#504: Minnesota Vikings SHOULD BLOWOUT Tennessee Titans

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome into the show today.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
We've got a lot planned for this podcast today, so
thanks for making this podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
A part of your day.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
On this episode, we're gonna dive into a Minnesota Vikings
Tennessee Titans preview, as that's the matchup this Sunday at
twelve o'clock, the seven to two Vikings versus the opposite
two and seven Tennessee Titans.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
And we're also gonna react to Ed Ingram.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Darren Wolfson from Channel five KSTP was interviewing him and
he made some comments that I wanted to react to.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
So let's open up with that and then I'll.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Dive into the Titans Vikings preview. So just take a
listen to these comments by Ed Ingram's being interviewed by
Darren Wolfson on KSTP.

Speaker 3 (00:55):
At halfway point of the season.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
I un official, right because last time I checked seventeen
odd number, so we can't really have like an official
halfway point, right, But you know this unofficial halfway point
of the season, what stands out?

Speaker 5 (01:05):
I mean, I just feel like, I mean, our team,
we are a good team, and we've created our identity
and we just gotta keep working on.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
That's finding that what is this team's identity in your mind?

Speaker 5 (01:14):
I feel like we're a close, bandit together group. I
feel like a lot of teams in the NFL are
not as close as we are as a team and
you know, as boys. I feel like this is kind
of like a college locker room as far as camaraderie
and like being close.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
And I feel like that's the difference maker. Do you
have a sense on what the ceiling is over these
next eight games? Not really?

Speaker 5 (01:32):
I feel like the ceiling, I mean, is the sky's
the limit? You know? For us? I mean, we can
do great things. You just got to keep trusting the
process and keep it up.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
Piggyback on what Kevin said in the post schame locker
room on Sunday about the belief this locker room has
in Sam that okay, like he's going to move past
those those turnovers from Sunday.

Speaker 5 (01:52):
I mean he's a great quarterback. Every every quarterback throws interceptions.
I mean, this is in the NFL. Is Noybody's gonna
throw interceptions at sometimes. But that's about how you respond.
And sim is a great leader and then he automatically
gets us back on track if something's going wrong. Just
he's staying. Of course, he never straights away from the path.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
What great is there blocking for km akers?

Speaker 4 (02:14):
You did it last year, but seeing him come in
on Sunday when Aaron couldn't be in there, everything.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Just worked fine.

Speaker 5 (02:18):
Great blocking for a running back like that. I mean
the backs we have in this room or probably some
of the best in the league, and it's just great
having a guy like him that's shifty and can that's
super fast, can put it foot in the ground.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
Are you in Doulton still rotating in practice right guard reps?

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (02:34):
Yeah, every now and then.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
I mean, do you feel like he's like, does he
pick your brain because he didn't have right guard experience?

Speaker 1 (02:40):
Sometimes I pick his brain.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
We pick each other's brains. That's kind of how it is.

Speaker 5 (02:43):
I mean, we both got experience a guard. He has
a little bit more experienced than me, and I even
come to him a lot, just asking him stuff as
far as technique or how will he do this or
how he do this block and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
So what he said that stood out to me and
I have the quote it says, I feel like we're
a close, banded together group. I feel like that's the
difference maker Vikings ed Ingram on what this team's identity
is in twenty twenty four, And I think about ed Ingram,
and I think about his career thus far, and this

(03:21):
is a classic statement by a guy who knows he's
not playing his best but has been playing better.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Earlier on in the season. He was ranked as one of.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
The worst five right guards in all the football because
of the pressures that he was allowing on the interior
of the offensive line. And he comes out and says,
we're a close banded group. And I feel like that's
the difference. And of course he's going to share his opinion,
and of course he's gonna say that. But when you

(03:55):
think about the offensive line and you think about players
that are struggling, you think about players that aren't necessarily
performing to their potential or to their expected level of play.
After being selected high in the NFL draft, you say
things like that.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
You say things like, oh, you know, we're close knit.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Bit, We're a close group on the offensive line. We
have a lot of trust, we have a lot of
faith in each other. It's all about that chemistry on
the offensive line. It's all about staying together, staying hungry.
I was just believing in each other. It's a lot
of just kind of made up, kind of touchy feely
kind of garbage. And that's my opinion on that. Ed

(04:38):
Ingram has been playing better against the Jaguars and against
the Colts, he probably played his best two games of
the season, but prior to that, ed Ingram was playing
really really bad for the Minnesota Vikings. So he comes
out with a statement, we're a close bandoned group. We're
a close knit offensive line, and I believe that's the difference.

(04:59):
Of course, you believe that's the difference, because if it
was some other difference, he would probably not be on
the Minnesota Vikings offensive line right now as the starting
right guard. If the difference was protecting Sam Darnold and
keeping him on his feet, well, we're probably looking at
Dalton Reisner right now as the right guard for the

(05:19):
Minnesota Vikings. But he's gotten better, so hopefully he continues
that pace as the season progresses, says to the Vikings
Center the second half of the season. So that's my
takeaway in ed Ingram's comments. We can dive into the
Minnesota Vikings preview of the Tennessee Titans football game. Like
I mentioned, the Vikings are seven and two and the

(05:41):
Tennessee Titans are two and seven, And you look at
this game, and you look at the factors going into
this game, and you always hear and I've been adamant
about this too. I said it before the Jacksonville Jaguars game.
I said, the Vikings are not a lock to beat
the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Vikings are not a lock to
beat the Los Angeles Ramsy, you know only got the

(06:02):
any given Sunday mentality. You have got the can't count
the mountain mentality. They're hungry, they could do some damage.
They got some talented players, but they're just not putting
it together. If the Minnesota Vikings are not a lock
to defeat the Tennessee Titans, then there's a major problem.
If the Minnesota Vikings struggle to beat the Tennessee Titans

(06:26):
on Sunday, then I might be looking at the situation
and like, wow, this is not good. If Sam Donald
goes out there and throws three picks in the red
zone again, I gave him a pass last week because
of his seven drives that were potentially scoring. Dries like
drove down the field almost every single time. Vikings only

(06:48):
punted twice in that game. So the Vikings offenses moving.
If the Minnesota Vikings lose against the Tennessee Titans, they
just can't.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
The Titans are hot garbage. You think about hot garbage that.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Describes the Tennessee Titans, and I'm gonna, you know, share it.
So they're two and seven, like I mentioned, but let's
just take a look at their wins and losses this year.
So Bears, they lost twenty four to seventeen, and they
really should have won that game. They're up seventeen zero.
Then Will Levis did Will Levis things Against the New
York Jets, they lost twenty four to seventeen. Against the

(07:23):
Green Bay Packers, they lost thirty to fourteen. They beat
the Miami Dolphins thirty one to twelve, of course without
Tuo a tongue of bailoa. They lost to the Indianapolis
Colts twenty to seventeen. They lost to the Bills thirty
four to ten. They lost to the Lions fifty two
to fourteen. They beat the Patriots twenty to seventeen in overtime.

(07:46):
I can't think of a worse game to go overtime
than Patriots, Titans, and then they lost to the Los
Angeles Chargers twenty seven to seventeen. So every team that
they've played against with a winning record this year, they've
lost by double digits or more. Teams that they played

(08:06):
against with losing records, well, then it was a one
score game, Colts, Patriots, Bears, Jets, one score games. But
you look at the Packers nineteen or sixteen point blowout,
you look at the Bills twenty four point blowout, you
look at the Lions thirty eight point blowout, and you

(08:30):
look at the Chargers last week in a ten point blowout.
The Minnesota Vikings should be able to overlook the Tennessee
Titans just because of the team that they are, the
quarterback that they have, and the defense that they have.
The Tennessee Giants are not good, and I'm sure they

(08:52):
expectation is that the Titans are going to free fall
through the next half of the season. And here's some
notable statistics coming ahead of this game that really defend
my position on why the Vikings should be able to
run over the Tennessee Titans this weekend.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
Take a look at this. I got this off of
vikings dot com.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
They always do a good job with their previews, it
says the Titans are struggling in key categories on defense,
such as sacks tied sixth fewest with eighteen, takeaways tied
third fewest with six, and points surrendered per game fourth

(09:34):
most at twenty six point seven. So the Titans don't
sack anybody, they don't turn the ball over defensively, and
they don't stop anybody defensively. So this is a great
bounce back game, or at least it should be for
Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings offense.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
I mean, this has.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Blowout written all over it. And I was looking at
DraftKings and the Vikings are six point favorites going into
this football game, which makes a little sense struggling off
for the Jacksonville Jaguars game, offense hasn't really looked as.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Tight as it did earlier on in the season.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
But it's a row game and the Titans suck, so
the Vikings should be able to dominate this football game.
And let's just take a look at Will Levis's numbers too,
because he is presumpt presumptably presumpt He's allegedly assumed, assuming me,
is that right going to be the Tennessee Titans quarterback

(10:41):
on Sunday. Levis one hundred and one for one hundred
and forty eight to sixty eight point two per cent,
a complete percentage within one hundred and seventy four yards
and seven touchdowns in five plus games. I appeared in
the sixth game as well. Levis's numbers he's reckless. He's
thrown seven interceptions, two pick sixes, and fumbled the ball

(11:03):
four times, including two in opponents territory. And here's why
the Vikings defense should have a heyday against Will Levis.
And it has nothing to do with the Tennessee Titans.
I mean a little bit because they sucked. But following
the Jacksonville Jaguars game, sure they had some major takeaways
Harrison Phillips, Byron Murphy, Cambinam, but the Minnesota Vikings offensive

(11:29):
time of possession was like forty three minutes in that game.
The Jaguars time of possession was only seventeen minutes. So
the Vikings defense should be well rested. They did not
get overrun against the Jaguars. The Vikings offense controlled that
game from start to finish. Vikings defense made plays because
the Vikings offense didn't finish drives. But the Vikings offense

(11:53):
was on the field for a majority of that game
forty three minutes, which is an NFL season high. So
it's not like you're coming off game where you just
were exhausted by a quarterback picking me up and down,
you know, up and down the field. It's not like
they just got torched. Where excuse me, where Matthew Stafford

(12:14):
or Jerrick Goff just picked them apart third and six
every time, first down, every time. Vikings defense is coming
off a RESTful, dominant performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and
we should expect them to clobber the Tennessee Titans just
because of the state that their offense is in. Check

(12:35):
Out this by the Minnesota Vikings dot com website. It
says Tennessee rolled out DeAndre Hopkins, who's traded the Chiefs
Calvin Ridley, Treylon Burks, and Tyler Boyd at Chicago in
Week one and got seventy eight yards from the foursome.
That's terrible. Levis passed for one hundred and twenty seven
yards of that game. Ten weeks later, the Titans receivers

(12:58):
room is nearly unrecognized. Burks the number eighteen overall draft
choice in twenty twenty two is on injured reserve with
a knee injury suffered in practice. Hopkins traded to the Chiefs.
Boyd hasn't been targeted in two November games. Really, however,
has come alive, compiling a twenty for three hundred and

(13:18):
two line across his past three games at Calm concerns
over a four game stretch of his married by five
catches of fifty six yards total. So really, Calvin Ridley
is the only wide receiver weapon the Tennessee Titans have
that can potentially do any damage to the Minnesota Vikings.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
They got the.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Running back who's decent, Pollard where they brought away from
the Dallas Cowboys a couple of years ago, and he
struggled a few years ago. But I just died for
fourth in the NFL with five hundred and seventy eight
yards rushing after contact this year, and he's got eight
runs of fifteen yards or more, and so he has
some explosive abilities to him for the Tennessee Titans. But

(14:06):
you look at the season, you look at the roster,
you look at the rested Minnesota Vikings defense, and this
should be a blowout. The Minnesota Vikings should dominate, absolutely
wipe the floor with the Tennessee Titans, because of their quarterback,
because of their roster, and because who the Minnesota Vikings are.

(14:29):
So that should be your expectation. And you know what,
if they win, a win to win. But come on,
now is the time to have a relaxed outcome because
the Minnesota Vikings have had some stress outcomes recently when
you look at who there, who they've beaten, and who

(14:51):
they've lost to recently.

Speaker 1 (14:53):
They beat the Colts twenty.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
One to thirteen, stressle second half, stressle first half, Jacksonville
Jaguars three points set halftime, stressful game. It's time to
have a relaxed game. It's time to wipe the floor
with the Tennessee Titans. See players loveyby on the sideline
giving each other hugs. I want to see Nick Mollins
in this football game. I want to see the backup,

(15:17):
give Sam Darnald the rest in the fourth quarter. I
want to see backups because that's how this game should go.
Should be a blowout, shouldn't even be a contest. Thanks
for watching, Thanks for listening.