Vikings 5-0 start, Gophers football, Dodgers swept, Wolves start | H&H Podcast

What's going on? Welcome back to the H&H podcast. Did you miss us? I know it's been a while. We've been inconsistent, but look, we're here now. We're here for the long call. We got a lot of football to talk about, a lot of basketball coming up, WNBA finals tipped off, all that stuff. So Blake's here. I'm Ahmad Hicks. You all know the drill, so let's get right to it. Vikings are 5-0. Kevin O'Connell has Kyler Murray, the first-year Viking, off to a good start now that he's played two full games. I don't know if you noticed the last couple of games that he's played, but been very efficient, hasn't turned the ball over, has gotten the ball to his playmakers, Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson, to help them win games. And I think we saw a small glimpse in that New Orleans Saints game of what's to come for the Vikings offensively for Kyler Murray with the running and extending plays and extending drives. I think we saw a small sample size last week. I thought that against the Saints, that was his best game by far. It wasn't even close. Of course. So he clearly, to me, looked extremely comfortable with running the football. He had not looked comfortable the first couple of games back from the concussion, which it makes sense, right? Like everybody will be a little bit skittish about getting out there when you get knocked out like that. But I got to give props to the dude. He looked really, really good. You know, it'll be interesting to see us be fully healthy. Right. Because in that Saints game, we were without Jordan Addison, I believe. Mm-hmm. And J.J. returned. You were without Jordan Addison. You were without Christian Darrisaw. You were without Donovan Jackson. Still no Jordan Mason. You know what I'm saying? No Jordan Mason. And then you lost T.J. Hawkinson the second play offensively. So you were without five out of 11 starters? Yeah. And you should have everybody back by now. Come on now. Now, I think that Jordan Mason is going to be available this coming weekend, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He will be back more than likely. Coming off IR. Christian Darrisaw will be ready to come back. Jackson obviously gone for the season. T.J. Hockenson should be coming back out of the concussion protocol. So you're talking about an offense this weekend taking on a struggling Indianapolis Colts team. Just fired their general manager this morning. So they just fired their GM. And you're talking about taking on a team that does not have an identity, He has a quarterback coming off an Achilles injury that doesn't look like himself and Daniel Jones versus the number one defense. And, oh, let's not forget to mention, all the guys are coming back offensively. Kyler Murray will have TJ Hawkinson, Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jordan Mason, and Aaron Jones. I mean, come on, Lake. And you have some intel on Daniel Jones because he was with you at the end of last year. Come on, Lake. Come on. Are we sipping Kool-Aid this weekend? You feeling good? I don't feel bad about the matchup. Why would I? So 6-0 for the Vikings this week. I believe, oh, yeah, I mean, at home, yeah, you're 6-0, yeah. Can we address your lack of quarterback whisperer concerns you have for KOC, what he's doing with Kyler in such a short window? Well, hold on, hold on. See, here we go. He's got it twisted. You got your boy twisted. The quarterback whisperer has always been about rookie quarterbacks, young quarterbacks. So not veterans. It's never been about that. We talked about that. You clicked it last year. We talked about that. So, yeah, Kyler Murray don't fit in that category. Especially a guy that's been to a Pro Bowl. So he should be good is what you're saying. Yeah, yeah. Any surprises this season for the Vikings? Nah, I mean, in terms of predictions, I said that, well, I'm surprised they're undefeated. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and say that going into the year I thought they'd start off the season fine. I think we're all a little bit surprised by that. We're all surprised by that. Yeah. I'm not surprised at how Dallas Turner's played. Like, we called that. We called that from day one. We knew that guy was going to get turnt up. I'm surprised that at the level that Harrison Smith played at last week, I know that the first couple of games that he played, he looked a little rusty. Nah, against New Orleans, he was back. So you're saying with the trade deadline here approaching in the next couple of weeks, you don't think newly appointed GM Nolan Teasley will need to make a move at the safety position? Not necessarily. I mean, how much upgrading can you do at this point? A couple names out there, Budda Baker, Antoine Winfield, you know, two safeties, very notable safeties. What do you have to give up to get an Antoine Winfield at this point? That's a very good question. Maybe it's a fifth-round pick that you got for J.J. McCarthy. Maybe it's a second or third rounder. I think, if anything, you need to upgrade your offensive line situation with Jackson out now. I agree. That's the thing to me that's more of a need than a safety. And when I speak with people close within the four walls there at the Vikings, camp they pretty much they're echoing the same sentiment and I think offensive line tight end helped because what they lost in Josh Oliver man you're talking about a guy who can physically maul an opposing defensive end or linebacker or safety and corner he's gone now you're talking about Max Bredeson, a rookie trying to take on a big load that's not really his his forte playing that position that that that that big wide position or big H position however they describe it there So, I think that offensive line, tight end, that will have to be an area that they attack if they want to capitalize in this win-now window that they're in right now. So, that's how I feel about it. I do got to give a shout-out, though, to Aaron Jones because, to me, in my opinion, Aaron Jones has been the MVP offensively of this team. He has carried the football way more than anybody ever expected or imagined because we have two running backs and our, you know, other running back, younger running back um got hurt in the first game with the thumb for Aaron Jones to play to the level that he's played at has been remarkable it really has been um you're not at five and oh without his contribution i agree he's been no he's been spectacular i agree and a lot of runs a lot of praise goes towards the defense rightfully so yeah, Will Reicher could be an MVP candidate for this team, I mean leading the team in points but like you said, Aaron Jones, without Aaron Jones and I said this yesterday during Vikings game day live. Yes, he does great in the run game. But what he does in the pass protection game does not get enough credit. The way he throws his body in there. When I'm going back and watching the all-22 view and I'm breaking down the film and I'm seeing this guy that weighs maybe 180 pounds soaking wet going to go pick up a blitzing linebacker that weighs 240, 250, getting knocked down but standing right back up, that's the heart of your team. Like, he is the leader of your team. And not only is he the leader of your team in doing the pass protection, he's on pace, like, to break his all-time high in carries this season. So through five games, he has 97 carries right now. That's too many. The most carries he's ever had in his career, 255 his first year with the Vikings. He's on pace to do that now with 12 more games. He's not going to do it, though. I mean, you think that's only 12 more carries? That's 12 carries a game. Yeah, he's not going to do that, though. I think what's going to happen is I think that when Mason comes back, they know that Jones needs a break, yeah he needs a break and they got to keep him fresh for sure because they know that come postseason he's the lead guy, I need that because of all of the things that you just talked about how versatile he is yeah, all the different things he does for your passing game with protection stuff like that so there I think that what they need to do especially against I don't want to say inferior opponents because you can get beat by anybody on any given sunday but i guess my point is that Mason is fresh yeah he doesn't have um a whole lot of nicks and bruises on his body right now he's fully healthy bring him in over the course of the next few weeks ease him in there give him the increased carries to freshen up Aaron Jones should we give life or should i say should we give legs to the rumor mill that's out there that said that Vikings may potentially be interested in a running back out there by the name of Saquon Barkley you look at the Philadelphia Eagles Jalen Hurts news just got broke momentarily um I mean just a couple of minutes ago about him gonna miss the rest of the season because they discovered not only the blood clots in his leg but now they discovered something in his lung and so it's like all right that's very dangerous so he's gonna miss the remainder of this year so what does that look like for the Philadelphia Eagles as they struggle right now they're gonna struggle they're gonna lose or do they sell though no you're talking about you got a lot of talent on the team sitting at two and four right now not going to be good are the Colts going to sell with them firing their GM and and being as bad as they are right now are the Chargers going to sell they're oh and six right now it's a lot of teams with some interesting pieces on them the Chargers should be should be selling okay but if that's the case what do you what do you give up for Justin Herbert or do you give up anything for Justin Herbert this year because you have Kyler Murray who's oh no I'm not talking about we're We're talking about trade mills right now for the Vikings. Yeah, no, when you were throwing out, you know, teams. I'm talking about teams that they could potentially be working with. I'm not, I'm not, yeah, I'm not, I mean, I like Josh Herbert, but something's not right right there. Right. And he's kind of had this attitude in the last couple of weeks, like he doesn't care as much. And he made a reference to something about winning off the field. I mean, I know Madison Beer's a, you know, she's like, we ain't talking like that, bro. Now you're getting reckless. Now we're starting to question you. Did he say that? He said he's winning off the field. He said something about, like, I'm winning in other areas of life or something like that. It's something I'm paraphrasing there. He is. But. He is. We're talking about football. Not practice. We are. We're talking about football games. Two things can be true at the same time. He can be winning off the field and he can be struggling on the field. Yeah, you can be a winner in life and you can be a loser on the football field, bro. Well, right now it's been a lot. Get your mind right. I don't want to hear my quarterback talking like that. It's been a lot of losers all around. I mean, when you're talking about football, everybody, I feel like, lost this weekend. Thankfully, the Gophers didn't play this weekend. They got by. But the last time that they played, you remember we said this. We said Purdue was a good team that was ascending. And the way they played the Gophers last year at Huntington Bank Stadium, we knew before the season started this was not a game that you could circle as a win. I circled it as a win. Okay, I didn't circle it as a win. I had a little bit more belief in Purdue and Barry Odom. but I did not expect them to go out there and perform the way they did after that Michigan game I felt like that was a time for PJ Fleck and crew to capitalize on that momentum and have a chance to go into this bye week with only one loss and being like you know what we're a serious contender but this is the problem I'm listening okay this is unfortunately what PJ does to me PJ I'm speaking to you directly. As a Gopher fan, I have this syndrome that most Minnesota sports fans suffer from. The moment that we believe and we go all in, we get hurt. That's the reason why I'm single today. Ladies, I'm sorry. I've been hurt a lot, but this is what happens. I had tweeted and made comment about the Gophers before the Big 10 got underway and it was something to the effect of I'm not sure that this team when you look at the schedule will win more than two games which which means three well they won their first two right off the bat and then i'm and then i'm like man i gotta slow my roll i'm questioning pj and i just wasn't seeing things clearly right like My bad, PJ. I wasn't familiar with your game. Well, they won two of their first three. They lost to Mississippi State. They got dumped at home. No, no, I'm talking about Big Ten. Okay, yeah, yeah. They won their first three games. Because it was Washington. Yeah, they got a big run at Michigan at home. And then Michigan. And so I'm like, I'm in. You got to sip in the Kool-Aid, huh? Yeah. But that's the problem. But we talked about this even before the season started. The moment that we start to have success and then you want to fall in love, then they just smack you in the face. And that's what happened with Purdue. no one saw that like that was not a close game that was a beatdown Nick Saban said it in his documentary on ESPN now called Saban relief syndrome everybody gets it in sports you get a big win the adrenaline you get to sniffing yourself people start telling you how good you are then you just think you got to show up and play and you forget about the work that goes in throughout the week now I'm still a believer in this team I was not a huge believer before this season But I think this team has potential. You got the schedule? I have the schedule right here. Let's go through it. Rest of the way. Because they got two wins. I said, I questioned. So they're 4-2 right now. I questioned three weeks ago. I said, I'm not sure they're going to win three games. So it's six games remaining for the Gophers right now. Iowa, Indiana, UCLA, Penn State. That one's shaky. I give them that one. Northwestern, who's also ranked, and UCLA is ranked. Yeah, UCLA is on a resurgence. Top 10 right now. Right now, from what I've seen out of Northwestern, I'd have to give the edge to Northwestern. Slight edge. Last one, Wisconsin on the road. They've gotten better, but I don't believe in Fickle. So out of that, you've given them two wins. I definitely think they get a third game. So they go back to a bowl game. They get the Duke's Mayo Bowl game, probably. That's no shame, man. That's no shame. That's a six-win sketch, you know. Hey, look. I'm just saying. Shout out to them boys and what they did earlier this year. That's shade. One, Michigan, it's a down year. So it is P.J. Fleck's first win versus Michigan, but they're in a very bad year. They did just beat Penn State, but, you know, they're in a down season. Washington, you can make the same argument that they're no longer a top 25 program, so while we celebrated those wins, like, all right, we got our two signature wins, well, when the dust settles and those records come to fruition at the end of the year, they may be middle of the pack, bottom tier, Big 10 team. So did you really get any signature wins? Yeah. Now's that time. I think there's a lot of doubt surrounding P.J. Fleck. Everybody kind of forgot about the Mississippi State game, and they kind of dusted off their frustrations, and they're like, all right, we're 4-1. Then this game kind of was like, all right, here we go. So now I think this next stretch of four games, you got three out of four your next three opponents out of your next four are ranked inside the top 15 of all three, too. Let me see. You've got to get a win versus one of those three. For fans to continue to feel good about you, they have to win two more games at least. Minimum, they have to win two games. Yeah, you got to get to a bowl game. You got to get to a bowl game. For fans to feel good. But he's not going anywhere, though. No, no, no. When it comes to the culture and the sustainability and the people he's sending to the NFL, kudos to P.J. You can't do a better job than that. But when you talk about raising your program and getting signature wins, let's also be mindful, and i'm not very i don't always provide context when we sometimes go after P.J. and the Gophers here on this show they are at the bottom of the pack when it comes to NIL revenue funding for football compared to the top of the Big 10 so it is very hard to ask P.J. to go out here and go win 10 11 games go to the college football playoff and things like that but as the college football landscape shifts in the next couple of years it's expanding from 12 to 24 you would like to see your Gophers have a chance to be in the playoffs year i don't always i get the NIL stuff i really do i'm not trying to shortchange what money brings to the table but i don't get all wrapped up into it as much as everybody else um just because i understand the resources or the lack of talent that you may have due to the money aspect but if you can be Michigan you can be Purdue they beat Michigan so you got to be purdue that's all i'm saying and that's been a problem with him it's the thing Regardless of NIL, there's been moments that me and you have talked about golf and football the last couple years, actually. And you're like, hmm. And then they raise their level, and then they upset somebody. Yeah. It's just like, can you sustain that success? Yes, yes. I think that's our big problem, yeah. But you got to win one of these next four games, man. Yeah, two games takes them back to a bowl game, gives them the chance to be undefeated. But, man, you got to give your program some life. You got to give fans hope. They don't want to come out to the bank. and watch you get dumped versus Iowa or UCLA that's a top 10 team or Northwestern that's a top 25 team. Like, you got to give us some life, give them some hope. Yeah, but that being said, they don't have a lot of money in NIL, so it's hard in this era. I get it. Can we also talk about money and all that being spent and the Los Angeles Dodgers being swept by the Milwaukee Brewers? Shout out to the brew crew and what they were able to do this year. Phenomenal run they're on right now. But to go down 0-4 with all that money spent? Yeah, let me, I'll say what I said last week on the show, and we didn't talk about this, me and you didn't talk about this, but I'll just go ahead and say it here on H&H. As much as I love Mookie Betts, and as much as I love Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman, and Dave Roberts, I'm glad that the Dodgers lost in the fashion that they lost. Because I don't want a salary cap in Major League Baseball. I don't want it. Don't want to see it. um i think that the commissioner rob manfred is ridiculous and this is the reason why i say that i am somebody that the same way in this protect college sports act they're trying to diss college athletes by putting a cap on how much money they make but not do the same on uh the coaches which is hypocritical and it's wrong because we talk about oh man uh capitalism and uh free markets and all that stuff we love all that stuff here in the United States of America right we champion that we celebrate that but then when it's certain people that's getting a cut of the pie now we got to get off of that I digress in Major League Baseball I don't want a salary cap because I want the players to not be capped on how much money that they will make and follow me now for cycle. I believe that instead of having a salary cap, they need to have a salary minimum. There needs to be a floor. Don't let the billionaires that own these teams off the hook. So instead of having the disparity the way that it is, you can close the disparity by having some of those teams out there that typically don't spend a lot. No, they got to spend more. Put it more on the teams and the organizations as opposed to the players. Telling the billionaires how to spend their money, huh? And think about this. Tampa, one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, they're not going to lose 200, bro. They're going to go to the World Series. Are they going to beat Cleveland? Yeah, they're going to beat Cleveland. And then you've got them versus Milwaukee. And Milwaukee, I think, for salary this year, I think was 17th? So my point is this, is that what baseball needs is the salary floor to come up and also just... They rank 19th. 19, GM and the analytic crew just do a better job. I'm kind of with you on that. I would like to see baseball more competitive from the top down and know that you just won't see the same teams in the playoffs. See, the excuse is always going to be, oh, salary cap, salary cap, salary cap. No, this refutes that. Right. This does. Right. Like Rob Manfred, he didn't want that to happen. Rob Manfred wanted the Dodgers to win, and then they can have those conversations. Because the lockout is going to occur on December 2nd. Right. I don't think this helps at all, and I'm happy. that's going to be an interesting offseason for baseball man it's going to be an interesting World Series too we got about three to four minutes left before we have to wrap this up Wolves hold on before we go back to Wolves real fast college football playoff expands from 12 to 24 is that a good thing or a bad thing terrible terrible I don't like it look I'm going to watch because I love college football I don't think it's good because to me now we're getting into the phase with college football of everybody is it's the whole participation thing like how did this week can help the help any of that we had so many upsets i don't think this helps you know i'm on i'm on both sides of it i see it as a win for the smaller programs like minnesota who does not have a ton of NIL revenue but may have a chance if you're one of the top 24 you can sneak in there you can get more eyes on it you can get more boosters to look at your program and be like we're dumping more money into our program but i also get it's a win for ESPN it is they're going to get way more money um but and we're going to sit there and watch it bad game or not we're gonna watch it i'm gonna watch it but as a fan the matchups do get watered down and i do think that it doesn't help the little guy every every level of sport that you play you go through a playoff except for in college football you go through a playoff in basketball tennis baseball college all that stuff you go through a playoff football is the only sport where you didn't go through a playoff of more than 12 we are talking about implementing the Protect College Sports Act and we and we know that there are things like CTE and major injuries and now you want college kids to play more games make it make sense and you want them to make less money make it make sense Row the boat sky you might go Gophers i want to see the Gophers in the college football playoff within the next three to four years PJ hopefully if they expand to 24 you're a top 25 team don't just finish in the big top half of the Big 10 we got a chance all right Timberwolves tip off on Wednesday against the Miami Heat and that game will be in Miami taking on Giannis on the first two games are away games. Yep, taking on the Heat and the Magic Wednesday and Friday. LaMelo Ball era officially begins this week with Anthony Edwards. What are your thoughts heading into this season? Miners sky high. I'm not predicting them to go to the finals and just walk away with that. I still think that we need to figure out who's going to be our power forward when Jonathan Kaminga goes to the bench. Where's that height, that athleticism, and that rebounding coming the only concern that i have for this team is how well and at what level would they defend that's it that's it i'm not worried about scoring they got enough scores they got guys on the bench that can score they got guys from um from that that start they can score and we know that jay McDaniels is one of the best two-way players in the game Ant's got to get better about the two-way but the bottom line is can they defend at a high level we know Rudy can defend we know Jay can and defend will the rest of the squad defend that's what i care about that's all you want to see this season the offense i'm not concerned about the offense and secondly man just over the course of the last week because i was at Tim Connelly's um uh ping pong a bit last night you about to fan out now i just do what's name i think that Dante Divincenzo's rehab has gone spectacularly well too well i mean i mean like dude just got hurt in may they they look they posted some uh some video of him in the gym last week i saw that look good i don't know and last night he was playing in the tournament he was moving back and forth yes so you're breaking some news that he gonna be good to go i'm not saying that i just he was he was in a good place man he was he was happy it's something about these these new new surgeons or new practices they have because Calvin Russell a wide receiver for Syracuse highly ranked recruit coming out of Miami wide receiver tore his Achilles this summer or in spring ball and just scored his first touchdown the other day and I was like I saw a touchdown I said didn't he just tear his Achilles it's crazy what they're doing nowadays Dante DiVincenzo coming back early Lake with the tip for us maybe got the inside source there I don't know I'm not I'm not saying that he's going to come back early I think that I put it like this I think he's going to come back earlier than what we all expect and he'll be a pivotal piece when he returns the basketball season is upon us NBA tip-off is tomorrow but the Wolves tip off Wednesday the Vikings tee it up Sunday at home versus the Colts and the Gophers, they get back to it this weekend. It'll be another tough task for them taking on a ranked team in Iowa, border battle for us here in Minnesota. So we're going to see how that goes. And Lake and I will be right back here, same place, same time next week to update you guys and fill you in on everything that's happening around the sports world.