How the Vikings kept the Lions IN CHECK 😳 + Reaction to Jayden Daniels injury | NFL Live

Joe Alt is now going to be out for this season. He’s having season ending ankle surgery for his high right ankle sprain according to a team spokesperson. Dan, you think about what this Chargers offense has been able to do at times and how important Joe Alt is to that. What’s your reaction? 64 days ago, this team had two allp pro tackles. They have none now. This injury is no question season changing, playoff changing, Super Bowl uh potential changing. Imagine if the San Francisco 49ers lost Trent Williams or the Detroit Lions lost Penny Soul. He is the most important person on their offense outside of their quarterback. Without him, they don’t win games and with him they do. This is an enormous, enormous loss for the Chargers. Enormous. You saw on that graphic we put up there too, just how many injuries at key positions the Chargers are dealing with as well. Okay, to more of the action from Sunday. The Vikings and the Lions. Thank goodness they do still have Venu. That was a good thing to call out. McCarthy making his first start since week two. He’s meditating. He’s getting his mind right. This is something he regularly does. He’s done it since college. And McCaffrey McCaffrey McCarthy throwing it to Justin Jefferson. One-handed grab. That’s Jefferson’s first touchdown since week one, by the way. That’s crazy. Middle third quarter. Vikings up 17 to 14. David Montgomery gets the run. But Cashman punching the ball out there. Blake Cashman is huge for this team. He missed some games early on this season. and the chase and pursuit to the ball, then the ball awareness and savvy to punch it out. The Vikings driving after the turnover and they are able to capitalize. McCarthy escaping pressure. He looks really good turning on the Jets. The Vikings extend the lead 24-4. Remember, they’re going into Detroit and doing this. 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Detroit trailing 27-7. Jared Goff goes deep to Jameson Williams lunging into the end zone. Outstanding play by J. Now, this is it’s actually just a great throw, too. Look at that coverage to be able to throw that football right there and then finish without stepping out of bounds. How about that throw too, RC to Jaylen Naylor? Listen, this is a great rub route. This was awesome by KOC, understanding he would get manto man and attacking Arthur Mlette in the slot. Third and five, game on the line. What a throw. Vikings pull off a big win on the road, an upset win, of course. And Dan, oh, Peter, uh, where was this game one by McCarthy? It’s interesting. He hasn’t played obviously in five weeks. So what do you do? He can’t practice. So I was told that all week leading up to the Chargers game, he was going through just the stuff at the line that he could control. So imagine not being able to practice all week, but still being able to be present and understand it, guys. No delay of game penalties yesterday. They’re on the road against the Lions. All of the things he possibly could have done in the weeks leading up to this that he physically couldn’t do because of his ankle, he did. You saw the reaction in the locker room afterwards. this team, not only the front office and the coaching staff, which we’ve heard a lot about. This team, the players, they are all in on this guy. And that is his second victory on the road in the division. Guess what? They’re two and0 in the division. Season really starts now for them. Packers lost yesterday. Bears are obviously up and down. And the Lions, they beat just yesterday in their building. So, they are feeling good. And this guy did everything he possibly could without actually being on the field during practice. And he used his legs and looked really good on the field during I think the best thing is when he’s confident, there’s no hesitation. He does not flinch. the more this is why this was actually a good matchup and now that postgame thinking about it so much man coverage from Detroit often times as a quarterback you’re like oh it’s man I’m going to go throw the ball to JJ and so that just breeds that confidence when JJ even though he’s got a small body of work when JJ gets to line of scrimmage and he can really see what the defense is doing and he predetermines where he’s going to throw the football he can throw it man he can cut it loose so the more that and I love how aggressive KC was early on anticipating man coverage to allow the quarterback to cut it loose He felt like he had the answers to the test a lot of the time. Yeah. Okay. I was trying to um All right. Defensively, RC, Minnesota held the Lions in check most of the day. And this is a Lions offense that’s been so good. How did they do it? I mean, if if you would have asked me last year in 2024, who attacked Brian Flores the best? I would have said the Detroit Lions and Jared Golf. Yesterday, it wasn’t that. And that’s because Brian Flores was self-aware and he changed some things up. There were a lot of blitzes from the middle of the formation. a ton of it was simulated and disguised. And so it wasn’t one of those things where Jared G always knew where the pressure was coming from or that there actually was pressure and it made him hold the football inside the pocket and I thought those linebackers did an amazing job of putting pressure on Jared. Yeah, we were geeking out during the game watching some of these fiveman pressures, RC and I were because I thought they were so well designed. Vman pressure is at a 60% pressure rate in three sacks and watching it what they would do is they would simulate pressure on the outside Van Ginkle or such get those tackles to defend air essentially and then they would cross the linebackers. What you do and when you do that is you force uh Jir Gibbs to stay in and pass protection so he can’t leak out as a checkown option but it’s a mismatch for him especially by the way when Jared Goff turns his back on play action. That’s a hard task for Jir Gibbs against a linebacker like Pace Jr. who’s coming barreling down. It’s also the correct way to attack Jared Goff. Pressure up the middle. I thought it was a brilliant game plan from a pressure perspective. One of Brian Flores’s best yet. I thought also too on the back end though, Dan, they didn’t give it away. They didn’t give it away to Jared Golf where the football could go right now. They also disguised the coverage along with the pressure. Yeah, I think the coverage point is brilliant. They made the backs be the blitz target rather than the offensive line. And that both Gibbs Montgomery struggled in pass protection, undefeated in the division. I’mma bust it up when we get down here. Plates on plates. [Music] jumping. Well, it’s big boy football. [Music] I’mma bust up when we come down. I have a question, guys. How did the bust that stuff up promo go from Marcus doing that to now it’s like a mix of BMB, too? Like every highlight was like a big guy. Good things. He’s a walking highlight. It’s all about They must love editing that so much. Well, my dog Buster Rhymes say, “Respect the conglomerate.” If you if you notice, the conglomerate had some extra in there after last week cuz you were getting down. He just I had the same food, same plate. You did? And it tastes exactly the same. He didn’t eat it the same cuz he don’t eat carbs though. That’s why he a moderation. Listen, you everything in moderation including moderation. Okay, go ahead. Who ate on Sunday? So, y’all know I don’t like picking like good performances for bust that is up. I like hits and my dog Aziz Ouch. I done went and punched Bo Knicks in this chin after he got me hit like this. Zero. Zero is hammer meat nail. He drives to make every tackle like this. You got to respect him as a football player. Sometimes he get a little carried away. We all know that. But Aziz, you should be on bust that ish up for what you did to JK Diamonds in the flats. And for the Steelers defense, they had a funeral for you before the game, but like they said, the dead has arisen, and I am happy for it. It was a great performance by the Steeler defense. Five turnovers on Daniel Jones. They had three interceptions, two sack force fumbles, and it was big play after big play. And this team has been asked to finish the game, and they did that yesterday. Great job by Terrell Austin’s unit. I know we are in the house that Jerry built and he fancies himself a land man, but I got to call out Nate Landman who had the perfect peanut punch yesterday in this game against the Saints. This is technique. This is what you practice. Watch Landman here from this angle. Number 53. Just says, “I see that ball.” And he punches that thing like he’s picked up Tilman. Knocks it loose. Hey, Stafford’s getting all the love and Daniel give it to him. The defense is playing well, too. Land man in the house. How did you know I was going with him next days? Going to see is he football right now. Matthew Stafford. Hard to argue. He not another four yesterday. Should have had five. They took one away from him right now this season. He’s got 21 touchdown passes and two picks. He’s as hot as anyone. And it’s the most explosive pass game in the NFL. Some of the throws that he is making. That one right there. This no look is the dumbest thing over the weekend. about 30 yards on the nails down the field and him and Devonte are on the same page right now as good as anybody right now. Man, I know the Falcons lost, but Drake London doing everything he can to bring honor back to that first name. He went crazy in this game. Consider the competition, the go ball. That was against Christian Gonzalez. He comes back for it. The blaze out versus Carlton Davis and then the onehander in the end zone. He was unbelievable in this game. It felt like every time they threw to him, something incredible happened and then they lost cuz of their kicker. Oh. Okay. Early second quarter, Colts lead 7 nothing. Daniel Jones is sacked. TJ Watt, knocking the ball out, too. Unbelievable. Unbelievable bend by TJ Watt. And just the awareness of where the ball loose. One hand swipe takeaway. Ensuing Steelers drive, third and goal from the one. Jaylen Warren taking it up the middle for the touchdown. Steelers tie the game at seven. Next cold stripe, Jones dropping back and throwing an interception right to Peyton Wilson. This is a great play by Pton Wilson. He’s manto man on the tight end. Falls right back into the throwing lane and then you see that 44 speed. So two plays later, can they capitalize? Aaron Rogers finds Pat Fri for the touchdown. Steelers take the 14-7 lead. Late third quarter, Colts trailing 17 to7. They haven’t done that much. And Jones throwing a pass. It’s tipped and then intercepted by Jack Sawyer. We call this BBB, bad break, bro. Just a really good one here. Something you could do paint on. I definitely thought it was some sort of plastic. I know. Like what is that going to Oh, I need one of those. All right. Steelers go up to7 minutes to play. Colts trailing 24- 10. And Jones stretched by Alex Highmith and the ball is recovered by Pittsburgh. I mean, this defense was all over it. Huge game from the pass rush. Under three minutes in the game. Jones down the sideline. Intercepted by Joey Porter Jr. His dad. Come on now. Sun played really good yesterday. Oh my goodness. The Steelers defense dominated the Colts. That feels like an understatement somehow. They had six takeaways, 24 points off turnovers, both the second most in any game under Mike Tomlin. They allowed just 55 rushing yards and a 13 total QBR. Both much better than their season averages entering the week. Maybe they saw that funeral RC game. They need that as motivation. Okay. But watching the game back, you had some flashbacks to your time with Tomlin. What was that? In 2008, coach Tomlin would always talk about a player games and it was obviously the Baltimore Ravens or if you played the New England Patriots in the AFC Championships. He says it again, right? It’s an A player game. And we’re walking out to the field, he puts his arm around me and he goes, “And I’m talking about you.” And it was kind of the first time that I had that feeling that, okay, this is the opportunities for the best players on the team to step up. Yesterday was an A player game for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And if you saw that highlight, you saw TJ Watt and you saw Joey Porter Jr. You saw Pton Wilson making plays. You saw when you watched that game, the physicality from Jaylen Ramsay at the safety position. It was play after play made by topnotch bigname football players. And they’d been expecting that from the general manager, Omar Khan, the way he engineered this defense throughout this off season by paying big money to people that can make huge plays. And it just was reminiscent of watching Troy and of watching Debo and of watching Kasel and James Faria, Casey Hampton, all these guys make plays because they’re eight players and you got to show up on those days. And I never had a coach do that in the league. Earlier in the show, there was a stat about you being 0 and8 on the road and I decided not to use it. Mina, I ended like No, no, you were two and two at home though. It’s good, man. Go ahead, Mina. like David McCarthy. So, obviously they wanted the line of scrimmage. The Colts tackles I thought had a pretty rough day at the office. Um Watt, Hive Smith, the big names. The more Nick Herbig is on the field, the better. I generally feel that way. He’s so good. I don’t know. Uh but the the other thing I wanted to emphasize aside from the the pass rush was I thought they were less predictable in coverage. Over the last few really through much of this season, it felt like offenses knew, oh, it’s first down. Steelers are going to play single high. Jamar Chase said that. He was like, “We knew exactly what they were going to do.” And so it was really easy for them to attack. You saw the same thing with Green Bay in this game. They cut the amount of single high they played on first down in half. They played way more quarters. And I thought that unpredictab What are you smiling about? I thought that unpredictability actually confused Indianapolis cuz you went in that thinking this team is going to annihilate their single high and then it wasn’t what they were presenting to them. Also too, Dan, before you go, this was the most athletic they’d been on the back end. Kyle Duggar and Jaylen Ramsey at the safety. There was there was so much athleticism in the middle of the field. They took Indy’s strength and turned it into a weakness. So Indy’s strength offensively has been they’ve been the most pass aggressive offense on early downs play action in the NFL. So many ways like the Colts or excuse me the Steelers took passing coverages and played them on early downs. Like this is second down. They’re playing twoman. Usually this is a a defense that is predicated on third and obvious. And then anticipated this is a first down underneath the center play action. He sees the guard set queen triggers. This is not a traditional first and 10 call by this defense. They’re playing that sticky man coverage. There’s Joey Porter Jr. on the breakdown. I just I agree. That’s why I laughed when you were saying so much more shell. It so often I was like first and 10 two man first and 10 two man second. Very different. Very different. Very different. and they knew that the the Colts wanted to throw the ball in early downs cuz it’s what they’ve done so great and they flipped it on their heads. It was their by far the Steelers best at least plan defense. That’s how other teams should play the Colts, too. Can we can we talk about the Colts because we’ve been doing a parade for the Colts for two weeks or two months to the season. And you know, I dismissively called them the Scott Hansen special, meaning they’re not on prime time. You don’t necessarily want you’re just seeing them in red zone spots. And here’s here’s Jason Taylor or here’s Taylor, Jonathan Taylor, and here’s this play. This was a test with all eyes watching them after a week of the national media giving them their flowers and crowning Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor in that MVP talk and they were outplayed by the Steelers. They have three interesting tests coming up. They’re in a lone window in Berlin this this weekend against the Falcons. Then they’ve got the Chiefs in Arrowhead. Then they play the Texans who have been the long winners of that division the last several years. I am fascinated. You know, Bellich used to say the season doesn’t start until Thanksgiving. That’s when the season really starts for this team. I think it starts November 1st. I think it starts now. What are the Colts? They got their flowers the first two months. Now everyone’s watching for them. They’re not going to be this surprised team coming along the way. Yeah. I mean, Dan Quinn, one of the best out there. You feel for everybody in this situation, and we’ll keep an eye on what that MRI comes back with for Jaden Daniels today. We’re going to get to Seattle in just a minute, but are you okay with Jaden still being out there that late in the game? No. No, I wasn’t. But I want I do want to say this. Kudos to Dan Quinn for at least accepting the responsibility. We’re not going back in time, so no, you can’t go change it. But I do have great appreciation for him owning that. I want to go forward. Number one, let’s shut him down. You’re not a playoff football team and you know it. You know your defense isn’t good enough. Let’s make sure that this young man that’s been hit more than anybody in football quarterback wise since the start of last season 322 times. Let’s get him healthy. And then the second thing, and this is probably the biggest, how do we fix it? How do we change it? How do we make this a learning moment for them as an organization for that young quarterback to say, “You’re unbelievable. You’re special. You’re the most important thing in our building. Let’s make sure that the injury concerns of the past aren’t part of your future. Yeah, they they need to they got to make a change there. How do they go about doing that? Well, that’s going to be what’s interesting. All right, Mina, how did the Seahawks get it done? I mean, offensively, you don’t put the kind of number of Sam Darnold yesterday unless two things are true. One, you have to be unbelievably accurate, which he was super decisive. And then he had total faith in the structure of his offense, as he should. In fact, watching them against Dan Quinn’s defense, frankly, it was kind of reminiscent of watching the Shanahan McVey offenses of like 2017 through 21 attack the latestage Pete Carroll defense when they played cover three. It just felt like they knew all of the rules. They knew all of the voids in coverages, particularly when they played either cover three or man, which are the two coverages that the Washington plays the most. What a throw. And it’s it’s I know it it’s hard for me to blame Washington though because I think they’re so devoid of talent at all three levels and they have no pass rush. It’s not like I can say well just play Shell or do something else. But unfortunately for them Seattle was both talented and had the scheme to beat them and Sam Darnold executed upon It’s a really appropriate analogy in comparing them to those late 201 uh you know Shanahan and McVey because Tan and I did the game a couple weeks ago and stat and Darnold comes from a Kevin Oonnell which is a McVey offense. Clint Kubak comes from Kyle Shanahan which is the Shanahan offense. They blend them together on that Seattle offense and you see it every week. I would also give John Schneider a lot of credit here, the general manager of the Seahawks. They said goodbye to DK Mechaf. They said goodbye to Tyler Lockett and they rely on all 70 on this team. We’re talking about Ty Okada having a huge interception in a big moment. Tyrese Knight having a huge play. Aoyo Aoyo a position they didn’t necessarily need. They drafted him a tight end. He was awesome yesterday. We know about the McDonald hire has been praised. We know that Jackson Smith is in J has been fantastic. This team goes 70 deep and I think Schneider found a way to rebuild this team without them really missing a beat in a completely different brand of personnel. And along those lines, Tory Horton is a real player right now. When you got a quarterback like Sam who’s bombing it downfield, it’s almost like Addison’s role, you know, and and with the Minnesota Vikings complimenting Jackson and Jigba, he’s something somebody to be worried about. Darnold has three games with a 97 total QBR this season. Just good for Sam Darnold. Really, really cool. The sympathizers unite anymore. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

On NFL Live, Marcus Spears, Dan Orlovsky, Peter Schrager, Ryan Clark and Mina Kimes react to the breaking news that Joe Alt will miss the remainder of the NFL season as he’s set to have season-ending ankle surgery. Then, they run through some of their takeaways from Week 9 action around the league.

0:00 Joe Alt news
0:56 Vikings-Lions reaction
5:32 Bust That $#!% Up
9:06 Colts-Steelers reaction
15:05 Jayden Daniels’ injury

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19 comments
  1. I HATE this for the Chargers.

    But this is also why the Vikings didn’t mess around with JJ’s high ankle sprain. All that talk about “soft benching” when they were trying to protect him.

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