The roundtable thinks the Lions are a tough matchup for the banged-up Vikings

Matthew Coller is joined by Andrew Krammer of the Star Tribune and Will Ragatz of Sports Illustrated to preview the Vikings and Lions. They start off talking about how injuries could be a major problem for the Vikings and how the volatility of Nick Mullens makes the offense boom or bust.

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Hey everybody welcome to another episode of purple Insider Matthew caller here along with Will rits of Sports Illustrated and Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune once again a raggot round table and guys uh we usually don’t start with the injury report because injury reports are not exciting but this injury

Report has a lot of people on it and I feel like coming out of that Cincinnati game not only the emotional letdown of losing a game where you outplayed the other team for the vast majority but also you played against a very physical team in a game where the Vikings come

Out beat up and now have to go against a Lions team that appears to be on the upswing after hitting a little bit of Rocky ground here why don’t we start a little bit in Reverse with the episode how how uh in trouble are the Vikings in

This matchup uh they might be in trouble because you know you see some dnps on Wednesday and you’re like all right maybe they’ll get back and then you see them again on Thursday and and it’s starting to look like they might be without some key defensive players which

Would really be unfortunate against this high-powered Lions offense that just scored 42 against Denver last week it’s Byron Murphy Jr your top cornerback it’s Harrison Phillips who’s your top interior defensive player um denal Hunter was upgraded to limited it seems like he’s going to be able to play

Through an illness and then there’s one more that I’m forgetting right now on defense I think Jonathan Bard’s a little banged up as well he plays a lot of snaps for this team Harrison Phillips did you say him yeah Harrison so it’s Phillips and Murphy I guess are the two

The two big ones offensively it’s it looks like there might not be Alexander Madison or Brian O’Neal again not as concerned about that um I think everyone listening to this would agree that they want Tai Chandler to be the featured back even if Madison is able to play uh

And then I thought David quinberry was actually like completely fine um for a backup right tackle performance but if it’s on the defensive side obviously they need to have Hunter playing but even if it’s just Phillips and Murphy those are those would be two big losses

Yeah you left out they might get Jordan hick back potentially um I was really shocked to see Jordan Hicks was a full participant in practice his first practice um since the November 12th emergency leg leg surgery that he had and I talked to him today after Thursday’s practice he said he was full

Go again and he feels great um he said he was even surprised a little bit at how his leg has responded to some of the onfield work so that’s just going to be a matter I think of the training staff whether or not they want to clear him

Right away after one week um but they might get him back in two weeks um but if they don’t have Bri Byron Murphy I think that’s kind of an underrated loss in terms of who’s up next is it McKai Blackman is it Andrew Booth either way those are guys that we’ve seen in

Moments get thrown on and taken advantage of um and Jared gof Aman Ross St Brown Sam laort they got a lot of targets that they can take advantage of um as well so I I think this is going to be difficult for Brian Flores regardless um if they don’t have their full

Allotment on defense uh even being at home against this Lin shout out to the sheer Insanity of NFL players and Jordan Hicks coming back I mean if I was in an ambulance in the worst pain of my life and they told me you know what good

Thing we caught this or we would have had to hack it off I’d be like you know maybe I’ll sell some insurance uh but instead Jordan Hicks is like all right back to work boys he showed us the scar the other day and it’s like 12 Ines long

And this guy is just going to wander back out there and play that is help for them they’ve survived that with Ivan Pace in there and that gives them a little more versatility with their personnel but Harrison Phillips in my mind has been the most sort of under the radar

Low-key massively important player to this team they’ve been great against the run all season long and he’s the guy in the center at the beginning of the year we were kind of going they don’t really have a true nose tackle here and also usually defensive tackles that are run

Stuffers do not play the type of workload he has I think he’s either already pass his career high or he’s definitely going to go past his career high plus there’s really no answers behind him we’re talking Sheldon day we’re talking jquan Roy like that that one I think could be really difficult

For a team that we know can run the football very effectively this is an interior that already lost to um Dean Lowry for however much that matters and then they lost James Lynch way back in Camp like they’ve lost depth in that spot yeah I I think if you could choose

One player between Harrison Phillips and Jordan Hicks to play as great of a season as Jordan Hicks is having you would pick Harrison Phillips because of the importance that he has to the rest of the defense because of what the drop off is there with the way that Ivan Pace

Jr has played over these last four games without Jordan Hicks yeah I mean if Phillips doesn’t go it’s it’s Sheldon day Jonathan Bullard I think you’d probably have to play a lot of kyus Tonga just to have like that bigger body interior kind of nose guy who can

Theoretically eat up some of the blocks that that Harrison Phillips does but that would be a huge loss because of what he means to the second level and to the rest of the defense uh against the run and this is a Lions team that has two really good productive running backs

In David Montgomery and jir Gibb so hopefully maybe Harrison Phillips can get in a limited session on Friday and have a chance to to go into the weekend with a questionable tag at least but that would be a big loss it would be good to get Jordan Hicks back though

Because then you can you can use both of those guys and and we’ve seen Troy Dy getting like 25 30 snaps the last couple weeks so they would find a way to incorporate both Hicks and Pace into the game plan yeah related to Harrison PHS um potentially being out for the Vikings

The Lions have Frank ragnell and they got him back last week he missed one week somehow after having knee surgery had his knee scoped missed that Bears game that the Lions lost they looked like they really missed him he’s really good obviously at Center for them and

When Brian Flores is throwing all the blitz schemes at them having their Center uh there is is huge so the Lions get a key guy back and the Vikings might be down again and you talked about the secondary Byron Murphy is an interesting one to get perspectives on because

I think that he’s been okay uh serviceable but maybe not what we expected I also don’t think he’s playing the role that we expected I I did not come into this year going oh it’s going to be the Avant guard defense where they just play Picasso out there and there’s

Things moving around and moving Parts I thought it would be more traditional and he would be the nickel Corner which I think is really his true fit in the NFL but they have asked him to be much more of an outside corner play in a lot of

Zones and then come downhill and be a tackler which he has missed a good number of tackles and made some as well I I haven’t looked at it like it has been a disaster signing or terrible or anything like that I think the PFF grades are probably more harsh on them

Than what I felt like watching him at the same time going from him to Makai Blackman may not be like a huge drop off uh I I don’t know that’s that’s how I feel about it like Blackman by the Numbers has had a better season but of course he’s played fewer snaps less

Responsibility Murphy is a veteran out there he’s asked to do a lot I I just feel like if the that position specifically right now is okay if you lose one person and then you have to go to Andrew Booth Jr well then you’ve got more serious problems yeah it would

Concern me a little bit for sure if they don’t have Byron Murphy just because you mentioned it the veteran thing I thought he I think I think he’s tackled really well against the screens this year he’s made a a few tack for loss and just kind

Of been been solid like you he hasn’t when they signed him you’re like oh this 25y old guy um second round pick had some moments in in Arizona maybe just getting away from that franchise he could really kind of Ascend and that hasn’t happened he hasn’t played at some

Kind of Pro Bowl level but I mean you compare him to like Dean Lowry and Marcus Davenport the other free hent signings and he’s he’s clearly been the best one uh but yeah it’s kind of just been all right he’s been solid he’s been their best corner I think uh Caleb Evans

I think maybe has more potential in 2024 2025 but this year I think Bayern Murphy has been their best corner and so they’ll miss the versatility they’ll miss the experience Maki Blackman is another one where he’s showed signs of playing really well he’s had some games where PFF has graded him really highly

And he’s been sticky and then there’s just been times where you know his size becomes an issue and it happened well he just stopped playing on that t Higgins touchdown with less than a minute left in against the Bengals and he got out out leapt by courland Sutton for the

Game-winning touchdown and so there’s there’s been some things like that where you can see you know he’s a rookie he’s learning um he’s he’s growing and yeah if if he’s thrust into a big role here it’s a tough task against Aman R st Brown and Josh Reynolds and and this

Lion’s offense yeah it’s funny how this all happened because the best late plans of the Vikings they they wanted Murphy to be the slot corner I remember talking to Dante Jones back in OTAs about how this guy was brought in to be the um kind of Veteran mind in the middle of

The defense with Jordan Hicks um to kind of help orchest straight and direct all the traffic and and the adjustments and the checks they expected under Flores and then all a sudden they get into the practices and they go and then this is me reading between the lines but clearly

They are looking at their evaluations and thinking we just don’t have the corners to play this and to move Byron inside because that means two different guys or a different guy other than Byron has to play on the outside and then matelis over this year has just played

Everybody else off the field he continues to ball out and has been in that slot position and done it so well shifting between slot nickel linebacker all those different responsibilities um they’ve left them no choice but to just say all right Byron you’re just going to

Be an outside corner even though we paid you to be that kind of versatile guy and and frankly it’s just because of the way the safeties in play folks we are going all in on prize picks this football season every week we are playing and testing out our skills here on purple

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Fantasy sports made easy yeah I assume that that was the reason that Byron Murphy would have been the nickel Corner had Josh matelis not just been so darn effective and when he was showing up every day in training camp Flores did the right thing and adjusted which I I

Think has become his signature is like working with all the pieces and so forth but sometimes that’s going to mean somebody else has to play in their B position where Byron Murphy is probably a C+ corner on the outside and maybe a B+ on the inside but a C+ on the outside

Is still reasonable if you end up with worse than that then you’re going to be in a lot of trouble there’s also another part of this too you mentioned Dean Lowry and Marcus Davenport and I don’t want to get to big picture yet because we’ll get there but these are the types

Of things that happen with these signings like midlevel signings how many of them have worked out for the Vikings just over the years since they signed ktk cousins because that’s all they could really afford but like the Michael Pierce even Sheldon Richardson was like pretty good in 2018 but I don’t think he

Was a massive Game Changer they couldn’t keep him around for the you know more than one season that kind of thing Harrison Phillips is the one that’s worked I guess yeah yeah I’d say dvin thinon and Patrick Peterson paid for both dvin was more than mid-level yeah

Patrick Peterson sort of also more than midlevel those two worked out yeah Patrick Peterson worked out he’s that’s a little different too because it’s Patrick Peterson like they just kind of uh ended up in a good spot with that but I don’t think of Patrick Peterson necessarily as a mid-level player uh

People just thought maybe he was washed so anyway hick I guess Hicks we should mention yeah yeah Hicks has Hicks has been good for them I thought last year kind of is but you know now in a better role so it’s very Hit or Miss like sometimes it works sometimes it’s a

Total wreck and that’s the game that you play with those types of signings uh how good do you fellas feel like the Detroit Lions are use use some sort of madeup metric to tell me how good you think the Detroit Lions are oh man a a madeup

Metric I I don’t know I I’ll try to think about a metric I just think they are caps bitten oh yeah they are like out of a potential 10 kneecaps you could bite how many kneecaps are the Detroit Lions biting as a football team I think like eight I think they’re biting like

Like four out of every five kneecaps I I think they are a a very good football team that I don’t know has the consistency or the defense to beat a San Francisco or a Dallas or maybe even a Philly I think I would probably rank them fourth even though I think Philly’s

Lost three in a row or something I I would still have more confidence in the Eagles over the lions in January uh it it’s a good team it’s an explosive offense Jared Goff is really kind of humming in that Ben Johnson system they’ve got the weapons I mean we we

Clowned I I personally clowned their draft when it happened because I’m like you were on this podcast I was on this podcast reacting reacting live and I’m like you just took jir Gibbs 12th and Jack Campbell 18th and Sam leapa and all these and and it just it is worked out

And you can’t kind of crown at a total success after one year but jir Gibbs after kind of a slow start where they were getting him up to speed in the offense or whatever has looked really good really explosive he is going to be a huge uh challenge for this Vikings

Defense Sam laporta has like nine or 10 touchdown um receptions had three against the Broncos he’s been really really good like they got rid got rid of T.J hackinson and just kind of filled in immediately with Sam leaport I I don’t know too much about Jack Campbell I

Think he’s having a fine season Brian Branch the safety they took in the second round he’s a guy who who you’ll hear about when you talk to Vikings offensive coaches like he’s having a really good year as that versatile kind of not not a full Josh matelis role but

He can uh play deep and he can line up in the box and come off the edge and and do all those different things so are you suggesting that the draft grades right after the draft may not have been right because I I I just can’t take that if

That would be the truth and I I still think there like at the time there was some reason to question the value of just like the positional value of going running back linebacker tight end but to their credit it’s worked out and if if they make a Deep Run in the playoffs

Then yeah I mean nobody’s goingon to be talking about that anymore well if Sam leaport is gonna be the next George KD or with the production like it you know I know he’s a different player but that makes that value worth it certainly and I think you could still question even if

Jir Gibbs plays MVP level the value of taking that at that spot so it’s fair questioning but these guys have just balled out and they’ve got the right system and they’ve got the right Supporting Cast that was already in place um since Brad Holmes got hired in 2021 they’ve drafted pan Su they’ve

Drafted Aiden Hutchinson they’ve drafted all the guys you just mentioned this year uh Aman Alan Ross St Brown was a fourth round pick in his first draft in Detroit um this is going to be a team that’s going to be a headache for not only the Vikings but the Packers the

Bears for years to come and the only question mark is is Jerry goof going to be the guy that they think can lead them to the Super Bowl or are they going to end up resetting at that position and taking a bigger swing at it it’s a

Similar spot as the Vikings the Vikings look like a team in a roster that is one year behind in the rebuild because obviously the Vikings hit the reset button a year later than Detroit so that’s where the Vikings are at right now when we talk about how good Detroit

Is I think that roster is more talented I think they’ve got the coaching right now um it’s just a matter of in this matchup um can the Vikings play well enough in a lot of these key spots we’ll talk about you got a madeup metric a

Made up metric no I don’t he came up with the one that I used kneecaps you came up with the kneecaps kneecaps bitten all right well then you got to think of one I was going to go with out of 64 ounces of iced coffee that apparently Dan Campbell pounds each day

I think they’re like 52 ounces out of 64 because that defense is still extremely weak I like that is that more than an eight out of 10 I’m I’m I can’t do I don’t know who cares and they uh they just don’t have anyone to pressure the quarterback outside of Aiden Hutchinson

And he got off to such a blazing start that it’s funny how this works in my mind he was having an amazing year and I and then I looked it up and I was like oh well you know it’s kind of been okay for Aiden Hutchinson and I think he’s

GNA be a star long term but I’m guessing that there’s been so much attention on him because you’re saying who else and that they put a lot of invest into their secondary but not as much into their pass rush and it has cost them and they did draft a linebacker instead of pass

Rush uh which may have been a mistake for them as far as the draft goes in jir Gibbs I remember what I said right after they drafted and you said oh my gosh I can’t believe they drafted a running back and I couldn’t either and I still

Would say it’s not a good draft pick but the thing that I said was you’re gonna have to play him like and if he’s really good at football that could be a problem it’s sort of like drafting Delvin cook maybe wasn’t the best usage but Delvin

Cook ripped people apart so if the guy turns out to be great he could be a problem in those couple matchups and he in the last say six weeks has really turned out to be great for them and it is a problem and and when you put the

Two things together that we’ve been talking about jir Gibbs their offensive line Harrison Phillips potentially out like there’s H there is still a weak link on this team if the opponent can run and then throw underneath that this team and this defense can be beaten pretty badly at times when that happens

And I thought we even s saw some of that last week like not that they ran super effective but mostly like the underneath passing game but I think if you can run effectively against this defense it causes huge huge problems and I believe that Detroit will be able to yeah there

Are some things when you just look at a matchup basis of kind of um units against units and and players against players that that don’t maybe line up super well for the Vikings this week uh we can there’s a whole conversation we could have about maybe how worried we

Are about the Vikings defense after that fourth quarter in OT in Cincinnati but but sticking with kind of the Lions big picture there there really are some parallels Between the Lions and the Vikings right now that you can see where it’s there’s a lot of roster Talent um

Offense defense I think the Lions have more young talent that is on the the advantageous kind of rookie contracts that that’s coming up and allows you to sort of build more around the Vikings have maybe some more veterans in in those spots but they have some young Talent too and then the quarterback

Position two similar guys in Kurt Cousins and Jared gof that you kind of talk about as are they gonna be the guy or do you need to reset it’s different because KT cousins is gonna be a free agent Jared Goff I believe is under a contract for at least through next year

Through next year okay so so one more year so there’s similarities I think an advantage the Vikings theoretically have is both of these teams are led by really good offensive Minds the Vikings is their head coach the Lions isn’t their head coach and looks like maybe number

One one on the list of guys who might be a head coach next year and there’s always six or seven or eight openings or I guess sometimes four or five but there’s always a a a handful of opening I think there’s already three right now

And there will be more to come after the season so if they lose Ben Johnson then it becomes how much of their success was this one guy and his ability to cook up these schemes and get these Playmakers open and help Jared gof Thrive and how how replaceable is that with somebody

They bring in from outside or maybe they promote the quarterback’s coach or or whatever it might be um and is Dan Campbell is he is he the Mike Tomlin level coach where you can survive um maybe some changes on offense and and just have that leadership and that

Defense and everything because we went through this for such a long time where where Mike Zimmer was a really great defensive mind good head coach for for a long time but they just rotated through offensive coordinator offensive coordinator offensive coordinator and once you get into that sort of cycle

Where you’re getting Pat Shermer hired as a head coach and Kevin stefansky hired as a head coach and all these different things happening it fireing a few they fired a few there was one resigned you didn’t fire them yeah it just became this this cycle so that’s

What the Lions I think need to answer for me to be like all right this is going to be a Powerhouse for the next five to six years yeah when it comes down to Sunday what I’m interested in seeing is is golf versus flores’s part three really because we go back to the

Super Bowl match up obviously when he was with the Rams and then in Miami in 2020 um Miami and and FL has destroyed gof in two and in those yeah and so I think gof has not handled the blitz well in his career he was the most Blitz

Quarterback in the NFL last year coordinators know this they’re going to keep sending the house after him and we know Brian Flores loves to Blitz and I think the difference though is that the Vikings don’t have a lot of talent up front we’re not going to see Marcus

Davenport anytime soon and so the difference between what the Bears and the Packers were able to do they beat the Lions recently um I remember watching the Thanksgiving Day game where had three um fumbles in that game they really got after him the Bears also got

After him and blitzed them on third down and fourth down quite a bit uh the difference is they’ve got Montes sweat Yan andak the Packers have rwn Gary Preston Smith they’ve got more Talent Kenny Clark as well um that that can jump on that Lions offensive line the

Vikings are going to need to find ways to individually beat those guys on the offense that are just frankly better than a lot of their pass rushers and a lot of their Defenders and that’s my question mark because if you can pressure goof can beat him and and you

Can fluster him you can get him off his spot and I think that’s what Vikings coaches who spend all week talking up golf are not saying is that if we can fluster this guy he’s obviously beatable the DJ wanam slander is just it’s not they’re not playing the Bears well uh

I’m gonna say something about Jared gof maybe people uh won’t love it I think Jared GF is a great quarterback I don’t think he’s a good quarterback I don’t think he’s just okay I don’t think he’s a middling type of whatever quarterback I think he’s a great quarterback and

Here’s why this is the third time if it holds where he stands and it may not they’re playing the Vikings twice but if it if it holds where he stands for their offense that it will be the I believe fourth time that they have a top five

Offense a team has a top five offense with Jared gof as their quarterback twice in Los Angeles one of the times they went to the Super Bowl and then twice with the Detroit Lions and at some point you can’t just go oh well it’s the system oh it’s it’s just the weapons

It’s just McVey it’s just Ben Johnson I want to though you can but but I don’t think that’s quite right I think that we can still call a quarterback great even if he has a Kryptonite that doesn’t have to be McVey to or not McVey Mahomes it

Doesn’t have to be momes in order to say that a quarterback is great he has ripped this team apart at times he did it last year at Ford Field he did it in 2018 in one of the best quarterback games I have ever seen in my entire life no

Qualifiers against that against a really good defense from Mike Zimmer in 2018 and he throttled them that night he throws an incredible football and it kind of reminds me a little bit of Eli Manning where because it’s not perfect because he doesn’t move he doesn’t run he’s not the greatest quarterback in the

League it was like well Eli’s not pton well that’s true but I think that Jared gof is good enough I don’t know that the whole team is good enough for Detroit especially on their defense but he is good enough to take a team to the Super

Bowl and when you’re going to play him two of the last three games like yeah I think you could get to him I think you can confuse him I think his Mo lack of Mobility is problematic but I look at him as a quarterback that I would be

Totally fine with as my franchise quarterback year after year and I think that this year has shown it is he gonna have some bad games of course he is again it’s not Mahomes it’s not like it’s never going to be the case but to me his ability to throw the football

Accurately into the right places makes him super dangerous when you have The Playmakers they have he strikes me as a really like more athletically gifted Kirk right like if Kirk were bigger had a bigger arm like all those things he just he seems like a very similar player

Yeah he has played well enough this year I think kind of Beyond a doubt to solidify himself as the guy more than just next year for for a few more years and it’s one of those things where when you’re picking they’re going to be picking towards the back end of the

First round like you’re not going to have an obvious way to replace him anyways and and I I understood the taking a shot on henden hooker in the third round who was really good before his ACL injury he’s very old but you know there’s a there’s a chance that

Maybe he is a solid backup and could be an option a few years down the line before retirement age yeah yeah before before he before he retires he get a few years in but yeah I I think it’s it’s an oversimplification to kind of have the Brock py debate with Jared Goff where

It’s Sean McVey and Ben Johnson and you you have to give the player in the case of both gof and py you have to give the player a lot of credit for making the throws and making the decisions and uh both those guys can actually create outside of structure a little bit more

Um than Kurt Cousins can although we saw a tiny bit of that from Kirk earlier this season but yeah I I think gof has has proven that he is good enough I don’t think he’s ever going to be in that Elite tier but there’s a reason why

It’s the elite tier not there are only so many of those guys you you don’t have to have one to get to the Super Bowl it makes it a lot easier but if you build the team around them and I think they’ve done a really good job of that Brad

Holmes kind of just drafting well filling in pieces with blue chip Talent on both sides of the ball like if if the Detroit Lions got to the Super Bowl this year I wouldn’t be stunned I would be surprised but that offense is good enough that I think they could beat just

About anyone if they caught San Francisco on on an off night yeah I think Wes Phillips said about Goff they he was one of the coaches in in LA with Goff at the time when him and oconnell were over there he had said that like cousins Goff is one of those guys that

If everything is set up right for him he will get it for you you know 100% of the time 10 out of 10 he will hit you know he will hit everything accurately in Rhythm on time uh if you can scheme it up and set it up right and he said

That’s really hard to find there’s not a lot of quarterbacks in this league who are that reliable and consistent so then you combine that with all the athletic Talent we’re talking about I think yeah sure there’s an argument that he’s great it’s just yeah what is your definition

Of great and if it doesn’t have to be momes then no it it doesn’t have to be well Mahomes is in a tier all by himself because I think with that setup in Kansas City this year most quarterbacks who are even considered very good are not winning many football games like you

Can’t just have your receivers drop the ball all the time and also not know the routes half the time it seems like Travis Kel’s been banged up hasn’t had as good of a year maybe distracted I don’t know um but no like you can’t usually have it that poor and their

Offensive line and their tackles aren’t good either like that normally that’s not something that you could still be at the top of your division that says everything about momes and when Jared gol’s team was tanking they lost a lot of games so it’s not like he’s impenetrable to anything but at his best

He is as good as any quarterback in the league and here’s the thing like Kirk Cousins has never led a top five offense this guy’s done it four times and they’ve both had great setups great coaching similar systems all those things I think his true like superpower

Is that arm Talent where it’s not just Tight Windows throws it’s like the velocity like the ball just gets there right so anyway I I’m more impressed with Jared gof I think than most people I think this could be a problem for the Vikings defense in this game but we have

Not talked about the offensive side and the conflict of last week the conflict of last week is wow Justin Jefferson everybody remember that with like three or four catches and Jordan Addison I don’t even know if it was supposed to go to him and he caught a

Touchdown they the weapons in this game Tai Chandler T.J hackinson the weapons had a phenomenal game and they couldn’t get six inches on a overtime tush push and it kind of ruined all of that but if they are able to repeat that again which will not be easy but if they can then

This game can be very interesting I think between these two teams I think it absolutely can I think this has the makings of a potential shootout which we haven’t seen a ton of this year I mean last week was fairly high scoring went to overtime but this could be like a

3430 type of game if the Vikings can hang just because this Lions defense has some difference makers but overall you can you can score against them and uh I think I’m just watching the the game back the offensive tape like yes Nick Mullins had the two really bad

Interceptions and the two Jordan Addison touchdowns were maybe also bad decisions but just forget about those four plays and you watch the the other 30 throws that he had and it was consistent enough I thought theall there’s another pick six mixed in there but yes that’s true

That was all right five Place aside from all those interceptions and the dropped interceptions and the one that got turned over and I know you can’t you can’t forget about that and you shouldn’t because those are the most impactful plays of the game in both Direction I think just on a consistent

Down to- down basis Nick Mullins was dropping back with timing no hitches in Rhythm delivering a perfect throw to Jordan andison or Justin Jefferson on an outbreaking route near the sideline and he was uh delivering the ball on a dig or or a Crosser and putting in a good

Spot and he was getting T.J Hockinson opportunities who T.J Hockinson made made him look good on a couple of those kind of more difficult catches and it was just it was something that had been missing the last few weeks with dobs where he can execute the offense he

Didn’t look lost out there he looked like he he knew what he was doing where he wanted to go with the football he read the defense so I think it was a no-brainer to give him another start I know there’s there’s fans who want to see jiren Hall and want to let’s see

What we have in him like this team is still in the six seed right now they want to win games they they clearly think Mullins gives them the best chance to do that and I think he has a chance this week to put up more yards with how

Good those top three targets are I mean that’s that’s you can put that up against almost anybody in the league Jefferson Addison hackinson and then keep feeding Tai Chandler I just his burst watching the tape back was so so obvious and and making some guys miss at

The point of attack and and being able to go for eight nine yards consistently yeah I think the Bengals defense is really bad um I think we saw that I think that’s why Nick Mullins was able to at least find so many openings they converted a third and 15 with like a

Six-yard hook to hackinson like how does that happen like I just I think Cincinnati was really bad in that game I think that helped the Vikings obviously that’s why Chandler’s first start goes for the most rushing yardage ever under okell which is incredible what you

Predicted by the way you said 120 he had like 160 I was scoffed at and yet it what did I say I said 120 and it was even more than that 157 yeah so my my prediction though is that this is I would take the under I think this is

Going to be lower scoring than people think because of flores’s History against go Goff and then on the opposite side I think Mullen is going to come back to earth a little bit and not to say that he was playing out of his mind it wasn’t that great but it was against

A pretty bad defense that he threw for 300 yards against in in a start that he hadn’t made when was his last start 2021 2021 Browns yeah so I just think that it’s going to look a little tougher against Detroit I know Detroit’s defense is not World beaters I know they’ve been

Uh um pretty vulnerable at time s but I think they’re better than Cincinnati I think both in Personnel if they had mcneel one of their interior guys that’s really good that would help but I think he’s hurt and out so that’s going to help the Vikings and maybe this run game

Keep going um it’s just it’s going to be a fascinating matchup because we’re going to keep talking about these two teams not only in a couple weeks but I think for years to come so the uh Nick Mullins thing is like one of those ink blots that you look at and what’s your

Interpretation like because there’s a different interpretation that looks at how inaccurate some of those passes were where T.J Hockinson is like put it right here right in front of my face mask and and then the throw goes way outside of his shoulder pads and he reaches out and

He grabs it and it’s like completed pass moving on there but at least it was completed right at least it was the right spot and so it’s very funny to watch because you’re like oh the timing is good it’s clearly the right spot and Justin Jefferson talked about it today

With us where he was like he knows it just the way that Kirk knows it but he cannot throw the football farther than like 14 yards and unless you want it to look pretty ugly and he also has the accuracy issue which could result in more interceptions and there was like

Another pick six or two or interception that was kind of missed and I also couldn’t figure out what happened on the Jefferson interception toward the the Red Zone where there was a it was like middle of the field closed and Jefferson’s like well he’s not throwing

It here at this time and he just throws it anyway so there’s some decisions there’s I think Nick Mullins is a little more baller mentality Than People expected he’s a gunslinger but there’s a reason why he threw all those interceptions like Southern Miss gunsling I think I think Nick Mullins

Believes in Nick Mullins and he’s gonna throw that ball when he’s supposed to throw it which is is there’s High variance to that we’ve talked that’s a word that we’ve used a lot there was high variance with dobs there’s High variance with Tommy DeVito there’s High variance with every backup quarterback

And which side of that I have no idea but I think there’s less variance in Tai Chandler and there were actually times plays where it was two runs in a row and I nearly fell out of the Press Box in Cincinnati when I saw and I thought

There you go run twice in a row with this guy and the one thing I was really impressed with Tai Chandler was there were plays where a guy missed a block and he made it right he just dodged that guy he is very very natural in what he

Does so I I think you have to really like kind of Hunker it down a little bit and stay with that run even if it’s not perfect but I also know that that’s not Kevin OK connell’s nature yeah I thought I mean it’s not a perfect comparison by

Any means but I thought he looked like a little bit like kind of prime Alvin cook with the way he was able to make some things right make guys miss immediately and get those consistent chunks and and the burst to get a couple different 25

30 yarders in there I think you have to lean on Tai Chandler in this game feature the run early in often which they were able to do um last week early against the Bengals it’s just it makes it so much easier for Kevin oconnell even if you can get especially you can

Get eight yards like they were on a bunch of first down carries but even if you can get five or six and you’re in second and four second and five and just all the things that that does to your playbook there was just too many times earlier this season and it wasn’t always

Alexander Madison’s fault because the Run blocking wasn’t great at times but it was a one-yard run on first down and then it’s second and nine and then you’re getting pressure and it just it makes things really hard when you’re able to stay on schedule ahead of schedule U Move the six consistently and

Then try to generate some explosives with your your Justin Jefferson Jordan Addison’s like I just I think they should they should be able to move the ball in this game Nick Mullins I kind of thought like just earlier this season when I’m thinking about all the quarterbacks when Kirk goes down I’m

Like all right Nick Mullins maybe he’s like the low variance option like dobs will be a roller coaster jiren Hall we have no idea Mullins you kind of know no Mullins is just a different dobs basically like that was he’s just going to sling it he’s going to run around

There was one play where he just jumped up and down in the pocket didn’t and didn’t even throw it and I was like all what are you doing so he’s I mean he’s fun he’s aggressive he definitely is is that Gunslinger like like other uh Southern Miss quarterbacks and he’s just

Gonna he’s gonna be aggressive and it’s it’s gonna be it’s gonna lead to some turnover possible plays and it might lead to some more uh wild touchdowns so we’ll see you know I didn’t think Favre as I was watching M I didn’t I didn’t have that come to oh you didn’t okay all

Right I was just making the the Gunslinger we were joking yeah about I think this guy was just firing darts and the one as you mentioned um wasn’t even targeted to Addison the touchdown to Addison was just ridiculous I think the second one whatever it was um in the end

Zone there where it it just kind of went through multiple Bengals it seemed like um I think he was throwing to Addison on that was he was he okay I I don’t know I don’t know there was a lot of traffic in the area um I think the Madison injury

Though we didn’t see Madison practice today either on Thursday that’s going to give them a nice excuse to start Tai Chandler again because they seem reticent to want to start Chandler when both are available and I just don’t understand it I don’t understand it either I mean he graded really well from

A pass blocking perspective I couldn’t find a negative rep for pass blocking there was one time where he went the wrong way on a handoff okay I mean if if I’m gonna get 150 yards out of the guy and there’s one misstep I don’t know I guess that’s fine

With me uh the Gap is so significant between their running ability I just I don’t know what else you want and theyve they’ve been kind of defending it a little bit this week and talking about the development word and the like oh he wasn’t this player back in week three

And it is hard to know how true that is because we aren’t there watching practice behind the scenes and things like that but it makes me roll my eyes a little bit because how much better has he really gotten with coaching on on a Thursday over the course of this season

I think you could have played him a lot more earlier this season from the start of the Season perhaps even and lived with some of the trial and error mistakes the learning moments in pass protection or whatever and and I still think it would have been more worth it

Because Alexander Madison has averaged 3.7 yards per carry and fumbled like three times oh yeah maybe if KT cousins wasn’t credited with like the most fumbles among quarterbacks through the first six weeks they would have got to him sooner honestly maybe it had to do with the fact that their offense was on

Such a razor thin margin and coughing the ball up at such a rate but Madison was also doing the coughing and so I think this has taken way too long as you guys are talking about and and Chandler just that speed and quickness like this run blocking is not good right it’s not

Consistently good and when you’ve got speed and quickness it makes up for a lot of it there’s a play in the game when I was watching the tapback where they’re supposed to double team a guy but instead they triple team a guy and they leave somebody wide open it’s on a

Pitch just like totally unblocked it meant nothing to Tai Chan it was just like whoop and then he was he was gone that guy is absolutely taking down Alexander Madison for a three yard gain and not a nine yard gain my guess is that there’s truth to all rumors about

Chandler not knowing everything about the offense yeah I’m not dismissing that in entirely but if I also as a coach had a moment where I was like oh whoops I would also be like well he wasn’t ready uh you guys don’t understand you’re not a practice you didn’t see it he really

Wasn’t ready I right I mean wouldn’t you you wouldn’t be like oh man we had no idea it was going be we screwed this one up uh I I would also say too that uh I I didn’t need Ken Wong wo last week you might need him this week and with both

Of these guys I think it’s a reasonable criticism to say when you look at Miami and how they use four3 Runners why do you have two 43 Runners that you couldn’t figure out away a couple times a game to get the football I know it’s all built around Justin

Jefferson But Ken Wong’s just been chilling for two years watching kicks fly over his head that’s a lot of effing speed to watch kicks fly over your head right like there’s got to be something that that man can do with the football in his hands and the same thing with you

Know Tai Chandler that we all thought that like there’s got to be something he’s you know playing three plays a game or whatever and uh We’ve figured that out so I think it’s both a reasonable explanation and also a little bit of a no we had it right totally right and you

Guys are wrong you are one of the the last few residents on on K wongu Island as a as a potential offensive player I and I like it I don’t disagree just get him the ball like there’s there I think there’s a lot of talented teams that

Find ways to set up like think of Cordo back in the day were like just make it a punt return like atmosphere for him throw a little screen bubble screen whatever just set it up and with K it would just be a gap scheme run where

You’re telling him this is the hole just hit it just run really fast and this is what we need and they’re not a good Gap scheme running team they don’t always block them well maybe they don’t have confidence in that and uh they clearly are reticent to put out a guy in

Chandler who’s ready for a three- down roll that he showed us uh and they won’t even put out yeah Wong wo for you know a couple Gadget plays or something there what game was it New Orleans there was a pitch to The Edge for Kenny wongo got

The ball he got like eight yards because he hit the edge and I think the New Orleans players like what yeah and then they never did it again so I’m asking for like two plays a game but how about you know a little reverse act whatever take whatever trick play you’ve put in

Out and put the give the ball to Ken Wong in I guarantee you this will work uh let’s talk about CU we can talk about the big picture on these teams when they play in two weeks and we’ll know better if the Vikings are in the playoffs or

Not and where our discussion is going to live but for this particular game uh how are we sizing it up do you think that the Vikings will win or will they lose I am not going to pick a Vikings win because I don’t think they’re the better

Team I think they easily could win I think every single game no matter who it is against is a one- score game so it’ll come down to those one or two plays although if there was a week where the the dam was finally gonna break and

They’re going to lose by like 17 I don’t think that’s gonna happen because it never happens but it could happen this week against the Lions with just some of the uh personnel and schematic advantages that they have if if Mullins throws couple picks early and you fall

Behind and and that team starts to really lean on you with David Montgomery jir Gibbs if you’re without Harrison Phil PHS Byron Murphy um I could see it maybe getting out of hand but at the same time the Vikings have so much skill position talent and I’m not ready to

Write off Brian Flores defense at all just because they had a bad fourth quarter in not uh I do think it’ll be close but I’m probably gonna pick the Lions I I would say to Vikings fans like just big picture go into this one like with reasonably low expectations and if

They win it that’ll be really fun for you but they’re kind of playing with house money at this point in the season without Kurt Cousins on their fourth starting quarterback like I don’t think this is a team that’s really going to be capable of making a Deep Run in the

Playoffs if they get there that’ll be fun we’ll talk about it we’ll analyze it um but if they don’t get there it’s just kind of what we expected when Kirk Cousins got hurt so go into this with uh low expectations and maybe they’ll pleasantly surprise you on Christmas Eve

Yeah I think logically I I see a the matchup we all talk about right in terms of the more talented Detroit offense and I just see them leaning on this Vikings defense in the second half the fourth quarter maybe it’s a struggle to run the ball early for them but then they break

It open in the second half that’s logically how I see it happening but it would be so NFL for the Vikings to jump out to a big lead uh San Francisco style like they did in the Monday night win against the Niners jump out to a lead

And then hold on to it against a quarterback in gof who has to try to throw his way back into it that would be the kind of um script I could see the Vikings following to a win it would just be totally NFL for the other team to

Just kind of flip is that is that what you’re picking though I’m not because again I I logically I’m horrible at picking these things I think what’s going to happen is Detroit is going to be the more talented team they’re going to not make the critical mistakes that

Cost them games against Chicago and Green Bay in terms of the turnovers I think a Vikings team starting their fourth quarterback is more prone to those mistakes so no I think the Vikings are gonna lose but that’s what makes it fun who knows I’ve never felt so lost

Picking games as I have this year every week it’s like well I have no idea uh but you know we just make pick because we do and it’s fun to do but I mean I I would also go with the Lions here and I’m leaning a little more toward where will seems to

Be at which is that the Lions might win by 10 or more points because as the Vikings get injured and the Lions get healthier that that Gap grows of the talent between the two sides and with Mullins he just gave me so many reasons not to trust him I mean like they they

Were executing the offense moving it up and down the field but the turnovers the interceptions the also attempted turnovers by him I think were pretty concerning and it took a lot of great catches to make that thing go and it took a lot of great runs by Tai Chandler

To make that thing go I’m not sure and they got to 24 points which is not special it’s like a average amount slightly above average amount in the NFL and they had a great day other than some QB sneaks um so we’ve all picked the Lions congratulations to the Vikings on

Their e win of the Season what a huge win it’s going to be for the Vikings since we all just did this yeah that was all setting up to say would I be even the slightest bit surprised if Jared gof had one of those days against flores’s

Defense where he looks kind of flustered and confused and throws the ball into the dirt a bunch of times and they lose no I I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that happens so uh it will be really something and if they win then all the

Air that went out of the balloon last week we’ll go right back in it this week uh for the fan base so we’ll see what happens but of course we will be there at US Bank St Stadium to cover it and we will you know we only got a couple more

Round taes left so these have been fun uh thanks everybody for watching listening and we will catch youall later