What to make of Vikings' 16-10 win over Colts, 6-0 start | Vikings Now Podcast

Hi everyone and welcome to another edition of Vikings Now. Pierre Nugent, Ahmad Hicks with you. And your Minnesota Vikings are a perfect 6-0 as they return from the bye week. I would say in style, but I don't know if I can fully say in style. But at the same time too, again, you cannot argue with winning. And the Vikings are doing just that. 16-10 is the final over the Colts. Defensively, special teams wise, they have all the style. All the fashion. All the flair. offensively it's like the kid who says they know how to dress but they still need the help from a stylist we're trying to piece it all together right now still not there offensively nonetheless a 16 to 10 victory for the vikings they show flashes throughout this game but as kevin o'connell said after the game we're not far away offensively that is i i've heard that a couple of weeks in a row now in a row now though my issue with that we'll start with the bad that's that's fine let's start with the bad pulling the gym we start with the bad we'll start with the bad yeah jim's not here so I got to pick up the slack for the negativity around here so um so uh we're looking at this Vikings offense and like you said Kevin O'Connell has said that he feels that this team and his offense in particular is on the ascent I felt that way when the Vikings walked off the field with a victory in New Orleans I thought to myself maybe this this offense is starting to turn a bit of a corner and is looking better and better coming off of a bye week and coming off of Kyler Murray's performance over the previous three weeks where he got better with each passing game going back from Tampa to Miami to New Orleans you get a bye week now Jordan Addison comes back healthy Jordan Mason is back healthy TJ Hawkinson essentially missed the entire game against New Orleans with a concussion he was back healthy the only piece you're missing on offense right now is donovan jackson and the vikings offense comes out and produces this as a result it feels more of a step back that's why i'm going to disagree with kevin o'connell we have a six game sample size now and i know that Kyler Murray missed week two against the Bears but you have a six game sample size now of this offense and has looked remarkably the same for the most part each and every passing week so why should i take Kevin O'Connell at his word that this offense is getting better because i think like you said everyone just came back for the first time so this is the first full game with all of those starters minus Donovan Jackson so yes everyone's back but that doesn't mean you know how Hockenson's gonna run his route with the timing with Addison out there with Justin Jefferson out there it still takes time some continuity so when you go back and you look at the film and i had the luxury of rewinding the game i wasn't at the game today so i had the luxury of rewinding some stuff and there i see what Kevin O'Connell was talking about the first drive where the pass gets incomplete or not the first drive but one of the first few drives it's a third down play throws the ball to Justin Jefferson he's right there arms get hit in the pocket you're like all right if they would make that they probably extend the drive maybe go get some points on that drive there was another situation where Justin Jefferson Kyler Murray couldn't hook up when he's running a dig route or a curl route ball's not there right on time i think that happened twice But that's all about timing. Like, all right, have we repped this route a lot during practice? Have we ran this route during a game? Because I'll tell you this, Pierre, running routes versus your scout team at practice is vastly different from running routes in a game. Sure. So if Kyler Murray doesn't have reps on a live defense in a game, like throwing this curl route where Justin may work back from 12 to 10, are we used to this, et cetera? Now, easy throws. He's an NFL quarterback. He should make these throws. but you just asked me to give you a reason why we should still have some optimism for this team about them heading in the right direction. And I think that if you look at the misses and I didn't go back and dissect the film all the way, I didn't see the end zone copy yet. I just was able to rewind the TV copy. They are just right there. And you could say that in the San Francisco, not San Francisco, the new Orleans game versus the saints. If they just piece some more drives together, don't put the ball on the ground. They very well win in a blowout fashion and everyone's talking about how good that offense is. I think we also saw a very, very desperate Indianapolis team that needed a win in the worst way. Yeah, and that kind of brings me a little bit to that point is Indianapolis was a wounded animal going into this game. They fired their GM, Chris Ballard. Things were going south in a hurry for the Indianapolis Colts. You know, this was a game that I thought Minnesota had a chance to just pounce on a team when it was hurt and win this game. Maybe not running away, but I thought that Minnesota could win this game by double digits. Whether it was 10, whether it was 14, I thought that Minnesota was capable of winning the game by that margin. Now, to be fair, and I say this all the time, you only have to win by one. And that's all that matters. You only have to win by one. There's no style points here in the NFL. So, you know, not to take anything away from the Vikings, but I do think that we do have to give a little bit of credit to the Colts. They came in here, like I said, a wounded animal, but they showed fight. They showed resiliency. They showed toughness. I thought perhaps this was a team that may have decided to quit early on their head coach who might be on the brink of getting fired. We don't know yet with Shane Steichen out in Indianapolis. But I thought that Minnesota was going to look refreshed. I thought they were going to look sharp, especially on offense. And this is really, this conversation is geared more towards the offense because like you said, defensive special teams speaks for themselves right now. Offensively, I thought it would be a little more complete. The numbers on Kyler Murray, it's not terrible. 14-24, 150 yards and a touchdown, had the big 35-yard scramble that set them up for their only touchdown of the game. And he had a wide-open Juwan Jennings on that play. So, listen, the numbers will tell you it wasn't a bad game by Kyler Murray by any means, but the eye test today was a little bit different than what I saw in previous three games. You know, it's kind of hard to argue that. I just think that what Flores and this defense is doing right now, they're bailing out the offense so much because they're taking the spotlight off of the offense and what they aren't doing well because what we're not talking about is how Flores has held in back-to-back weeks the opposing team's quarterback under 100 yards passing. That's crazy. That is – That's crazy. In this league, that's insane. I mean, oh, my God. In the NFL, you're holding back-to-back teams under 100 yards passing in a pass-happy league? Like, that's crazy. But offensively, you would like to – I mean, all right, so look. We see how hard it is to pass, though, in the NFL. Yeah. And the fact that Kyler Murray is still finding ways to move the ball, albeit it's not consistent, it's not flashy, it's not deep shots down the field. It's keeping this team in position to win the game. He's not turning the ball over. That's a good thing. It is a good thing. And what I want to say is that I've reached a point now where I feel that this offensive unit is letting this team down. And that might be a bridge too far because of what you just said. they're doing enough to win the game and I I think that offensively sure there are moments where you see it it just has to come together a little more consistency consistently I should say but a lot of people will on the outside will look at it and think to themselves well look at the last four games yeah Tampa Miami New Orleans Indianapolis it's not exactly a murderer's row And Minnesota, to their credit, has won all four of those games, and I'm not going to fight them on it. You play who's on the schedule. But at some point, if you're not consistently scoring at least 24 points a game, you're going to put yourself in trouble. And the next handful of games here for the Minnesota Vikings is going to be a tall order. You're looking at games against Detroit, Buffalo, Green Bay, and San Francisco. if you're going out there and scoring somewhere in the vicinity of 16 to 20 points a game that's not going to be enough against some of these other teams that are coming up on the schedule well you know it's funny that you say that right now because as i check on the as we're taping this podcast i'm checking on the the green bay and detroit score right now and guess what the score is is it still tied at 17 tied at 17 a piece and they're in the fourth quarter with under three minutes to play so that leads me to believe can you win a game if your offense scores 20 and your defense doesn't give up sure well that's that's been the recipe for success for this team and I think that the as much as Kevin O'Connell I know would like to see his team put up 30 points a game I think this is what you have to lean into we if we can run the ball with efficiency you know what the defense is going to give you we are that team we are the team that is going to beat you 16 to 10 right or 19 to 13 and and that's my big thing because when you go to the now look I'm not saying it's not an enjoyable brand of football watching the vikings offense every single week but at the end of the day that's the type of football you see in january and february that is the type of football the team that can run the ball well the team that doesn't turn the ball over and the other team that can or the team that can get after the quarterback that's a successful team so right now the vikings are in some eyes regarded as a successful team one of two unbeatens right now Kansas City still has to play this week, so we'll see if they make it out of week seven the only unbeaten. But I still think to be this far in the season, to play the way that they're playing, and the offense to be playing as bad as they're playing or inconsistent, I think that speaks volumes for how good this team can be this year. Now, am I sipping the Kool-Aid that they're going to the Super Bowl? Nah, not just yet. Not just yet. I may need a little bit more convincing, but I think right now you can win with this brand of football, especially if you look at look the 49ers just got beat by the atlanta falcons today no one expected to see that game you're talking about you got a matchup next week against the lions they've only scored 17 points today we don't know what their identity is and we learned today that Brian Flores is going to blitz your best running back if he can't pass protect hello Jahmyr Gibbs not the best pass protector in the NFL so will you be able to beat the Vikings on the ground and through the air if you can't pass protect we don't know so i think that they can win next week be 7 and 0 and then you talk about all right now you got a big test in Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills but my thing is is that really a big test because that's another guy who can't get over the hump too well not defensively at least buffalo's defense has you know keeps i think a lot of people in their mind are still thinking that buffalo's defense is one of the top units in the NFL and they're not this unit is absolutely gettable and this is i would think if you're looking at that buffalo game this is an opportunity for Minnesota to start to let it fly a little bit because that Buffalo defensive group is vulnerable. But when you're looking at Minnesota right now, this is probably not going to be looked favorably when I say this, but they look like Iowa. Minnesota looks like Iowa to me. Minnesota looks like a Kirk Ferentz Iowa football team to me, which is a team that, listen, here's the deal. It's not the prettiest brand of football in the world, but you know what they do a lot? They win. Now, of course, they didn't win here in the Twin Cities over the weekend. I certainly understand that, but Iowa has gotten by with running the football, hasn't gotten great quarterback play over the years, but running the football and playing great defense has been enough to put Iowa near the top of the Big Ten on a year in year out basis. So is that the style that's going to work for another, what, 12 games or 11 games rather? I'm skeptical about that. But at the same time, like I said, if this is your identity now, even though I'm sure Kevin O'Connell is probably sitting in his offense thinking to himself, I didn't plan for this to be our identity. It's not exactly the identity I probably embrace. I'm supposed to be the offensive guru. But if this is our identity now, and if this is how we're winning football games, again, lean into it. You can't argue with winning. And that's exactly what the Vikings are doing right now. They're 6-0. So I'm not against it, but like I said. The style? Is that what you're saying? By it, do you mean the style? Winning. I'm not against winning. I'm glad. I'm glad you're not against winning. That's good. But, boy, that style is boring to watch. That Gopher game versus Iowa yesterday, my God, it's like watching Iowa run the ball on third and four and then punt on fourth and two or fourth and one. It's like, oh, my God, just change the channel right now. But it's like, you're right, though. You have to embrace different ways to win. And I think for so many years we've seen the offensive explosion from Kevin O'Connell and Justin Jefferson and Sam Darnold or Kirk Cousins. We've never seen a brand where it's like, man, this defense is really good. If our offense can just go out there, score 16 points a game, and not turn the ball over, and our special teams guy makes all of his kicks, and we punt really well, we get good kick returns, punt returns, kickoff coverage as well, we have a chance to win every single week. I think if you ask Kevin O'Connell and the crew before the season, if you can just get mediocre quarterback play, you guys don't turn the ball over. You have a chance to win all 17 games this year. Will you take it? everybody would have said yes because that gets you in the playoffs now like we said for a fan's perspective it is absolutely boring like i get it you don't want to tune on the television for three hours and just watch run run punt pass we know it's like all right let's get some excitement like let's get Justin Jefferson the ball because you know if they keep having games like this guess what the narrative is going to be all right they they're winning but are we going to keep Justin Jefferson, that we're going to be able to negotiate his contract starting next year in extension are we going to be happy keeping him should we be paying Jordan Addison whatever he wants to get paid after this season if we aren't going to find ways to get him the ball consistently then those narratives become a thing but those are good narratives to have because you're winning and then people are just nitpicking at problems you mentioned a moment ago and it ran along the lines of timing and rhythm in the offense guys were in and out of the lineup with injury is that what this offense is missing right now because again six games into the season I feel like is a fair sample size but also acknowledging that they didn't have Justin Jefferson for a game they didn't have Jordan Addison for a game T.J. Hockenson again goes out early in that saints game with a concussion is that in your mind what is missing right now with these offenses just consistent reps absolutely because there are certain plays there are certain things where it's like automatic home runs or it's like speed outs digs daggers concepts etc where if you play three weeks with that guy you know hey when i get to my fourth step i know he's going to be right there especially all right off man coverage i know my guy's going to get to his landmark on time if he's facing press i know i need to go one more extra step and he'll be right where i need him to be if he's not open i know for a fact he's going to beat this guy backside but when you have guys interchanging every single week so Justin Jefferson is your main guy Jordan Addison the first week oh quarterback gets hurt all right second week justin jefferson gets hurt on the first uh first play of the game and then it's like well or not excuse me not that game but the first game kyler murray comes back he gets hurt and then it's like you don't have addison the next week so it's like you don't have that consistency that continuity and you need all the guys on the field at the same time to get that because when you're going through practice like I told you earlier it's like all right well I know I got to get the ball this guy no one's going to hit me but in the game everything gets sped up and for Kyler he can't see everything so it's like by the time he gets dropped back it's like all right my guy who I know needs to be here if he's not open I need to be able to trust my next guy and know that like Brock Purdy said a lot of the game is played at quarterback not being able to see the play it's kind of anticipating where your guy is going to be sure and so if you don't have consistent reps with the justin jefferson a jordan addison a tj hawkins and a juwan jennings you don't consistently know how they're going to run that route where they like the ball place how they're going to turn when a defender is on them things like that so like the juwan jennings catch near the goal line where he put one hand out he got his hand on it he didn't catch it guarantee you a couple more reps with kyler murray and all the starting reps all all the starting wide receivers out there that will be a pass they'll be able to connect because that was one they were hitting in training camp all right let's talk about this defense now a little bit i don't know what more we can possibly say but first we have to start with blake cashman i'll just read you the stat line here uh 12 total tackles eight of them solo two sacks two uh two tackles for loss four pass defended and three quarterback hits uh if blake cashman is not the nfc defensive player of the week uh by this time tomorrow i don't know what we're doing for Tuesday he will be yeah and that's another honor for the Vikings yet again sure this early in the season but man he's different and i remember going up to him last year in the locker room and i said how fast are you he said i think i ran a 4.6 4.4 7 said no way i said game speed is like a 4.4 i said the way you move sideline to sideline is unreal when we lost him last year in that first game against Chicago when he ruptured his hamstring we couldn't stop a nosebleed defense offenses had their way against this Vikings defense when he came back when Andrew Van Ginkel came back different this defense change when you have a quarterback on the field like Blake Cashman it lets everybody play freely because you know hey he told me i got this that's all i gotta focus on whereas if you don't have a linebacker with that capability that studies film a lot that puts you in the right position you're having to play with your eyes you're having to think a lot whatever position you're at you're having to think all right they're in this bunch of formation, all right, they run this route out of this They may run this play out of this. Whereas when you have a Cashman, hey, this is the play Make sure you're down here. They're going to come right here. You're like, all right, I got you. I just got to be down here. You got one simple job, that play He simplifies everything defensively And he's the reason, like we give Flores a lot of credit Without him and Van Ginkel this defense wouldn't be what they are right now. And to think that he was listed as a special teamer leaving Houston and now he's a standout linebacker on an undefeated team, oh, man. It's absolutely remarkable what Brian Flores has been able to do and been able to kind of squeeze every last drop of talent out of every player he's got on that defensive unit. First drive of the game for the Colts, Jonathan Taylor breaks free. He scores on a 38-yard touchdown. What happened after that? Three points allowed the rest of the game. Absolutely shut down their offense for the most part the rest of the game. If memory serves me right, I'm trying to remember the exact play, but I think it was in the second quarter when the Colts were in a situation where I think they had four wide, and you had eight guys at the line of scrimmage. Now, we've seen this week in and week out, but I was looking at it before the ball was snapped, and you had eight guys on the line of scrimmage, and you had your two safeties back there, and there's just so much room to work with for the wide receivers for Indianapolis. And I thought to myself, they have to bail out of this, right? They're going to have to absolutely fake like they're going to blitz and bail out of this because there's so much room. They came with the house, and Dallas Turner and Harrison Smith combined for a sack, and I thought to myself, the trust that Brian Flores has to have in those guys in the backfield to run a play like that has got to be astronomical because I thought in real time, like I said, before the ball was snapped, I thought they would bail out of it and back out, you know, fake the blitz and come back and give you a different look because I thought there was no way that you could send the entire house. I thought Daniel Jones would get the ball out of his hand right away, and there was going to be room to run for some of these guys. That was not the case. They got to him right away and just made Daniel Jones' day a living hell like a lot of other quarterbacks against his defense. So you know the one luxury about Brian Flores and what a lot of fans at home don't realize, what he does when he puts eight men at the line of scrimmage or seven men at the line of scrimmage, he's forcing your quarterback and dictating where he should go with the football because when you have a four-wide set, right, and you bring an eight-man front, that means you're not sending anybody else to go out and go catch a pass. so everybody's there max protect now so now you have eight guys at the line of scrimmage you got three guys back deep and you got four wide receivers those two guys back deep and two of those guys at the line of scrimmage they're taking away your hot route because you're told as a quarterback when you see a blitz coming and you say hey we got five guys on this side we got three guys on this side we only got three to protect over here my hot I gotta throw to this blitz over here so now as a quarterback as soon as you catch the ball you see your two blitzers coming you're like all right i gotta throw hot well guess where the the coverage is dropping guess where the linebacker defensive lineman's dropping right to where your hot receiver is going to be and get this you only get about six to eight yards to get the ball off before the blitz is home so all those three guys that are playing at the back level they're flat-footed which means they're basically waiting to jump anything in front of them now the double-edged sword with this Philadelphia Eagles situation last year with jaylen brown uh jaylen hurts and aj brown where they're flat-footed fourth down situation Isaiah Rodgers jumps that pass and they go a double move that's the double-edged sword about that but if you don't have an offensive line and a running back in a tight end and a quarterback that can dissect where it's coming from and pick up that protection the quarterbacks just don't have enough time to get the ball down the field so you're having to take a one to two second route and the Vikings know where you're going they know the down and distance so that's why they're putting a lot of pressure on these quarterbacks and for Daniel Jones we know he's not mobile he's coming off an Achilles injury he's not moving that well there were a number of times especially the last interception of the game where he's just throwing the ball right towards the defense because he can't process everything that's going on when you got eight man dropping your offensive line standing up it's it's a crazy thing to dissect so let's look ahead then to the next four games for the Minnesota Vikings I feel like this for all intents and purposes might be the season for Minnesota I think this is the stretch where we're really going to find out if this team is for real because the next four games like we said at Detroit next Sunday home on a Monday night for Buffalo then they go to Green Bay and then it's a date with the 49ers that game being in Mexico City yeah so these are four teams i'm looking at that are in playoff contention two of these teams might end up being the number one seed in their respective conferences If we're looking at Buffalo and San Francisco, right? I, I don't know what really to think about this team going into the next four games. I know a lot of people are thinking, well, you don't just get out of the next four going two and two, you'll be fine. And I would agree with that, but it's, I want to see how this team plays against some of the upper echelon of the NFL, because again, I will say it. You don't schedule who you play. You just play who's on the schedule. The last four games have been the last four games for Minnesota. They are what they are. Now, I know the Vikings can say, hey, well, you know what? We got wins against Green Bay and Chicago already. Fair enough. They've done it. Right. But these next four games, I think, are going to tell us a lot about this team. They're an identity test. They're an eye test for every fan out there. I think people will say, hey, if we just win two, we're good. I think the Vikings want to win four, if not four, at least three. I mean, you're talking about the Detroit Lions. Let me just say, like we just said, they scored 20 points today. So this is not the Detroit Lions where you feared two years ago when they had Ben Johnson as OC, when they had Aaron Glenn as defensive coordinator and they were clicking on all cylinders. They're just not right now. So you're just going to have to get over a little adversity going to Ford Field, playing a game on the road. Then you come back home, Monday night atmosphere at the U.S. Bank Stadium. The crowd, the atmosphere is going to be outstanding. It's going to be electric. So you know you're going to have home cooking with you. And if you can keep Josh Allen in the pocket, you give yourself a chance to win. Now, that's a hard thing to do, but you give yourself a chance to win. So, I mean, I'm looking at this schedule I'm very optimistic. I'm very bullish about what can be, especially when you want to be a good football team. Like, you want tests like this, but you don't want tests so you can go out there and lose and be like, all right, I know what we need to do better. They want to win these games, and I think they're all very winnable. I think we have a chance for the Vikings to be 8-1 after these next. 8-1? No, 9-1 after these next four games. I would say like 8-2, but 9-1. Yeah, I'm good on that. 9-1 after the next four. Three of those four games are on the road, like I mentioned. Yep. We're talking about the Mexico City game. So you got the Lions and Green Bay. Lions, Green Bay, and 49ers on the road. Yeah, I like that. I think, to me, you also have to take into account, you are 2-0 in the division. Two of your next three games are against divisional opponents, and that really could set you apart. I think at bare minimum, if you can come out of those games one-on-one against Detroit and Green Bay, you're setting yourself up looking pretty good as the postseason starts to get a little closer. the next you know the next few games after that you're home for Atlanta you're home for Carolina then you go to New England on a Thursday night that that'll certainly be a challenge but the the schedule the next four weeks is really what i'm looking at and thinking to myself if this team can go on the road and win a couple of games then i'm going to start to think okay i think i think everybody around the globe is going to have to start to take this team as serious as they want to be looked at they're one good offensive performance away from everyone in the NFL world taking them serious they're one good offensive performance away from everyone waking up and being like man they're good sure they're two good offensive performances away from people saying they're a favorite in the NFC that's what we're talking about right now if Kyler Murray and this offense can click Justin Jefferson goes for over 100 yards and a touchdown Jordan Mason and Aaron Jones combined for over 100 yards Kyler Murray throws two three plus touchdowns Everyone, they're going to be front page news every Monday, every Wednesday for their first practice is going to be filled with network reporters and from NFL Network, from ESPN, from all over covering this team. We are several good performances offensively away from the Vikings being the number one talking point every Monday following the week of football Tuesday morning. So that's what I think. I think they're very close right now. Kevin O'Connell said it I can't wait to go back and watch the All 22 because I just want to see how many passes Kyler missed on today where if he just connects this this drive is extending this is a big play this is an explosive that they're looking for they are right there man they are as close to right there as they may be you know I've said this since the beginning of the season I I was not a huge fan of the move of signing Kyler Murray I did not really believe that that was the move that was going to get them to the next level albeit in the past three podcasts that we've done i said he's gotten better each and every week but it after a day like today i i'm starting to swing back the other way i'm starting to think to myself is is kyler murray going to be the reason why Arizona doesn't get over the hump offensively now again we we already said it the numbers today if you look at the numbers and the numbers alone you're thinking yourself okay that's fine you know like you said didn't turn the ball over yeah he was sacked a few times but you know I'm starting to wonder when the light switch is really going to go on for Kyler Murray because as much as he's improved over the past three weeks like we just talked about with the schedule coming up he he has got to be a catalyst for this team to get over the hump I don't think he can just be a bystander and put up pedestrian numbers and just lean on this defense to win when is it going to click for Kyler Murray to be seen i do think that he's not the typical quarterback we're accustomed to here in Minnesota yeah and i don't think he's going to be that i think what you see a lot with his connection with T.J. Hockenson will be what we get this year i don't think as much as we want to see Justin Jefferson have that explosive year just based on what Kyler's done in this short time frame unless they can schematically find an advantage for him we're looking at like T.J. Hockenson being close to the leading receiver this year that was the case in Arizona for quite some time Trey McBride the leading receiver receivers not getting touchdowns McBride not getting touchdowns like unfortunate storyline and a narrative surrounding Kyler Murray but like you said he does have to get better but i like to i would like to think that consistency in a very complex offense will help and i still think that we're still only five you know last year i preached patience with JJ McCarthy every week yeah and we never gave him enough patience One season wasn't enough for everybody, and now we're six games in, and a lot of people are questioning. Look at him now. 20-28, 252, and a win, and his first start for New York. But we're not even going to get on that. So how he's looked since he's got there, and just it's all about confidence. And I think as a former football player, I can tell you this. I was a scout team player my whole life in college, unfortunately. And I think that when I did get my chances outside of injuries and things like that, the one thing that always slowed me down was before I learned the playbook. thinking too much hey where am I supposed to go hey uh this coverage is shaded here do I go here do I drop down my my stance here it's like once you know everything then you get to go play football and I think for right now for Kyler Murray it's like I understand this playbook I get it but when the live bullets are flying it's a little bit different things are a little bit sped up and I'm not exactly sure where I'm supposed to be going with the ball but I think towards the second half of the season you hope things will slow down and the offense will start to pick up some momentum can I point out two things from this game real quick that annoyed me of course first and foremost right before the end of the first half Indianapolis was driving to kick a field goal Kevin O'Connell had a timeout to spare and he didn't take the timeout the Colts let the clock tick down they kick the field goal they go straight into the locker room at the half you don't get any points for taking timeouts into the locker room with you. Why not take the timeout, force Indianapolis to kick the field goal? You probably would have to force Indianapolis to get back out on the field for the kickoff with about, what, 10, somewhere in between 10 and 14 seconds left in the first half. You don't know what could happen. You have a potential pro bowler back there as a kick returner. So that part really left me with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth. I don't understand why Kevin O'Connell went into the locker room with a timeout in the half. Then right before the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter when Minnesota was driving the ball real well, for whatever reason, they decide to go back on first down. They want to drop back and pass instead of just probably running the ball. Conventional wisdom would tell you run the ball, burn about 10 seconds, get to the two-minute warning, get a few yards closer to potentially kick a field goal or perhaps even score a touchdown. But when the pass game isn't working at all, you want to drop back and pass just before the two-minute warning and take a sack you get bumped back another 10 yards eight yards i believe to be specific those those two plays i was i i did not love the coaching decisions in those two plays rebuttal on the first one so let's go back two years ago Thursday Night Football taking on the Los Angeles Rams, 20, 25, 30 seconds left where Darius went out, yes sir so you you're right you call a timeout you can't you can't do anything with timeouts you take to the half but your offense had done nothing to that point they haven't given you any optimism as to why you should call a timeout and put them back on the field because they could very well turn the ball over and give the Colts another three points so I think that's why you didn't see him because he had no trust in his offense did you see his cutaways in the first half and how frustrated he looked at times well I saw frustrated he was when on the first drive of the game they had third and one exactly across exactly so I think he had no confidence in his offense I think at the end of the game I'm not arguing with you there. Questionable play calling. I thought they should have definitely kept the ball on the ground. Maybe some read option with Kyler Murray. Didn't like him putting it up and throwing that one to Jordan Addison, I believe it was, and double coverage again to Justin Jefferson a few plays later. Did not love that. Keep the clock moving. Trust your defense in that situation. I believe, I don't remember exactly when it was, but they did have Murray hooked up with Addison on a really nice play toward the sideline. He caught it. But it was a penalty. Penalty brought it back. Blake Brandel, I think, was caught with a hold there. But yeah, that I hear you on the first half. I just think that when you're in a tight game, I think you've got to give yourself every opportunity. That's why I think, you know, if it were me, and of course I'm sure the Vikings will blow up my phone here he can't wait for me to coach the football team Coach News. Yeah, listen, I just think you've got to give your team every opportunity. Every opportunity you can. When you get the ball, get the ball back, give yourself a chance. But it all ends perfectly well for the Minnesota Vikings. They are 6-0. They beat the Colts 16-10. And they're on the road next week for Detroit. Another division battle. Our first look at the Detroit Lions next week. And they just beat the Packers 20-17. There you have it. Final score. The Packers go down as Detroit gets the win. So, next week's game going to be monumental, I think, for both teams as we near the halfway point of the season. Where can they find this podcast? YouTube, Fox 9, Fox Local, Apple Podcast, Spotify, everywhere. Sounds about right to me. And where can they find you on social media? Ahmad Hicks TV everywhere. You can find me on Twitter or X as they call it these days at the Nuge Fox 9. You can find me on Instagram at the underscore Nuge. That is the Vikings Now podcast for week seven. We'll see you next week for more after the Lions game.