- What do we want? - Popeye's chicken wings! - Why do we want 'em? - They're the official wing of watching football! - At $5.99 for six-piece, when do we want 'em? - When we're watching the game! - That's right, game time is wing time! ♪ Fire, that chicken from Popeye ♪ - And participating U.S. restaurants, prices may vary. - I will be healthy. - First of all, congratulations on becoming the official grill and bar sponsor of the National Football League. How does it feel to serve up the NFL? - Man, it's a real dream come true. I'm glad we'll be able to serve up some extra heat this season. - Do you have any plans to celebrate? - Absolutely, we're gonna serve up America's favorite bonus wings for just 50 cents each to kick off the season. Any of our sources, whether it's in restaurant or to go, it don't matter, it's all 50 cents all the time. - Are you worried at all about any competition this season? What competition? - Limited time price participation in selection may vary, tax and gratuity excluded. - This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now, you're multitasking, but what if you could also be saving money by switching to Progressive? Drivers you save by switching save nearly $750 on average and auto customers qualify for an average of seven discounts. So, multitask right now. Get your quote now at progressive.com. Progressive cash with the insurance company and affiliates, national average 12 months savings of $744 by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary, discounts not available in all states and situations. - Make the give over the top of the flood due to the air sure failed, drag his feet, touchdown, rule the touchdown. He was looking at it like a fly ball in the air, dragging his feet, continue capillator. - Beat failure, that is a touchdown. - Wow. - So, then at football week 18, 2023, the bills came up late and got the division title from the Dolphins, it appeared the Dolphins were going to win it. This man has covered the Dolphins for a very long time. He's Omar Kelly, the Miami Herald. I was just thinking while we were in break, how long have you covered the Dolphins? - I believe this is going to be my 17th season. I began cam camera in 2007. I only took one year off to work with IAM athlete and back again and man. This is probably the best team that I've seen. It's probably the best group of leaders that I've seen. The coach has relinquished power to his players. Something I've never seen. So, this is a little bit different. - One of the big narratives Omar about the Dolphins and I think there's accuracy to it or it wouldn't have developed. The idea that when the season gets to the critical moments, they're having a harder time focusing and winning. And it's almost like it comes too easy earlier in the season. And then when it gets difficult for whatever reason, it doesn't work out. Do you believe this year is the year they can change that narrative? - That's all they talk about. I think Jordan Poyer came here and in one of his press conferences, they believe it was the start of training camp. He talked about how when he was with Buffalo, the narrative about this team was that they would fold under pressure, that the intensity would raise or the moment would come and they wouldn't show up. - Jalen Ramsey was one of those guys that in one of the more heated practices, a fight broke out and Patrick Paul was body slam and catered co who Jalen Ramsey stood in front of the coach, took over the post practice huddle and basically gave them a lecture for 10 minutes about how we are going to be the bullies of this division. We are going to change how the intensity of how we play opponents. We are not going to back down from anybody and we are primarily not going to back down from adversity and they showed that in the season opener despite all that they had going on, including two of their players being arrested because that's what they were until the dolphins got involved. They were being arrested and ultimately released. They fought through that adversity, fought through a slow start and then delivered a fourth quarter victory and it also included two a tongue of a lower giving the team a tongue lashing at half time. - And I'm glad you mentioned that because the game got obscured by everything else but the most encouraging aspect of the game down 17-7, not our day, you know, you get that vibe. It's just not our day and a lot of times teams just surrender to that. Jevon Holland punches the ball out as Travis ATN is heading for the goal line for what would have been as a practical matter the clincher and everything changes and that's not what we're used to from the dolphins, especially at home in September on a Sunday afternoon. 70 to 20 is what we're used to. It's easy, it's fast, it's over. I think the fact they had to dig deep right out of the gates is gonna serve them well when things become very difficult beginning in my estimation Thanksgiving night at Lambeau Field. - Yeah, I don't think it's, I think it's gonna begin Thursday night tonight. This is a critical match up. They know and they talk about even my men. If you wanna get this division, if you wanna get to where you wanna go be, and they've talked about Super Bowl for the past two years, you have to host playoff games and you have to win your division to do that. And they know that this match up here, especially at home, is gonna be critical to that. It's gonna be critical to their playoff seating and where they're, and who they're playing and how they're, who they're hosting. So tonight is probably one of the most important games of the season. I know it's not December, but you know these AFC match ups, they come down to the Miami Dolphins and Jacksonville Giants, I mean, and the Buffalo Bills, and they gotta be on their A game. There's no excuses because they're relatively healthy. I know they're not gonna have Raheem Mostard out there, but they got Davane Chan, even though he's not healthy, they got the rookie Jalen Wright and they got Jeff Wilson. That's why you kept five running, you kept four running backs. They're gonna have to be out there and they are gonna have to perform. Do you think Achan will go tonight? Questionable at the end, but we learned earlier this week. Questionable doesn't mean anything. You gotta wait until 90 minutes for kickoff to know the truth. - Yeah, Achan was fine at the end of the game. He's got a mild limp. I don't know if he's gonna be completely available in the playbook, but that's why they've got Jalen Wright and I tell all fantasy football players, I was more impressed with Jalen Wright's rookie training camp than I was with Davane Chan and he, he's got speed, he's got power, he's got great vision. If you need a fantasy back and I don't talk fantasy but don't sleep on him. - You said something earlier, Omar, that caught my ear and I wanna circle back to it because obviously we're gonna talk about the Tyree Kill thing. How can we not talk about it? But you said that two guys were gonna be arrested. I mean, when you say arrested, do you mean they were ready to take them downtown? They're not gonna be available to play in the game, arrested in that way? - Oh, absolutely, that was the intent and the officer they got suspended, if you watch all of the body cam footage and I did that yesterday, you could see him talking to other coworkers and complaining about the fact that they were not arrested, that that's why it should have been the 09/39. This is, this is that intent was to arrest them and even in the initial arrest, he says you're not, oh, actually in another incident, Clay's Campbell is talking to him and he's like, hey, that's, you know, we need that teammate. He's not playing today, he's going to jail. This is before Kaleis was put in handcuffs and was gonna be arrested. It's interesting that the officer that got reassigned, he is involved in every aggressive incident involving all three players. And you clearly see why only one of six officers got reassigned. - What did the Dolphins do to keep the arrest and the absence of Kaleis Campbell and Tyree Kill from the game from happening? - Drew Brooks, Drew Brooks is the Dolphins head of security. He came to the situation. That's what you hear. It's not Drew Rosenhouse that Tyree is saying, hey Drew, hey Drew, it's Drew Brooks who was already at the stadium. He came into the situation. He diffused it more than likely by calling a police captain. And you know, what people don't understand is the Dolphins are the number one off duty employer, police officers in all of South Florida. So clearly they've got a little bit of pull because there was a lot of money that goes into that direction. And everybody in that stadium is there to see Tyree Kill. Can you imagine the uproar if Tyree wasn't available because he got arrested because he got a traffic citation? - You had an excellent column yesterday and we agree 100% when it's time to break down the situation. You know, we live in a world now where our habit is going to your corner and point fingers and you're never wrong, they're always wrong. I'm right and there's no middle ground, there's no gray area, there's no way to apportion blame to everyone. I'm gonna give you the floor here to share your views on this but it isn't as clear as both sides would want it to be. - It's very clear to me, as an African American male, I'll tell you a story, I was going to, and I wrote this in my column, not in depth, but I was going to my college orientation with my father. My mother had made my father take me because she wanted us to have bonding time and it truly was bonding time. And while we're driving up, my father was not speeding, get stopped by the police and the police actually make my father get out the vehicle and the whole exchange, I can't remember it 'cause this is so many years ago, but the whole exchange made me extremely uncomfortable about how this state trooper talked to my father, how this state trooper, my father was my father and I watched my father humble himself and act in a manner and the quorum that ensured that he was gonna get back in that vehicle and be able to take me to my college orientation. And on that drive there, he gave me the talk and as an African American, we all know what the talk is that when you're involved in any incident with the police, you need to be on your utmost, no matter who's right, who's wrong, what happened in the situation, you need to show them the utmost respect because they have your lives in their hands and they have the authority to kill you. My biggest issue while I think the officer was overly aggressive and was in the wrong in so many instances, which is explained why he was absolutely the one that was punished and the only one that was punished 'cause he was involved in every single incident that required being overly aggressive with every single player, the same one officer. While I think that he was absolutely in the wrong, if my 22-year-old son did what Tyreek did and talked to the officer the way Tyreek did and conducted himself the way Tyreek did, I don't know if not only would my son have been arrested, I don't know if he would have been alive because you cannot do that and you cannot conduct yourself in that manner. And when I watched the body cam footage and you hear all the little subtle comments that Tyreek was making and all the little things that he said and why he wouldn't roll down the window, this is not how an African American male should can conduct himself in a traffic stop if he wants to make it home or make it to work alive. And I understand that officers play a role in this, but you cannot follow Tyreek's lead. This is not a do what Tyreek does situation and that's my disappointment. And not only that, but also for Tyreek to demand that the officer be fired and gone, we're talking about a player who has probably on his fourth chance in the NFL. It's not like Tyreek has a squeaky clean resume in terms of incidents, occurrences, and he has been giving grace time after, time after, time after, time again. And I'm not saying that we should not be looking into this officer's background, his handling of others in the community. I'm not saying that he should not be reprimanded, but to ask for a man who'd been employed by the police department for 27 years to be immediately dismissed because of this one incident, I think that that crosses the line. - And we're completely on the same page on all this. I didn't do a good job setting up the question. I'm talking about the lack of clarity as to where fault can be apportioned because Tyreek killed not cooperative initially. But then Omar, my take on this has been, it stopped being about securing his cooperation and it became about punishing him for daring to not cooperate. Even when it was clear that he was ready to comply, okay, I understand that you're serious, they still drag him out of the car, throw him down, cuff him and mistreat him not to secure his cooperation, but to send a message, you don't mess with us. And if you do, this is what you get. That's where the cops were clearly in the wrong. - Absolutely, no question about it. But that's happened so many times to so many people in America. And cops believe that they're all power and full autonomy to do and treat people, however they feel if you don't follow their instructions. And the main thing, my ex-wife was a police officer and the main thing that I always knew from her was that your job as a police officer is to de-escalate any situation or scene. And that officer, Officer Torres, did nothing to de-escalate. In fact, all he did was pour gasoline on every single scene. And that's why you could clearly see this is gonna be a great learning opportunity for not just all officers, but hopefully for Officer Torres because that's not good policing. And I'm pretty sure that the police department has come out and acknowledged that, hey, this is not a good policing and hopefully this is a moment that we all learn from. - We played some of Tyree Kills press conference from yesterday and I was struggling to thread the needle between, and there was a shift in his demeanor. He goes from, we need to find a way to work together. We need to find the positives in this too. Oh, that guy's gotta be fired. And I don't, I mean, maybe there is a way to work positively and use it as a way to help people understand from both sides how these interactions should go and still fire the officer. I just think it's a tough sell to go from conciliation to, oh, no, he's gotta go. And maybe he does have to go, but that's for the police structure to figure out with hearings, due process, police union, et cetera. Maybe that's the end result. I just think it's hard for Tyree to sell this idea. Let's move forward hand in hand only after you fire that guy. - Mm-hmm, he's mentioned that they wanted to apologize. He's, the officers wanted to apologize. He's denied that and there's all kinds of talk about what that form was and whatnot. I think a great opportunity here for, and I agree with Tyree that we should move forward and learn from this, but a great opportunity is for officers to learn their behavior in conduct with individuals who probably are less than cooperative. It can escalate to that. And also this new law that Florida passed where you have to be 25 yards away from any scene of an incident arrest, which I don't know how in the world that passes because what about the bystanders who are there just filming it? So now you're preventing us from filming it. Like, how does that make any sense when we're just trying to police officers? I think that it's also important that body camera footage is on every officer. And if they're involved in any sort of situation or scene that they make sure their body cameras are on. And if their body cameras are turned off, then that leads to an immediate suspension. But also from Tyree, hey, this is a great opportunity to do some videos on how to conduct yourself when you're stopped by an officer. How to, 'cause Tyree talked about how my parents didn't raise me that way and initially before the body camera footage, I found Tyree quite disrespectful on so many fronts to those officers. And that is not the talk. So maybe Tyree needs to go over the talk that all African-Americans have to have with their children about how to conduct themselves when they are in the presence of police. - When we look at the incident and we look at the impact it had, and the fact that Kaleis Campbell and John U. Smith came to his aid, we've heard some comments from people like Tyree kill about how it brings the team together. And you know, we always see coaches and athletes looking for anything they can contrive to try, you know, it's us against the world or whatever. Is this like an organic, authentic way that you don't want it, you didn't plan for it, but it happened and it brings the team together and maybe makes them better than they would have been? Do you see that possibly happening here? - Absolutely. That's one of the main points of emphasis that they've had all off-season. It's creating a closer bond so that when we're in those moments we can be, hold each other accountable, we can talk to each other. That's why people like Kaleis Campbell were added because they needed an infusion of leadership, especially after losing Christian Wilkins. And that's the one thing they've talked about before to kick off training camp to have a party at the house for the entire team. And it's about creating those bonding moments so that you can be there to support one another. You can be there to help each other achieve your goals. They've rallied behind every single one of these players who got their extensions and Steve Ross did hand out a lot of extensions. And it's really a moment to galvanize their teammates and support one another. And nothing was bigger and better than having three teammates 'cause Odell Beckham was there as well on the scene to support their brother who's faced down knee and back, being arrested, possibly got kicked to support their teammate while he's in a traumatizing moment. - You mentioned Steve Ross and all the extensions. Before the two-a-deal was done, there was a lot of conversation. And I was hearing from people, Steve's not gonna do it, he's not gonna do it. At the end of the day, he paid everybody. And he extended the head coach, which some people were surprised by because two years in, no playoff wins. I mean, Mike McDaniel has proven he can be a great regular season coach, but maybe you gotta win a playoff game before you get that second contract. How surprised were you? With how active Steve Ross ultimately was with his checkbook and his pen? - Not at all, because that's who Steve is. If I think about the facility, think about the organization, think about F1, if it's gonna help you get to the next level, Steve is writing that check no matter how big it is, that's just his modus of operandi for probably since he's been owner since 2007. And this is about, the extensions should have been done earlier, in my opinion. This is about keeping their playoff window, and keeping their Super Bowl window alive until probably 2028. When you watch the San Francisco 49ers, they're building a comparable team, comparable coach, comparable style, and look at San Francisco, and it's taken them years to get over that hump. They're not expecting an immediate return on all these investments, but they're trying to create a team that will have a window of Super Bowl contending probably until 2028. And to do that, you have to keep all of those players, all of the players that they sign are major players in that equation. And not just that, but Mike McDaniel. Steve Ross has always wanted the sexiest offense in the NFL. He finally has it. You think he's not gonna extend the guy who was able to build it, and rehab the quarterback who Brian Flores basically told him was trash. Steve Ross has always been an admirer of Toa Tonga Veloa, and now he's finally delivering the kind of play and performance and wins that the organization believed that he would bring, and it's Mike Daniel who did it. So there is no question in my mind that Steve Ross was gonna do all of those extensions. I'm a little surprised that they stopped one short and did an extension on Holland, but if he continues to make game-changing plays like he did against the Jaguars, which punching that ball out, you know, he's probably gonna be one of the highest paid safeties in the NFL. - You know, I focus on the late season struggles, but you're right. Tonight's game is as big as it gets. Toa is one in six against the Bills. He won that game September of 2022. That was the game where it looked like he had the concussion. Ken Dorsey blows a gasket in the coaching booth. It was boiling hot that day. That's the only time he's managed to beat the Buffalo Bills. And I always say early in the season, first couple of weeks, don't worry about the outcome. You still got plenty of games. But if you lose at home to a division rival and you have to go there later and you ultimately get swept, makes it pretty hard to win the division. If you've gone 0-2 against your biggest competition in the division. - Absolutely. This is a must win game for Miami. I hate to say a September game is a must win game, but you know you're going to Buffalo when it's probably snowing and the weather's horrible. You know how you perform in the snow. You know how you perform in the road. But Josh Allen, I say this all the time to Dolphin fans to tease them. He's your daddy. He's just coming for a visit. He was kids. Josh Allen has never struggled. I believe just about every time he's played the Miami Dolphins, he's won the AFC Player of the Week. He's been dynamic against the Dolphins in every single matchup. And that's going to be the biggest struggle. Now fortunately for the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo doesn't have the same caliber of weapons. And it'll be interesting to see how they, you know, how they contain and how they defend. Are they going to use the spy on Josh Allen? Because it's not just his arm that's given him trouble. It's his scrambling. How do they contain those tight ends? And if they're going to be covering these receivers one on one, which more than likely they're going to do to be doing all these spying and containing the tight ends and stopping the run from the running backs and stopping the running backs from catching passes out the backfield, these receivers are going to be let loose. And if you can't, you can't let a Mack Hollins beat you the way Stefan Diggs has beat you over the years. - I got one more question for you very briefly. 20 seconds or less. Is there a sense among the Dolphins that the Bills can be had because of how they struggled against the Cardinals? - There's a sense among the Dolphins that they can beat Buffalo because they're an improved team with an improved leadership and they're ready. That's, they're not focused on how Buffalo played. This Dolphins team believes they're ready and we shall see tonight. - I'm even more excited for the kickoff that is the come in 11 hours and 40 minutes Omar. Thanks so much for some of your time. Great work on the Tyree kill situation and on all things Dolphins. We'll talk to you again down the road. - Thank you Mike. - There he is Omar Kelly, Miami Herald. Great stuff there. We're going to take a break. Eventually coming up Paul Allen, we'll circle back to Caleb Williams. I think, I don't know, I haven't looked down at the direction I'm supposed to take. So just stick around and we'll have something. - What do we want? - Pop us, dig a wings. - Why do we want them? - They're the official wing of watching football. - At 599, four, six-piece. When do we want them? - When we're watching the game. - That's right, game, time is wing time. (upbeat music) - I've participated in US restaurants. Prices may vary. - I will be healthy. - First of all, congratulations on becoming the official grill and bar sponsor of the National Football League. How does it feel to serve up the NFL? - Man, it's a real dream come true. I'm glad we'll be able to serve up some extra heat this season. - Do you have any plans to celebrate? - Absolutely, we're going to serve up America's favorite bonus wings for just 50 cents each to kick off the season. Any of our sauces, whether it's in restaurant or to go, it don't matter, it's all 50 cents all the time. - Are you worried at all about any competition this season? What competition? - Limited time price participation in selection may vary tax and gratuity excluded. - When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping king supers for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouth-watering meals. And no matter what tasty choice you make, you'll enjoy our everyday low prices, plus extra ways to save, like digital coupons worth over $600 each week and up to $1 off per gallon at the pump with points. So you can get big flavors and big savings, king supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. - Love every return. - You would have to convince teams a lot more than you would have to just for Thursday night football, you know, things that we've had in our repertoire for a longer amount of time. And it is because where do you put a Tuesday? You obviously can add more to the repertoire off of that. - Yeah, I really like that word. And you know what? The guy who didn't go to Columbia says it fancier. The guy who went to Texas, repertoire. So well done, Chris, we miss Chris. I keep getting emails. Where's Chris? Where's Chris? He's doing one day a week until college football is over. He'll be back for the full, well, for him. Full three days through the end of the season, four days after the season, but picks podcast. We're doing it every Thursday. We're gonna tape it later this morning. So you will see and hear from him with his takes and mine on every single game to be played this weekend. One game that was played last weekend, the first game of the weekend featured a fairly serious eye injury to Kyle van Nure, fractured, orbital bone. That's basically the bone that protects the eyeball. Here he is from earlier in the week. With concerns he had about how the chief's medical staff responded to the unusual, but as I said, potentially serious injury. - I was disappointed in the way the training staff of the chief's handled the situation. I was supposed to see an ophthalmologist, which is somebody who checks out eye performs eye surgery and they took an entire quarter to get down to talk to me in the locker room, which to me is unacceptable. 'Cause then you start thinking, what if I was trying to go back in the game? What if I was really, really hurt? I know mine was having to be moderate, but it still was serious 'cause it's an eye, and your expectation of someone to be down there as the training staff asked him to be down there would have had a little bit more urgency. And just the way it took time was super unprofessional to me. Especially the, there's people that were in there too. One of the doctors or the friend of the doctor was in their double cup fisted styrofoam cups like everything was good, and I just felt like that was unprofessional. I understand how Kansas City, the players have given that training room an F because with my experience, I would have probably after that gave them an F too. - Yeah, look, I don't wanna be overly cynical here, even though I tend to be from time to time, but there is a strategic advantage for the home team to have doctors who take their sweet time to get to a guy who possibly could have been cleared to return to the game. But it is a potential serious injury. It's good to know it was moderate, oh, moderate, mild is the best outcome, but at least it wasn't serious for Calvin. And it's good that players have these avenues, whether it's podcast, press conference, social media, to say these things. And I think the team report cards emboldened players now. The fact that every February right around the scouting combine, we get these report cards, and there is that accountability. And of course, some of the owners will just harumpf and poo poo and look down their noses at them because they don't want to have to spend the money necessary to make things better. I think that creates an environment where guys are willing to say when things are bad. So good for Calvin and Noy to say what needs to be said. And if the Chiefs have anything to say in response to that, they have every right to do so. Let's take a break because he's on the line. The voice device, we're gonna get out the gala horn and we're gonna blow it hard for Kyle Allen. Why do I have the Steelers third string quarterback in my room? Josh Allen, Kyle Allen, Paul Allen. We'll join us next here on the F2 line. - And to here comes Daniel Jones, 12 of 22 for under an 11 yard, bikes lead 21 six, Jones. (screams) Holy through it's a van people, touchdown! That's the fourth touchdown in Andrew Van Ginkel's career and he read Daniel Jones like a pup and that book had a happy ending 27 six, Minnesota. - What a moment that was and that is not an easy ball to catch for a defensive player. That was the dagger for the Vikings. It meant life stayed him. They get a little payback against the team that knocked him out of the playoffs kept the 2022 season. The man who had that call and has had many of great calls over the years for the Minnesota Vikings radio network. He is Paul Allen. Hello Paul. - Hello Mark, I'm sorry, Mike. - Thank you. - I'm Paul Allen, not Kyle Allen, so. - Very good morning to you. - You should have been named Kyle. I think that's what I'm saying. Your parents should have called me Josh. - If you'd called me Josh, then it'd be like the one that plays tonight or the stud defensive player, but I am Paul Allen and you are Mike Florio. - Josh Allen with the Jaguars is now Josh Heinz Allen, I believe. So. - How do you know my middle name's not Heinz? - Yeah, we could be. All right, so a lot of Vikings fans are excited given the performance of the team week one. As you know, I am one to pump the brakes, especially when we don't know how bad the Giants might be, we just don't know. I think it's safe to say they're not good. So it's good the Vikings won, but that doesn't mean all of a sudden it's, I don't know what you're calling it. You've always got a little name, Mission Miami, right, I don't know what you're doing for New Orleans. Navigation New Orleans, I don't know. Okay, there you go. So what's your real assessment? Set aside the purple colored glasses. What's your real assessment of the team after one week? - Well, it's the same as it was into the first week. This, I just feel with all the years that I've done it, I kind of know what a playoff team looks and feels like. And that's this team. That's what I said into the first game. I'm not gonna grandstand and be a purple and gold cartoon character, you know, saying that we're gonna be Detroit and win the division. - Why stop now? Why stop now? Why stop now? - Well, because this is big-time journalistic PFT, you know, week, but you know, with Darnold from the minute he got here, the key for me watching from afar was, is Sam, somebody who follows the plan. Because the plan is very good. O'Connell's passing game and offensive plan is very, very good. So with Sam, you know, once I realized, like just go back to last year for a second with the fourth quarterback drink. Okay, cousins is going lights out, then we have the Achilles. Then you get dobs and haul and it doesn't look right. Then Mullins comes in and granted there were some turnovers that would lose games, but the offense looked like the O'Connell offense because he followed the plan. That's what Darnold does. He follows the plan. He was not fidgety when the pocket would collapse on him. Dexter Lawrence was unblockable early in the game, but that's when I say the O'Connell production's high end. The plan for Lawrence got better as the game went on. Brian Burns and K-Von Thibodeau, both allegedly Bally Houd, they finished the game with one combined tackle, K-Von had zero. So the tackles played great and Darnold followed the plan. Jones brings a burst that they didn't have last year. And Jefferson's playing. So this I firmly believe is a playoff team. That was business as usual at MetLife Stadium. - The Darnold story is fascinating to me because it's entirely possible he was ruined by the Jets. Wouldn't be the first quarterback who's been ruined by that franchise. Went to Carolina, which has become a hot mess in recent years. Last year didn't play in any meaningful games for the 49ers. And he's a guy that Kyle Shanahan has always loved. Kevin O'Connell presumably had a high degree of admiration for him, otherwise they wouldn't have made a beeline for Darnold the moment that Kirk Cousins left for the Falcons. And that's what it's all about. When you have a superior play designer and play caller, you just need somebody who runs the play that cracks the code on the defense. You don't need practical homes to run around with his hair on fire trying to make magic happen. The play that's called is more likely than not to work. And if it's not working, find a way to live to see another play. - Yeah, absolutely. And it's fair to lay it out the way you and others have laid it out. I mean, the Giants production with respect to what we just saw, I mean, it was rough. And there were moments in that game. Like for instance, their punt and kick returner is really, really good. He came into the game with an injury designation. They're working him out before the game and boom. You know, I think he heard a groin so they had to play a player short. You know, so things like that were happening to them during the course of the day. So I understand the nature of the adversary, but the Vikings were a seven win team last year with an overunder of around six and a half or seven and a half on the wins total. So they're not being taken real seriously. There's way too much talent and speed on this team to not be taken seriously. And the highlight that you showed with Andrew Van Ginkle, you know, that indeed is his fourth touchdown, second interception return. And when you watch back some of his plays when he played with Miami and then now seeing him in training camp and last week, you know, it's, I'm not going to compare him to Antoine Winfield when it comes to being a scholar of the game because, I mean, Antoine's the greatest corner in the history of this team and the way he diagnosed plays with the tricks and the tells and stuff like that, it's nobody's ever seen it. Van Ginkle's like that. I mean, he's just so far ahead of the curve with what's coming. Now you have Jonathan Bernard, Dallas Turner, Blake Cashman, played his tail off in that game. The safety room is really, really deep. So this is a, this is a team that's going to sneak up on some teams, including the Niners this weekend and open some eyes. - Well, and we saw it last year in that Monday night game, the last time Kirk Cousins played for the Vikings, the stellar performance against the 49ers, the upset win, the game that kind of brought the Vikings back into the conversation after the very rough start of the 20, 23 season. I can't imagine the 49ers walking into that trap in Minnesota two straight years. You really, and I know, I know, purple-colored glasses, but, and the spread's only five and a half. It just seems, the 49ers team I saw Monday night look pretty damn good without Christian McCaffrey. It's hard to see them losing in Minnesota, a Super Bowl team last year, a potential Super Bowl team this year, losing there again in less than a year. - I'm not offended by the point spread. A five and a half point favorite on the road is a massive favorite, especially off a team that just blew somebody out and held a national football league team to zero touchdowns. So I respect that. I got a lot of respect for the 49ers. You're right. Certainly not speaking for Kyle Shanahan, but from what I've heard is he wasn't happy that he lost Sam Darnold. They're those there who really, really like what Sam brought to Brock Purdy and brought to the quarterback room. All right, well, how much does Sam know with what the 49ers want to throw at O'Connell in a game like this? Now the 49ers, and you know this as well as anybody, they're traveling on a short week and that generally can go the opposite way of what people think specifically when you're changing time zones. Now the 49ers have not beaten the Vikings in Minnesota since 1992. And I understand that every single team is different, but the one from last year compared to the one from this year, it's different, but it still has the same play caller. It still has the same defensive coordinator in Brian Flores who by the way only blitzed 11 times in that game against the Giants. So he was blitzing not necessarily the way he did last year, but once he knew the team was home and cooled out, he pulled way back on showing some things. So I just have a feeling the Vikings have some things coming this weekend that the 49ers are going to have to adjust to likewise vice versa. But last year in that Monday night football game, Mike, that O'Connell and the Vikings were able to pull Shanahan out of his running game. And it's cliche to say, you have to get off to a fast start. All right, everybody wants to get off to a fast start. In this game, if you can grab the lead on them and hold it for a little while and pull him out of his running game, that you're in fine fiddle if you can do that. - Anyway, you make a great point about the short week on the road when you have a guy like Brandon Ayuk who hadn't been practicing until right before the start of the season, Trent Williams held out until just before the start of the season. Jordan Mason, if he has to go and place a Christian McCaffrey and who knows what his status really is, it did a great job of keeping it hidden last week. But Mason had 28 carries short week. I mean, he said after the game that he told Christian McCaffrey, I don't know how you do it as it was all unfolding. It's a pounding and it's a lot to recover from after that game and they mashed the Jets. That's the concern. As badly as the Vikings beat up one team from New York, the 49ers completely manhandled and embarrassed, at least from a pushing and shoving and physicality standpoint up front, the other team from New York. And that's what's hard to forget when you watch that game all Monday night, they had their way with the Jets, what's going to be different with the Vikings defense when they're trying to avoid getting shoved around by the 49ers offensive line. - And thus they're five and a half point favorites and I think it opened at six or six and a half. So again, that is a massive, massive point spread favorite when you're on the road against a team that is one and oh, that just held somebody to no touchdown. So I respect that and understand that. When the Vikings beat the 49ers last year on Monday night football, granted Justin Jefferson didn't play, but either did Trent Williams or Debo Samuel. That's key. My level of respect for Debo Samuel is incredibly high. I can argue that he is as if not more important to the 49ers offense than Christian McCaffrey because you can move him all over the place. He's a mean run blocker down the field like Joann Jennings is, I yuke when he's engaged. He's also super good in the run blocking game. That's why it's so key to score early and get in front of these guys and pull them out of the run like you did last year on Monday night football. It changed the whole game. And then Brock Purdy got hit by Jordan Hicks and that kind of threw Brock off a little bit in the game too. So we're certainly not guaranteeing that that's gonna happen. But this Vikings team is better than people think. I'm not gonna say it's a 12, 13, 14, 15 win team. But like I said, I just over my years, I know what a playoff team looks and feels like and this is one if it stays healthy. - Yeah, that Brock Purdy concussion, he was trying to go over the pile, I think, and Hicks came in hot and really popped him and he was different after that on that Monday night game. How much of the Vikings embracing this whole, everybody thinks we stink, fourth place in the division? I've seen people say, get ready for the Vikings, have the first overall pick in the draft. Are they rallying around this idea that they're widely disrespected? - Well, that's a strange situation as I've learned over the years. It's kind of a talk out of both sides of your mouth equation where when teams are underrated like you're talking about and they're not being talked about a lot, not a lot of headlines despite what I think are some wonderful free agency moves and draft picks is specifically in the first round. Well, they get offended, they're not talked about. But then when they're the target at which to shoot and they're coming off 12 and 13 win years and everybody is hyping them up and pumping them up, well, coaches get offended at that too. So it's kind of a pick your poison situation. They're coming off seven wins and at the end of the season, it got ugly man. I mean, when some of the defensive players played too many snaps and they had some injuries at the end of the year and they got embarrassed. I mean, in their last home game against the Green Bay Packers, it was ridiculous. So they remember that too. But there still is a lot of new here. What I was really happy to see in the Giants game is how Christian Daresaw played. He just got that massive contract to the extension. I love Christian, he's a wonderful, wonderful guy, but you just never know which way things are gonna go when people get paid and Christian's never played better. I mean, the work he did on Brian Burz and Cave on Thibodeau is he shot him out. That has to be the case again against Nick Bosa. Now you're going against Dexter Lawrence and he deflects a pass, leads to an interception, gets a sack, I mean, he's high, high end. Hard wave can be high end too with Fred Warner behind him. This is an unbelievable test, no doubt about it, but they're on a short week with travel. They're sweating the McCaffrey situation like the Vikings are sweating the Addison situation. And like I said, the Vikings may not win this game, but what you're gonna see Sunday, noon cornfields is going to be a better overall Vikings team than a majority of football fans fought into the season. - They got a tough stretch coming up too. It's the Texans after that. It's the Packers in Green Bay after that. They might not have Jordan Love, which would make it a little easier, but that one and O could quickly become two and two or one and three, and if you can steal another one and get to two and O, and who knows, who knows? This is why they play the games. It's why they're fun to watch. Who knows what they're gonna do, but I'll agree with you. I think the Vikings generally are more competitive than where they've been pegged. It was just very hard before the season when you consider how good that division is to put them any higher than fourth because of the Packers, because of the Lions, and because we thought the Bears were gonna be. Maybe the Bears- - That's ridiculous. - We thought they were. They aren't who we thought they were, but who knows? But isn't it better to go into a season with no expectations? That's always bad in the Vikings. - I don't care about that. - Naturally go in with no expectations, but I think it helps them and it surprises people and teams take you lightly. And the next thing you know, you've kicked their butts. - But see, you're saying, you know, the Bears are who we thought they were, but I'm not gonna let them off the hook because the Vikings with the talent and speed they have and the coaching staff that they have, you can add Caleb Williams, and he'll play better this week. And you can add Alan and Adunze and DeAndre Swift and the whole thing, but that all has to work, okay? So the Vikings with O'Connell and Jefferson and Darrison Phillips and Harrison Smith and so on, they've shown it can work. Think about it. With that four quarterback thing last year to win seven games and to really have it come down to three to six plays in a couple of the games where they could've won nine or 10, that was unbelievable how competitive O'Connell kept them last year. Despite the Dobbs trick had an expiration date. We got Jefferson going to the hospital. Jerron Hall got himself hurt, but he was a rookie in the first place. It's not easy for these rookie quarterbacks to jump in here, man, and just be who they're supposed to be out of the gate. Look at William. William's got the money, okay, because of that block-punt touchdown. But with Nick's and Daniels, there were zero touchdown passes thrown week one by rookie quarterbacks because it's hard. Darnell has seen it before. Now he may have failed to a certain extent with the Jets in Carolina, but O'Connell, Jefferson, and Aaron Jones, that ain't Carolina and the Jets, and they really know how to run offense here. So this, this is going to be a good one this weekend. I think it's going to be tightly contested. Debo Samuel concerns me. I know Kevin. I know coach O'Connell has a lot of respect for Debo. But the Vikings have some nuance to them, Mike, that just people, they wouldn't know unless they follow it on a daily basis. The new, the new left guard, Blake Brandell. I mean, I'm not going to say it was Steve Hutchinson or Randall McDaniel, but he played his tail off. He was unbelievably good against Dexter Lawrence after some problems early. And then Harrison Phillips, a wonderful run, stopping nose tackle. He just got himself a new two-year deal. So there are some under the radar players here are going to help this team win a lot of games. Paul, we got you all juiced up and you still got two games to go until things get started. So thank you for some of your time. I got to run. He's Kyle Allen. - Okay. - I'm Mark Florio. - Yeah. - And I'll be back with more PFT Live right after this. - Yep. - Can't wait to read your book cousin of mine. - Okay, I'm going to have beer fans close their ears, but I know that growing up, someone tied two, you watch with Aaron Rodgers, man. - Right, not the Packers. - I wasn't technically the Packers because when he left, I became a nobody fan until I got drafted by the Bears. - Okay. What is it about Aaron Rodgers? - Yeah, he's special. If you go watch this film, if you go watch him in person, which I haven't had the chance to do yet, but when you watch him and see what he does, plays a game above the shoulders, plays a game with his mind, and he's special, he knows everything, defensive-wise, he's seeing everything, and then obviously when things don't go this way, when things play breaks down, I mean, he goes and makes, I mean, makes insane plays. - Bears quarterback, Caleb Williams, you'll see him Sunday night football against the Houston Texans. You can see the full conversation that you have with Maria Taylor at the NFL on NBC YouTube page. You should be subscribing to that if you haven't already. You've got plenty of PFT content, Chris Simms on Button Football Night in America, et cetera, et cetera. Let's go ahead and take a break because we've had plenty of discussion and conversation and we've chewed up the entire show. We'll wrap things up when PFT Live continues right after this. I mean, I think we always gotta stay relaxed. It's a long season. I think at times, people think the season is like, you're out in the prairie or the desert and you're wandering around trying to find water, but it's more like a nice, slow ballero, you know, where we're just swaying with the music and reacting to whatever comes to us and through us and just trying to not get too high with the eyes and too low with the lows. The league is a lot different than what I said and relaxed years ago in that there's just so much more coverage that there's so much more opportunity for overreaction. So I get it, we wanna win, fans wanna win, the organization wants to win, but the process has to be the same. You know, if it's good enough in week one, it's good enough in the playoffs. So we gotta stick to the process and the preparation and the way that goes and trust that it's good enough, you know, like a nice, smooth ballero. (upbeat music) (laughs) You know, we've had a pretty good show so far, nothing's gone off the rails, so let's go ahead and throw it completely off track right now. Making a reference to ballero, which is, Pete tells me a genre of song which originated in Eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the Trova tradition, that's exactly the kind of thing that a guy who's trying to be smarter than he really is would do. I heard something that sounds impressive and I'm gonna work it in to a conversation and in case they missed it the first time, I'm gonna say it twice. So, ballero, relax. Ballero is a six letter word. I had to look down and count. Relax is a five letter word. So, hey, we'll see what the Jets can do. I gotta go to Tennessee and then they got the short week against New England Patriots. Who knows what they're gonna do as they continue down this nutty stretch of short weeks and travel here and travel there and go to London to face the Vikings week five. They got a tough schedule out of the gates. The opponents aren't all as difficult as the 49ers. They should be able to win some games. You look at that through week 11, they should be six and five. If they're less than six and five, they're gonna have trouble down the stretch and that's gonna result changes with the New York Jets. That's it. Thanks for some of your time. We'll be back tomorrow with an all new edition of PFT Live Breaking Down, the first Thursday night game of the year between the Bills and the Dolphins. Have a great day. With the Wells Fargo Active Cash Credit Card, you can earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases you want and purchases you need. That means you earn 2% cash rewards on what you want, like season tickets to watch your favorite team and 2% cash rewards on what you need, like paying for parking. That's the beauty of the Active Cash Credit Card. It's ready when you are, with unlimited 2% cash rewards. 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