#520: Minnesota Vikings bring FALSE NARRATIVES about Aaron Jones' following win vs. Cardinals

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are still reviewing the Minnesota Vikings victory over the
Arizona Cardinals in thrilling fashion twenty three, twenty two, and
one of the topics that needs to be addressed is
the Aaron Jones fallout because the game against the Arizona

(00:23):
Cardinals was by far his worst game as a Minnesota
Viking and probably the worst game of his career. Two fumbles,
one lost drop, touchdown pass, but at the end of
the game he kind of touchdown walked in into the

(00:45):
end zone from Sam Darnold and the narrative completely shifts
to Aaron Jones's the escapegoat to oh, I've always believed.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
In Aaron Jones.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
I've always got his back, without a doubt, no question whoever.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
And I'm not gonna lie. I never do.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
That narrative switch bothers me because the Minnesota Vikings won
the game.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
They won twenty three to twenty two.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
If let's just say Sam Darnod throws a pick on
the last drive, hypothetically, Aaron Jones is not being looked
at the same following the Vikings loss. If they did lose,
everyone would be pointing the finger at Aaron Jones. Aaron
Jones's washed, He's done. Vikings should not resign him. Five

(01:40):
carries twenty two yards, two fumbles, drop touchdown, pass put
in cam Aker, start him next week. He fumbled last
week against the Bears at the one yard line, But
now everything has changed. Kevin O'Connell in the locker room
afterwards talks about how we have his back and never
gave up on He never game and never never, never

(02:02):
doubted his ability to come back and make big plays.
And my first thought is, yes, you did. After Aaron
Jones's second fumble, he was immediately benched for cam Akers.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
And ty Chandler.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
And you don't have to look that hard to figure
out that information, because look at this rushing attempts. Sam
Darnold four, cam Akers four, Aaron Jones five.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Ty Chandler two.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
This is by far the lowest rushing attempts of the
season for Aaron Jones and cam Akers had one less
rushing attempt than m ty Chandler had three or less
rushing attempts than him. And when is the last time
ty Chandler got run in an NFL game? So I
could talk about how you didn't doubt him, how you

(03:02):
always believed in him, But at the same time, you
did doubt him.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
You did question his ability.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Because it's not like you put him right back in
the game following his two fumbles. He sat on the
bench during that second quarter, for most of the third quarter,
and for most of that final drive. Cam Akers was
in the ballgame until the final touchdown catch that Aaron
Jones secured to win the game for the Minnesota Vikings.

(03:33):
So you can tell me all this all we believed in,
and we believed in and we believed in him. We
never doubted you. We had no hesitation. Oh you're the guy.
You're the guy. You're the guy. But the facts would
tell us otherwise. Because Ty Chandler, the last time he
had a rushing attempt on the Minnesota Vikings was against Jacksonville.

(03:57):
He had four carries for eighteen yards. And the last
time I had a rushing attempt before that was versus Detroit,
two carries for four yards. So since the Detroit game
he went zero for zero versus the Rams, no rushing
attempts against the Colts, rushing attemp against Jacksonville, no rushing

(04:19):
attempt against Titans, no rushing attempt against.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
The Chicago Bears.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
So he said six rushing attempts in the last six
or seven weeks. And then you're gonna come with this
mumbo jumbo if I never doubted, never hesitated to put
Aaron Jones back in the game, Yes you did.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
And I love Kevin O'Connell. I think he's one.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Of the best coaches of the year and one of
the best coaches in the Minnesota Vikings history of the franchise.
But when you spew this mumbo jumbo of we never
doubted you, I'm gonna see right through that, BS and
I'm gonna call it.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Out for what it is.

Speaker 1 (05:02):
And Sam Donald was interviewed after the game by Pam
Oliver and of course players are gonna echo similar sentiment.
And you know what, I don't want the head coach
or players to come and say, you know what, Aaron
Jones lost the game for us. Players of course are
never going to say that about any player. But what
they don't have to say is, oh, we never doubted you,

(05:25):
we never hesitated to put.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
You back in the game. That's just a flat all lie.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
What they could say is, you know what it's not
and it's not all on Aaron Jones like we could
have blocked better. We could have done this better. We
could have moved the ball better offensively. Don't put this
entire loss in Aaron Jones when it kind of was
if it would have been a loss on the Minnesota Vikings.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
But they're going to the other direction. We never lost
confidence in Aaron Jones.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
I don't know if you know, but it's the biggest
comeback of your career. You just keep racking up these things.
How does this feel?

Speaker 4 (06:02):
Feels great? I mean, you know, obviously a rocky start,
our defense kept it, kept us in it all game,
and we were able to respond the way that we
responded all year. And uh, just proud of these guys,
man proudly probably the way they fought all game. And
uh love these guys.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Man.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Proud of Aaron Jones, so proud of them.

Speaker 4 (06:20):
I mean, you know, obviously he'd like to have, you know,
a couple of plays back in the first half, but
he's gonna fight. We know that about him and we
always believe in him.

Speaker 3 (06:29):
Always a playoff atmosphere, but this one felt just like that.
Just give me a sense of the environment and how
much that had to do with pulling this thing out.

Speaker 4 (06:38):
It's incredible our fans. Uh, they come out every single time,
super loud. I mean, it's it's awesome. There's there's no
other place I'd rather play, and just so so grateful
to be if Viking.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Good for you. Appreciate it, all right, Thank you, Sam,
Back to you.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
So that's Sam Darnold on Aaron Jones' fumbles that I
talked about what Kevin O'Connell said earlier. Something that is
concerning over the Aaron Jones fumbles. It's not just that
he fumbled, but he had warning signs to hold on
to the football better and he still didn't. Last week

(07:17):
against the Bears, he fumbles up the one yard line. Okay,
he doesn't fumble for the rest of the game. Now,
when that happens, you would think that as a player,
he would just be extra secure with the football so
that you don't give it up, right, you know, you
throw a pick, you throw a pick six, aren't you
a little bit more careful with how you take care of.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
The football moving forward in that game?

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Maybe you take a little less risks, maybe you hold
ont of the football a little bit tighter. If you're
Aaron Jones and in the same game he fumbled on
but the Vikings first offensive possession of the game. But
he was extremely lucky and fortunate that Brian O'Neill jumped
right on the football went right to him. And you

(08:04):
would think that that would have been a great warning
sign to Aaron jo Hey, watch out for the football.
You're a little loose today. The guys are going for
the punch out. You hang on to that thing. And
the fact that he didn't is what makes it all
the more concerning. Now, he had a warning sign and

(08:24):
he didn't listen to it. He coughed up the football
on a pass from Aaron from Sam Darnold and it
went to the Arizona Cardinals. Fortunately for Aaron Jones, he
might be the luckiest player in the NFL today following
the Vikings win because when he fumbled, the Arizona Cardinals

(08:46):
did not score. They missed a field goal when he
dropped the touchdown pass. He got another chance later on
into that game to score a touchdown. And the fact
that the Arizona Cardinals had a intentional grounding penalty late
in the game, and the fact that the Vikings were

(09:07):
extremely lucky to get the benefit of the call from
NFL officials on the off side encroachment penalty from Tillery
and they called it a false start instead moves.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
It back intentional grounding. Next.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
The Minnesota Vikings won that game, but definitely got some
fortunate breaks at the end of the game from NFL
officiating because then they kicked the field goal, keeps the
Vikings in the game, and then they marched down to
score a touchdown late. So Aaron Jones, he's a good player,
but this was by far his worst game as a

(09:48):
Minnesota Viking, and it brings up concerns over the future
of the running back position because he's under a one
year contract right now. Is what it makes Aaron Jones
good is his ability to catch passes out of the back.
That he's got thirty two catches this year, which is
really good. But if he's gonna keep fumbling the ball

(10:10):
the way he is, the Minnesota Vikings need to look
in another direction for RB one next year. And maybe
that's the draft. Maybe there's a guy in the draft
that they like that they want to bring in.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
But the one thing that I do like about Aaron
Jones is his ability.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
To get something out of nothing. You know, so many
times you see a defensive player in the backfield immediately,
and what Aaron Jones is able to do is he's
able to take a negative three yard run and at
least get back to the line of scrimmage.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
So he's good in that sense.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
He's got some burst, and hopefully at the end of
the season, I guess the goal is that Aaron Jones
could really turn it on following, you know, a disappointing
performance versus the Cardinals and versus the Bears last week.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
So you see the narrative. You see they don't give up.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
You see the hesitation or no hesitation to put your
injanes back in the game.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
But don't believe that garbage. Look at the facts. Listen
to this podcast, watch this podcast.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
Thank you for making this podcast a part of your day.