credit, but Jonathan Taylor has been great. And you know what the Colts don’t miss one bit? the two O linemen that they lost to the Vikings. Their O line is kickass. They were going into the games yesterday, they were rated number two by PFF in the uh in the O line rankings that they do each week. Uh they are an absolute juggernaut up front. Uh trending up tier, I have the Bears, the Steelers, the Commanders, the Patriots, the Chiefs. Yes. Um I guess I could have upgraded the Chiefs here to fun but flawed. Um, they certainly still fall into that category. The Bears, we’ll see. I know they haven’t played on Monday Night Football. The Steelers, I I had a hard time putting in fun. Uh, they’re off to a a great start in the AFC North. They they have the benefit of two teams in their division losing their star quarterback, so they’re kind of cakewalking their way to maybe an AFC North title, but I would I would not call the Steelers fun. I would not call what they play, their their brand of football fun. Agree. Um, Commanders is trending up now that Jaden Daniels is back. Drake May and and the Patriots, maybe I’m disrespecting here. May maybe they do belong I mean they’ve been trending up. So maybe um they they do belong in the fun but flawed tier, but I also like I just haven’t seen enough, right? Like of of a larger sample. Like Drake May looks sweet. So like so maybe the Patriots do belong in that tier, but I I just kind of group these teams in the uh trending up tier. So I would exchange Washington and the Giants. Sure. Yeah. I mean that’s fine. That would be my one. But yeah, like the Bears, I don’t know. I still don’t know on the Bears. I don’t. And the Steelers, I agree. Like it’s funny. The Steelers are they are milking Aaron Rogers remaining football days for everything that that they’re worth. The funniest thing is this. Aaron Rodgers to me looks very much like Brett Favre 2009 first two games, Cleveland and Detroit, where he managed them. He didn’t He wasn’t great. He wasn’t bad. The run game helped a lot, but I draw the line there because week three, you get the Greg Lewis catch, you get the great ending against the 49ers, right? But yeah, I would definitely not put Pittsburgh in the fun but flawed. Trending up is probably fair. Uh trending down, two teams that uh either are battling injuries, uh just battling an effectiveness, that’s the Niners and the Eagles. Niners are still my Super Bowl pick. They were the ones who I made in the preseason. Um now good coaching can overcome some of this stuff. So we’ll see. Um Brock Pury dealing with that turf toe injury. M Jones having to step in uh make some starts for them. But they they have certainly trended downwards a bit here since um even though their records indicate they’re still very good teams and they are they’re still in positions to win their divisions but they they’ve they’ve trended down a bit since um since a week ago. So I have them kind of standing alone and they’re trending down tier. Yeah. and San Fran is so injured right now. I just have no clue about them. Um, again, as I said before, at some point in time, I just think it becomes very difficult to win football games when you have literally one or two key guys, it feels like going out every week. The Eagles are the interesting one because they’re just sort of in flux, but they were we were having this exact conversation a year ago. If you recall a year ago after their two and two start, there was whining and moaning coming from Eagles players and stuff and we were talking about I think that that we at one point in time on this show on the take show talked about the fact that Nick Serriani’s job might be in jeopardy. Mhm. And they won the freaking Super Bowl. So San Francisco I feel bad for Philadelphia I fully expect to at least come back and play well because they did a year ago. But the difference is the difference is the offense. There’s no guarantee that this new OC can do what Kell Moore did because your guy Kell Moore is very good when it comes to coordinating an offense. He is uh the still have no idea tier. This is where you will see your Vikings in. So um the Vikings, the Jags, the Falcons, the Packers, the Chargers, the I I still I have no idea. I have no idea if you’re really good. I have no idea if you’re really bad. I have no idea if uh maybe you’re not as good as your record indicates. And like that that falls in with the Packers and the Jags who have decent records right now, but also like are they really that good? Um the Chargers are battling injuries. So, you know, how legitimate should we be taking them or should we be putting limited expectations? Maybe the Fal again, maybe the Falcons start to emerge, but I just feel like the the Dirty Birds have been like perpetually 8 N 9 and 8 competitive, not bad, a little bit diet Vikings like um but I don’t know where to put these five teams. I know a lot of Pack and look, this is a guy who usually does defend the Packers because he’s a secret uh secret agent working for Cheese Head Daily on Purple Daily. But let’s let’s be honest though, like let let’s be real. After the two and0 start, the Packers have not looked like they beat the like Browns defense good defense, but like the Packers have not looked as good as they did from two weeks from three weeks ago. What’s that? Cuz the Browns the Browns beat the Packers. And then they barely beat the Bengals, which which um by the way, if you look at that, look up Joe Flacco’s pass attempts yesterday. It was they basically Joe Flacco joined him on like what Tuesday? Yeah. Or Wednesday and he they they just said, “Okay, air the ball out. We have no run game. We have zero run game.” So, yeah, I would agree. And and that’s where the division is weird, too, because the Packers I think they’re I think they’re good. I think they’re fine. I think the Vikings at this point are probably just fine. The Bears, I still don’t know. And the Lions look good, but the Lions again are are, and this is what’s going to happen with them as well, are getting decimated, especially on defense, by the injury bug. So, yeah, I think that um I think the no idea on these on these five teams was very fair. The going nowhere tier, going nowhere, that’s that’s the Ravens, the Bengals, the Cardinals, the Raiders, the Cowboys. I tried to warn you guys about that after week one. I don’t think this Cowboys team is anything. I mean, the defense is terrible. It’s awful. Yeah, it’s got no chance. Um, so they’re going nowhere. Uh, the Panthers, who again, like I thought maybe there’s going to be a pop-up here. They’ve won a few games, so okay, good for the Panthers. It’s a good start line for them, but like I they’re they’re not like a sleeping giant in my opin dude. Um, and then the Texans and Titans. Um, kind of going nowhere. Kind of just stuck in the middle, stuck in the mud. Um, I I I feel like all these teams, whether it’s Baltimore and Cincinnati having with quarter having their problems with their quarterback injuries or the other majority of these teams just just not really doing anything. Nothing really exciting about them so far. Agreed completely. Agreed completely. All of them are pretty much dead and it’s week seven or going to be week seven. And then the final two, you’re on the clock. I these teams have just been kind of universally um in the same tier, which is the Dolphins, the Saints, the Browns, the Jets. I will say, and we just kind of touched on it a little bit, I I am a big Kell Moore fan. I I think what he’s been doing with Spencer Rattler is impressive. Now, is he building something longterm here? Cuz like I I can see the Saints crawling out of this faster than the other these other three organizations. Like right now, it’s very likely these four teams are probably picking in the top five of the draft in 2026. I don’t know what the order is, but they’re these four teams are likely trending in that direction. If you were to ask me right now, which team would I like to buy stock in right now to turn it around in 2026 quicker than the other, it’s the Saints. And that’s because of I think Kell Moore. Maybe maybe I maybe I’m an idiot. Maybe uh maybe Kell Moore is not cut out to be an NFL coach and he’s a very good coordinator, but I do think the Saints have a better chance than these other three buffoons. I look, Vikings fans don’t like the Saints. Totally get it. Uh bounty gate situation, 09 championship game. Vikings have gotten, you know, some some revenge there with a couple playoff wins, but they are running things a little bit better. And I have I have a better I have more trust in the Saints to figure that stuff out than I do at the Dolphins, Jets, and Browns. And that’s obviously not a hot take. Of those four teams, I think the Saints are the only one where if you pumped him full of truth serum and said, “Are you okay with this?” The Saints would say, “Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s a high draft pick.” And yeah, like Kell Moore was brought there. They they knew, right? The Saints spent all those years flirting with salary cap problems. They knew that the reckoning was coming. It’s here. And but it looks like they’re handling it well. Dolphins Mike McDaniel out. Browns Kevin Stfansky out. And the Jets, I mean, Aaron Glenn is in his first year, but dude, that sounds like a mess. And and this is the problem. Aaron Glenn’s a boisterous dude, but he’s in New York. And everything that you do gets dissected times 10. And I don’t know if you saw it, but what was that deal at the end of the first half in the in the uh Jets Broncos game yesterday where they basically were at midfield or so and they let the clock expire. They didn’t do anything. Timeouts left and yeah, I don’t know. So Aaron Glenn is an interesting one, too. So, I went back and looked this up cuz I thought to myself, okay, let’s draw a comparison since Aaron Glenn was the DC for Dan Campbell in Detroit. And while Detroit’s been really, really good for a couple of years, do you remember that Dan Campbell started 419 and1? Yeah. Before in season, the Lions turned things around. But up until then, Dan Campbell had a 419 and1 record. And here’s my question. Do the New York Jets like let’s say let’s say Aaron Glenn gets it eventually and he might not. He he might be a really really talented coordinator who’s not uh meant to be head coach but let’s say that he is meant to be a head coach. Todd BS Todd BS coached the Jets. He got fired. Now he’s in Tampa. He’s doing great work. Do you really think the New York Jets and that that market have the stomach for a 419 and one start? Yeah. I mean I I think in that I think in New York especially you don’t survive that. So uh but yeah that’s the one place that I see is I think that the Saints are are in a really good place and besides that I think two two of those coaches are gone and Aaron Glenn is very much going to be if this continues under a huge microscope starting next season. Hit the like button, subscribe button here on the uh on Purple Daily almost at a different podcast because I’m because I’m was gearing up for for our next twin show here which we’re going to talk about um after we wrap things up. So you can find that on your feeds. Uh Macadak back in tomorrow. Uh you got Dukes also tomorrow on Purple Daily. So plenty of great stuff. Hope you enjoyed your bye-week. I did nothing yesterday but sit and watch Red Zone and watch football. That’s I know that’s what Jud does every Sunday by week. That’s working, Declan. Yeah, that’s working. You You were working. You were to do this show. You had to do You had to make the commitment and I appreciate this to what you did on Sunday. Don’t let anyone tell you your wife that that is not working hard. I We were talking it was a great day of nothing. Sometimes you need a good day of nothing. Nothing in terms of like not leaving the house, not not being productive. Oh, does watching football and coming up with hot takes for your show. Nothing. No, it’s it’s it’s it’s not Sounds like a work day to me. That’s my point. It’s something like if you had come to the show unprepared and and been like, “You know what I did, Jud? I went shopping yesterday like we went shopping. We took we took Sunny for a long walk, but I have no takes.” I’d be like, “What?” We did take him to his first football game on Saturday. Went to St. Olaf. Went went down there. He did a great job. Slept like 95% of the time. Crowd didn’t bug him. It was It was for for a new mom and dad, we were a little concerned with the with the noise. So at at the second half we just like we left the stands cuz it was homecoming too for St. Olaf. So uh we just left the stands and you know we’re on the tracks God bless the St. Olaf football team but like that’s it’s pretty much a high school field like it’s not sure I would not call it a college football atmosphere. So um quick question when Sunny starts to go to games as as a child so like he he can walk and stuff. How long are you going to if you are put the put the kid headphones on them? Yeah, that was a thing like we we could have bought one of the you know kind of can like headphones to to make it easier but like as long as you’re not like having the baby right next to the band per se and like you’re going to be okay, you know? Like yeah, we’re helicopter parents. This is the f we’re first time parents right now. Yeah. The second kid you’re not going to care. No. God, no. Second kid’s gonna be like playing in the street. You’ll be like, “Yeah, you probably shouldn’t. Probably shouldn’t.” But whatever. It’s true. All right. Appreciate you guys. This is Purple Daily plus NFL takes little combined episode. Appreciate it. Hit the like button, subscribe button, and we’ll be talking at you soon.

Minnesota Vikings and NFL Takes after Week 6; Looking ahead at the Vikings stretch after the bye week; Why the Vikings and other teams in NFL have never been more volatile; What’s the Vikings plan with JJ McCarthy; NFL Takes on scheduling issues; Why the Dolphins are beyond dysfunctional; Who is the best team in the NFL this season; Plus, Dex has his latest tier rankings and more on NFL Takes.

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