Watch J.J. McCarthy talk recovering and Andrew Krammer preview Vikings-Giants

[Music] um first off I just want to thank all the fans all the love and support that I've received over these last couple weeks few weeks have been you know immense and tremendous and deeply appreciated so really appreciate all the love you know trainers um my fiance she's been doing a lot helping me out at home and you know really appreciate just everyone throughout this whole process it's new for me and you know I feel right at home here so so uh you know we've exhausted all options on what we're going to do and you know there's three different types of meniscus tears you know mine was medial and Radial so six weeks of just no pressure and all that and you know we're go from there but I'm just focused on one day at a time doing whatever I can to help this team win and you know be successful each day how you working through it just mentally having not had this happen before and then after you played so well in the in the preseason game um honestly really good you know it's it's tough It's kind of you know kicking the balls but you know what you take everything that life throws at you and you find the positive in it you know good or bad and you know I feel like I've been able to you know gain those deeper connections with my teammates and really take a step back and learn the offense and you know a more relaxed kind of state of mind and you know I'm just appreciating every moment JJ was there a certain play in that game that you realized something was off or was it just a kind of gradual thing that you talk up later you know the adrenaline was flowing so much throughout that 60 Minutes you know even when when I was not playing I really didn't feel until the next day you know when my knece started to buckle going down the stairs and I was like I should get this checked out so yeah it was just uh Monday that's when we decided you know to get the MRI and that's what the results showed that medial and Radial tear did did you go back and think about when it could have happened or watch tape or do you want to know or like I mean there's a few different plays that you know I thought it could have been then but there's not one in particular that I really could point out and say yeah this is what had happened as you were walking down the steps I mean and it buckles I mean like did you process in that moment like uhoh something might be really messed up here yeah because you know I haven't really felt that before you know I've had contusions and Bone bruises and all that but you know feeling the instability within my knee you know I just wanted to play it safe and play the long game and understand you know I could be a tough guy and toughen it out and you know try to grit out that first start that I was going to get in Cleveland but you know at the end of the day what's best for this organization and this team is me making smart decisions you know especially early on in my career and you know that was one of them to just you know let's figure this out before a land mine goes off in my knees so with that said were you shocked at when they told you what it was extremely shocked yeah yeah like did you just think it was like a bruise or something or what did you did yeah I thought it was a bruise I thought you know at most it could have been a strain somewhere but you know when they told me like it's pretty serious tear uh yeah that was taken away by that Sam darnold says he sees you in you're you're looking at books and Mak books and we asked the playbooks he said what playbooks plus I think more he reads yeah what is it that you're reading um well with my ADHD I read a lot of books at once so I'm reading three right now the invention of yesterday by tamim aneri um A New Earth by eart toi and stay sane in an insane World by Greg Harden and those are just all books that you know really kind of help me throughout this process of you know trying to strengthen this and you know I appreciate you know Sam saying that because he's been so great throughout this whole process just always checking in always making sure I'm good and helping me out throughout the way as well as me helping him out throughout the week Jer what was kind of the process of like where you went in for the operation not knowing like what was going through your head kind of and a lead up to that in an after um it was really just you know take it one day at a time you know it was tough that initial you know week of just understanding you know I'm going to be out for a while but uh you know it's just I'm not going to sit here and sulk and you know think about you know woo me and worry about the past and I'm just going to focus on how I can better in other ways in my life and you know that's what I've been doing every day and I'm seeing a lot of growth in a lot of different areas and yeah I'm just uh attacking it each day and that's all I'm worried about what what was the inspiration for your use of the Latin phrase um and then I think Marcus Aurelius as well yeah you know I'm a huge believer and you know life happens for you not to you and you know that's pretty much what a Mor f means and the inspiration actually came from Becky schmoke who uh came here I forget what day it was but it was over camp in one of our rookie success meetings which uh you know I really appreciated um she talks about you know stoicism and how it could relate to a lot of the things you go through as an athlete and just as a human being in general and toor Fati kind of really stuck with me and just knowing that I could apply that in every aspect of my life especially throughout my football career J did you ever have anything other than KN in Michigan like no sir yeah it's a fresh one so how long do you are you on the scooter has that been uh yeah plus in a in a weird way has been fun to be it has been and you know those crutches I've appreciated the crutch work because you know as quarterbacks we really get to work out the buys and tries so but uh yeah the cafeteria I'm sure sure you guys been there and see how far it is that's not fun on crutches so it's nice SC is it true that you crash into o connell's wall or is that a little bit of it is true you got a a little bit blown out of proportion here you know I was just backing up you know like put it in reverse ter and I just rammed right into the door frame a little paint chip but nothing serious beep beep coming out yeah exactly yeah we're thinking about clown horns and stuff as far as uh what you can learn in this uh first year I mean I guess what is your approach to trying to take everything you can from Sam and also Kevin with the how the scheme works well the biggest learning process is my routine throughout the week let me solidify what it's like to go through the week and you know with the benefit of not having pressure to perform on Sunday so by the time I do play whenever that is next year following year whatever or whenever it is I'll be ready and it won't be like I played a game or or this is my first game so I'm just like kind of focusing on chunking things together whether it's the you know third down list the defensive strategies in the red zone it could be any sort of situation and just building a plan that you know helps me retain the information when it comes on Sunday can you go to pool right now or I mean what do you do for cardio can you do upper body what do you try to do just to um they are doing their absolute best to get me to sit down and do absolutely nothing but make sure this is okay for after the 6 weeks because the six weeks is the most crucial time of the recovery process so knowing who I am you know I like to chop wood I like to you know just do things all the time so they're just really focusing on me recovering and then getting after it after that six weeks go ahead as you think about training camp um what what are maybe you what were you most proud of you think of like your progression from the spring to the fall um I think it would be a couple of things just earning you know the Trust From A lot of my teammates and coaches um being able to be that teammate you know the authentic teammate that I am and them understanding that is authenticity um being able to adap adapt a whole new footwork and really like get it to a spot where I feel really comfortable going out there and not thinking about it too much it's more instinctual and then just getting a better grasp of the offense because it slows down once you're not you know thinking of a million things or how to say the play call so all those little things that I worked on over the summer really paid off as Camp went on J you mentioned like building relationships with your teammates and obviously still spending a ton of time around the building I'm just curious if you've been able to glean anything even just organically from some of the Vets who have maybe been through injuries or had to rehab mhm um so I was actually having a Habachi night with uh gangles invited a lot of us over and David quesenberry told me he hurt his uh foot I forget what the injury was but he broke his foot his fresh or his rookie year and said you know rookie I mean a vet came up to him and this is going to be you know your red shirt ear so enjoy it and that's what he told me so I'm really just you know focusing on just making sure I learn so much mentally that when I go out there it's going to take care of itself JJ when you talk about finding the positiv situations like this is that hard um you know it not really because you know just me standing here in front of you guys is a positive me being able to see you guys me being able to breathe so there's a lot of different ways that you could find the truly amazing things that we Overlook in life in times like this because you know just being able to walk is like such a blessing and I don't know know that unless I don't have it so just going through stuff like that has been you know kind of what I've been doing just to to clarify you said when your knee buckled that was in stairs at your house yes and then that was the day after the game uh yeah that was the day after and then pretty bad Monday so Monday is when you felt it so then that's when you told them about it yeah yeah mhm and then JJ just declared like when you wake up from the surgery that's like the first time you know like done yeah you go into it and it could be four to six weeks could be 6 to 8 months so you find out if you got a brace on your leg post surgery or you don't so there was a what was the first thing you thought when you saw the brace some profanity I don't want to say that I was definitely upset that's for sure was the four to six week surgery an option like through multiple surgeries you could undergo yes you could but then you risk later on in your career having bone on bone issues and nobody wants that you know even post career it's just like you know at the end day you want to be able to be as healthy as possible and you know Dr Larsson and his team did a fantastic job of making the proper decision and you know I trust them with my career and you know it's going great so far JJ who you Le on like in that moment when you woke up see the rce um you know my fiance for sure you know we've been together since I was 15 so we've been through a lot and then obviously everyone here you know coach oconnell my teammates uh coach Macau coach udinsky coach Wes obviously the boys in the room but uh yeah just everyone is so like you know it feels like home here it really does it's hard to describe it but you know they've been just truly awesome and I can't think of enough you know there was a chance like even if without an injury that you might not play this year it could could have been a red first part you knew there was a chance even if there was no injury that you might not play see how how it goes you did you have a hunch like after you camping were you feeling like I'm ready for this um um did you not think that way honestly yeah I felt like you know as camp progressed on and my confidence you know kind of evolved yeah I felt like I was ready to perform and help this team win in any way I could and you know yeah it sucks not getting that you know opportunity to start a game or two uh before you know that decision is made but you know what it just happened and you got to roll with the punches JJ the last year I mean really it's been something I mean Michigan National Championship coach suspended all that went with that to now MH um can you put that into words just the last year of your life and all that's happened uh roller coaster that's for sure but a lot of learning moments a lot of experiences that I could you know put on my tool belt and you know help me through these times and you know I'm just grateful for everything that's happened to me good or bad and uh yeah I'm excited to see what the future holds because you know there's something special in this Brew in this building brewing and you know I believe coach OK Connell when he says it because EXC excited to see those boys get after him on Sunday J you think about the on field time you'll miss from this what do you do to make up for that just trying to get caught up for going back into next year yeah it's just making sure mental reps are you know of utmost importance whether it's VR being out there on the a field and just really you know hearing the play call saying it going through like all those mental mechanics you go through every single snap and uh we have this helmet camera now a little GoPro on Sam's head so watching film from that perspective is really good too so like I said they done they've done a great job so far with just this whole process JJ how similar is the mental tool of going through this and maybe some of the hardships you face at IMG um I would say you know this I have a lot of support around me you know a lot of resources you know a lot of people that you know truly genuinely care and it means a lot and it's definitely making this process a whole lot smoother how excited are you to watch Sam so excited I mean I've watched watch him since I was you know just picking up football I think in middle school I think yeah he's kind of old um he's not at all yeah he's not at all but I just like giving him crap but uh I I'm so excited because you know the guy works so hard he's so talented he's had such a you know amazing journey this far uh into his career and I feel like it's just about to start because you know he's done a lot of good things put it on tape this camp and I can't wait till you know for him to show the world thanks everybody hey everybody welcome to another episode of purple Insider Matthew caller here along with Andrew Kramer of the Star Tribune and our hardcore football breakdowns of actual NFL football games are back Andrew it's time I'm so jacked I'm so jacked I hit a tackle dummy on the way in I took down Kevin seir wrap-up tackle I I'm good to go your form was great it it really was I mean I've I've been working out there they have a tackle dummy that has a football St to it and it's my it's my favorite thing and I just I really want it in my backyard I want to hit it I it's like it's just a dummy and its arm is just holding out like this with a football in it I'm like let's go and it's meant to just have that ball knocked out yes like you or anybody who walks 100% uh so because of that the Vikings are ready to attack Daniel Jones in this football game where would you like to begin in our first hardcore breakdown what position what matchup what do you think is number one on the list most important thing between these two football squads it's got to be Sam Sam darnold right it's it's got to be the quarterback it's got to be the Vikings first game without Kirk Cousins and how Kevin oconnell is going to adjust to that I'm almost as interested to see how oconnell adjusts as much as Sam himself because what did oconnell learn from last year going through the what they did with Josh dos and what they did with Nick Mullins and quarterbacks who clearly could not handle what Kirk could handle and how did he adjust that this summer with a full summer with darnold is it going to be the same full menu of plays at the line of scrimmage are we going to be seeing him check in and out of things with as the clock ticks down or is it going to be much more intentional and more um handpicked by the coaching staff of no this is what we want Sam to do I think it's going to tell us a lot about how this summer went for Sam uh in terms of was it as inconsistent as it looked at times including in those joint practices in Cleveland uh that you guys were there for and and if oconnell adjusts to that I think we're going to see darnold do a lot less than we saw Kirk do which is going to say a lot about kind of where this offense is headed well that's exactly what I wanted to know is your opinion on what that looks like because if you ask Sam darnold to throw the ball every play and if you ask him to just operate in this intermediate Universe where he's dropping back and throwing a 10 yard out and then a slant and then you know just over and over and over as Kirk was and that's how TJ hackinson got to a 100 million Targets in his time here but well there's no hackinson I think that hurts that game specifically but also that's just not darnold it's not who he's been is somebody who could just read the field quickly stick in the pocket stand in there and then just deliver accurately over and over and over and over again I thought that oconnell played to Kevin or to U Kirk cousin's strengths very well over the last two years does that mean that he can play to darnold strengths when he's had all that time because I wanted to give a mulligan for the dos and for the Mullins just because it's hard to switch your entire offense for someone at the same time I mean the Bengals were able to adjust a little bit to a jake Browning the you know the Giants were able to adjust to a Tommy DeVito but of course it only lasts for so long and they got a couple of good games out of these guys they got a couple of bad games that's what you'd expect so I wasn't trying to make that correlation of well if he can't adjust to you know dos then he can't adjust to darnold that seems unfair when you've had an entire offseason versus just trading for a player in the middle of the year yeah and I wasn't saying that that okell can't do it but an adjustment needs to be made Sam is not Kirk as you mentioned and so I think the adjustment of not having the comfort in the offense not having the history of it do you remember Kirk's first training camp here in Minnesota it did not go well and I remember that night practice at the stadium here at TCO where um he threw like three or four interceptions back to back to back and was very frustrated with how this was going um and obviously they went on and went 13 and four and it worked out very well for them but um Sam darnold's not Kirk and he in his history has also he hasn't been a starter since 2022 at the end of that year hasn't been a full-time starter for week one since 2021 it's been some time he's been out there and so I think an adjustment needs to be made is what I'm saying and I think that they are going to adjust it's just how far and how much are they going to put on Sam's plate do I want to is what I'm really looking to see but part of that has to be this offense has to be a rushing offense if this is going to emulate what San Francisco does with Brock P somebody who you think is as scheme dependent as somebody like Sam darnold um I just don't think they're going to be able to put 30 40 passes on him per game unless you have an efficient rushing attack with Aaron Jones in a diet version of what Christian mcaffrey does well when you think about all the invogue offenses in the league which would include what Miami I would even throw Green Bay in there with what they did and I mentioned Cincinnati but I think their offense belongs in that category that's more McVey connected or Shanahan connected most of them are not what oconnell has been most of them do build everything off the run which doesn't have to mean full Zimmer you have to run every play don't ever throw unless it's a play action or something but I think that it builds off of the run and I don't know that a tiger can completely change his stripes in one offseason so I think he wants to do a lot of the same things to get Justin Jefferson open as he did with Kurt Cousins and that's where it does become a balance and you mentioned that darnold is the what's going to happen is the most interesting story with him but Aaron Jones might be right up there because they're so interlocked what happens with the running game what happens with Aaron Jones will dictate Sam darnold and I think that if you get into the numbers enough you start to see this you start to see oh you know darnold when he was leading is not a bad quarterback and when he's trailing he's a terrible quarterback or when it's third and 10 plus he struggles but when it's second and four he's an average NFL quarterback there's ways to kind of take away the the most difficult challenging situations for quarterbacks where I think Kirk was largely good at those and try to pair it down but that can only happen if you run effectively yeah and I think there's been a lot of nitpicking of Sam's past and kind of you know how comfortable can he be in this offense given the coaching he's had before but what's interested to me is that he was coming from San Francisco now he has that Foundation from being in San Francisco last year and he learned at the end of 2022 as well in Carolina how to win games by not being the hero that you're talking about when you go back and look at his end in 2022 he went 4-2 and they flirted with the playoffs because of how bad the NFC South was he averaged 190 passing yards a game in that stretch the defense held everybody down to an average of 19 points he played complimentary easy game manager football and darnold told me that he said I learned that a quarterback can't really control everything the way I thought a quarterback could and he talks about the defense with the Jets ranking 29th 32nd 32nd and yards allowed the three years he was there he talks about 2021 and how up and down that Matt rule team was firing Joe Brady in the middle of that season so this guy's been dealt a lot of shorth hands and he feels like he's at least stepped up and learned how to manage the games that you're talking about and the key is can the rest of this Vikings staff as you're talking about Aaron Jones and you're talking about Kevin oconnell managing him can they put him in those situations where he's not feeling like he has to do to too much cuz if they're down like Kirk Cousins was in 2021 if they're down every fourth quarter and he has to try and save them this is going to be a 4 and13 team right because one of Kirk's magical skills was to be down two scores and you know for the first part of Kirk he would not win the game at the end and then the second part of Kirk he would win the game at the end and it was like well maybe he's just good at coming back when down and getting at least interesting at the end but darnold in his career has not been like that if it's a blowout it just goes worse wor and worse and worse which they need him to not do as well I think so much of this ties into what happens up front in this particular football game it probably does every week but the entire strength of these New York Giants and their football team is in their defensive line Brian Burns going up against Christian Dera great matchup and then I just feel like we've been saying his name all week on the show but you can't say it enough Dexter Lawrence and what he did to them in those two matchups in 2022 I don't see a different answer to Dexter Lawrence as in he's going to win he's going to get in the back field he's going to blow up a couple of plays it's more of not letting him do it every play not letting him impact play after play after play he might get a couple of big pressures he might get a big sack but don't let it be like that Kenny Clark or a Keem Hicks where it's just over and over it's like banging the drum up against this offensive line which kind of leads to the question of how much are you trusting the the interior of the offensive line and this is something I struggle with talking about because when the question comes up how good is Blake brandle going to be I'm like I don't know I guess we'll find out when he plays how good do you think Blake brandle is gonna be I think that's a legitimate question same with Ed Ingram year year three Ed Ingram who was still the only starter playing in those preseason games Blake brandle wasn't playing they didn't feel like they needed to see him but they felt like they needed to see Ed Ingram who qu mentioned he comes back from an offseason injury and wasn't in the shape he needed to be in and needed to work his way back into it going into Camp he had a slow start to Camp according to Ed himself um so this interior line is absolutely a question mark it's shaky um the only thing that can save it is Kevin oconnell and Garrett bradberry's individual Improvement since that 2022 playoff loss and if you go back to them that Bradberry was probably at um he was at the end of that first year with Kevin okell felt like he was at a better point and I think we've seen him kind of gradually take those steps forward this year or this past year as well so I think Bradberry himself can change a lot if he can hold up as you're talking about not get beat quickly uh as we see good offensive linemen do if they are going to get beat at least make it difficult on guys like that the issue is the old line as you know is so independent between all or codependent excuse me between all these different positions that if he's got a weak link on either side of him and Dexter Lawrence or the Giants can sniff that out and kind of scheme these things up where it's Lawrence on brandle oneon-one Lawrence on um on Ingram one-on-one there's only so much they can do and and they're going to have to get that ball out quickly or keep running to the perimeter and I I feel the same way about defensive lines as I do about offensive lines only kind of the inverse where with offensive lines it's about your weakness and how many weaknesses you have defensive lines it's how many strengths do you have and if a team has a Nick Bosa and no one else say like denil Hunter and no one else last year I'm not scared of them but this this team has three and I put Kavon thibo there along with Brian Burns who is what the highest paid defensive end and with Dexter Lawrence and Andre Patterson's coaching these guys right so you know that they're going to be good and they're going to be prepared and and have a pass rush plan and that Theo is going to get better and better and it feels like he has been even though there have been Rocky times and I'll see well he hasn't had a couple you know sacks in a few games but then you look at where he's been it hasn't been Mega star for his draft status but I also think it's been good enough for the Vikings to also be concerned about him oh absolutely and they're not going to be able to scheme things up where you can just because you said if you have one star on the D line it's pretty easy especially if it's an edge player to say you know what we're just going to throw to that the other half of the field we're going to run to the other half of the field it is pretty easy to get away from an edge player it's not so easy to get away from an interior guy or if you have two good Edge players as you just mentioned so I think this is going to be an incredible test of Kevin oconnell and how far they've come not only in scheming around Sam darnold but we should also talk about the scheming in the Run game and the fact that this is a coaching staff that very much needs to prove it can find answers in the running game in the ways that they have not in those first two years with both Dalvin cook and Alexander Madison it's hard to put everything on one game but it's all we're GNA have to start here because you're like let's find out if they can do this or this or this and this we've waited eight months for this let's play uh so I don't know that it will be determined on Sunday alone if they could right exactly but I that's where I was going with this but I will absolutely be determining that uh I think that it will be hard to run against them but if you can do it then there will be confidence that you can keep doing it because it's not going to get easier as you go San Francisco Houston and then you know maybe you can run against Green Bay a couple weeks from now but if you can't do it against this team then I'm going to be concerned it's that it's going to be a problem because also you have a great player back there he's 100% healthy going into the season and you had all this time to think about it and figure it out over a second offseason and you can look back and blame Alexander Madison I think that's probably fair but if Aaron Jones can't do it and Tai Chandler can't do it well then you need to look in the mirror and I was a little surprised that they didn't make a coaching change to go out and find somebody I mean when you know Gary was here and Kevin uh you know Kevin stefansky and they're teaching in that typical kubak system we just saw the players really get it now they couldn't pass protect those years but they really understood how it was all supposed to go together all the pieces all the rolles all the footwork and everything else and it just looked like five dudes trying to block someone and not a cohesive unit before most of the players are the same except for Blake brandle so if it still doesn't look like a cohesive unit is it coaching is it run scheme is it players because I know that it's not going to be the guy in the back field at least as long as he's healthy yeah and coaches as Wes even Wes Phillips the coordinator went out and basically said good Runners even make the offensive line look better and I mean they're pretty willing to go out there and say that they had bad running back play last year and it's in between the lines of every comment these coaches have made so they're not putting it on themselves so I guess it can't be too shocking that they didn't want to fire oconnell didn't want to fire Curtis modkins or make a change at Run game coordinator um because they will make changes you saw Chris O'Hara get kind of shoved to the side the the old quarterback's coach in favor of Josh maau once they had to move on from a veteran and once you needed a real uh sturdy presence in that quarterback room so they'll make changes but you're right it it really is going to put the onus on you've got now a guy who's a veteran who's 29 he's not quite uh didn't feel like he was quite out of gas the way dvin cook did at least at the end of his time here in Minnesota so they're putting all this on Aaron Jones to say come in and fix us um and and his versatility is huge Wes Phillips talked about how this guy can run Zone Gap Duo can kind of do all these things that they didn't feel like Alexander Madison could do okay hardcore breakdown only becomes truly hardcore when I ask you about the tight ends oh yeah Johnny Mt and Josh Oliver we got some meaty boys here going up against the uh Giants but is different from the last time they faced the Giants when TJ hackinson annihilated them uh not having TJ hackinson is a different wrinkle to this uh Johnny mutt had a very good training camp that doesn't always mean that it's going to continue to be very good I think that they can work their way through this but it clearly impacts them otherwise they wouldn't pay TJ hackinson $17 million a year yeah exactly and you mentioned I think hackinson game against the Giants last time is so huge because the Giants still couldn't cover tight ends last year they're really really bad at that and have been bad at that so Shane Bowen comes in as a defensive coordinator from Tennessee and it's got to be better it's got to look better um but the Vikings are probably going to want to Leverage The exact same matchups they tried to do before cuz not too much has changed from their interior linebacking course so I think when you've got them going in with Johnny Mt they're probably going to put him we've seen him be the hackinson player in these camps where it's always going to be Oliver as the inline blocking type and then when they split out a tight end it's going to be Mt and that's the guy who's going to have to fill that role and it looks good in Camp it has but you don't see it translate onto the field too often in the regular season so I'm curious how much they're going to get out of that it's not going to be the same yards after the catch it's not going to be the same vertical route type stuff it's going to be more limited certainly in what they need to do but once darnold's got hackinson back I think regardless of the Giants or any defense it's going to be one of his best friends oh absolutely I I think hackinson is a guy who made Kirk a lot better it was almost the really the turning point of Kirk in the offense I thought there was a lot of struggles early on with Irv Smith and once he got hackinson and he had his guy to go to it was every time something went wrong there would be a third and 12 everyone's running down the field and hackinson slips out and finds space he's such a high IQ player and he would catch it underneath and get 13 yards or something like that I think it was San Francisco that happened a couple times and I don't know if Johnny M can actually get to the first down or if it's going to be a little bit of older Kyle Rudolph situation where it's I got it and I'm tackled uh but Mt was very good in training camp and did have a couple of moments in the games at the end of the year when uh hackinson got hurt it just it's not not going to be the same level of weapon and if Jordan Addison is slowed and Jaylen Naylor is slowed then Justin what's the middle name James Jonathan what's about Jefferson Jefferson's middle name oh I have no idea I have no idea Anderson what's it's I don't know either uh what Justin Jefferson's middle name is Justin middle name Jefferson is the guy they will be throwing to Jets it's Jets Justin Jets Jefferson uh anyway how do you think that the Giants will approach playing against the best player in the universe at his position I was just going to mention too now when I think back to the Titans defense and what their Hallmarks are it's very hard-nosed you know Mike Vel um punch in the mouth kind of stuff and so with Shane Bowen coming over from there to the Giants I also remember that the Titans couldn't stop a nose bleed in the passing game they they couldn't cover anybody they routinely had one of the worst secondaries gave up the most explosive plays on defense and how much of that's varable how much of that was what they were running um with Bowen over there we'll find out but the Giants themselves aren't really known to have some shutdown Playmakers they lose Xavier McKenna in the off season the safety to Green Bay I'm not quite sure who they filled that role with um right now in their depth chart but it's going to be what a Dory Jackson it's not a whole lot of talent in that secondary I think the Giants are going to have to commit multiple people to it Jordan Addison being healthy is huge for this game because they love to leverage his ability off of the attention that Justin Jefferson gets so I expect this instead of the TJ hackinson type game we saw against the Giants before I expect this to be a lot to Jefferson and Addison um because the Giants have to commit two or three guys to Jefferson otherwise how else are they going to slow him down no it's a great point because Deontay Banks is the guy they drafted last year and a talented player good athlete but not someone who has come along far enough where you'd be saying well hey this is gyri Alexander or this is somebody that's uh really has a proven track record against Jefferson of course he's throttled those people too uh even had success against s Gardner like I don't think there's anyone who can just shut him down completely so you're right and that's why I think all the other guys were talking about the Addison and his health and Johnny mutt Josh Oliver how can they play off of that when there's those double teams and even three guys rolling his way and also can Sam darnold keep himself from pushing the Jefferson button when he doesn't to prob that is aate balance that Kirk obviously had so much success with but even sometimes Jefferson was like come on throw it more and it it doesn't matter if he's double covered but you will throw interceptions if you try to force it to him too much folks US Cellular noticed that the way we use our phones has gotten to be ironic we try to put our phones down for dinner but the menu is on a QR code that's ironic we hit like on social media posts that we don't actually like ironic which is why US Cellular has created us mode to help us reconnect with each other and use our phones less ironically a phone company wanting people to use their phones less ironic let's find us again with us mode from US Cellular visit uscellular.com built for us to get started yeah that's a great point and I think darnold's decision- making his risk-taking that's all going to be a huge factor in this in his as he's learning that chemistry with Jefferson and the balance you're talking about because you can have those moments like fourth down in Buffalo where there isn't a bad decision to force it up to Jefferson he might make the catch of the year you don't want to do that on first down when the risk is obviously a turnover when you don't need it um so I think darnold's going to learn that uh again this is a guy who hasn't started a full season in quite some time and hasn't started week one in three years I think we're going to see some just natural adjustment for him of getting used to the flow of the game caling his heart rate down all those things cuz we saw him for 12 snaps in the preseason none of that with Jefferson none of that with um Aaron Jones so this is going to be new for him and I wouldn't be shocked if their game plan is quick passes underneath using Jefferson deep to leverage uh space for Addison underneath leverage space for Mt underneath make this a little bit easier for darnold right out of the gate and then obviously run the football uh as they want to do because I think that's the only way you can approach this with darnold knowing that if you tell him hey hit the post to Jefferson right out of the gate into double you know two high safety coverage I just don't know if that's the great greatest thing to kind of jump out with him um because you want to get this guy comfortable and you want to get him used to his teammates and all the above it has been really entertaining to watch people try to formulate Sam darnold opinions and National media and analysts and former players because they're usually like well m i mean maybe let's go back and look at some tape for when he was a jet or or something because it is so jumbled of a career and if you just watch I just watched the end of 2022 uh over the summer for an article and what I took away was they used a lot of quick stuff with him and then he just Let it Loose every once in a while and it was pretty effective for them except for in the game he went five for 15 with two picks right and they won that game didn't they yeah they did against the Saints yes incredible uh prepare yourself though prepare prepare yourself also because you haven't seen this in a long time for scramble scramble scramble scramble where's he going what is he going to do is he going to throw is he going to run what's the oh my God that that was not with Kirk but it certainly will be with uh Sam darnold at times where he's going to baffle you and wow you at the same time but what was really noticeable is the Panthers at that point used play action effectively they built off their run effectively and then just hit the occasional deep shot to d DJ Moore and then he wowed a handful of time with his arm talent and they were able to win a couple of games and I think the same thing has to go for here now on the other side of the football are you a Daniel Jones respector or detractor because I think that outside of here you could say well this guy just stinks you should win we saw him play really good against the Minnesota Vikings so we know it's their somewhere with Daniel Jones but is it there week one um no um thecast I absolutely a detractor I think Ed donatell got the guy paid oh yeah um and if if Daniel Jones didn't buy him a Rolex or cut him a check then he's not doing the guy right um there's a reason Ed's not in the NFL anymore um I he was throwing to guys like Isaiah McKenzie and Richie James who were streaking wide open um past uh just off coverage and the way that the Giants won that game with Jones throwing for 330 yards I think it was that single-handedly forced the Giants to pay him because well he won a playoff game so I guess we got to do this right and then now this entire offseason you watch The Hard Knocks with the Giants and Joe Shane and every chance he gets was like ah let's give Daniel a shot I don't know like whatever like what let's draft a weapon Malik neighbors because at least he'll be here next year um so I just think it's so obvious that they have no belief in him this is just going to be a setup for them to try and see if maybe he's taken a step forward and grown as a processor of of defenses and and throwing the football all he is is an athletic person that they can scheme up a run game with and maybe he can create off schedule um Brian Flores is his worst nightmare oh I agree Brian Flores is going to figure out just basic blitzes that this guy won't be able to decipher Ivan Pace in year two the veterans that they've got van GLE coming in matelis Harrison Smith all these guys they've got that are so used to deceiving uh young quarterbacks and and not you know what's the right way to put it uh ones who can't decipher these things guys who just aren't mentally as acute as a Josh Allen or pton Manning back in the day or whatever guys who can kind of decipher those things so I think Daniel Jones is going to struggle I think the the over under on point totals for this game is like 41 it's incredibly low yeah and I think that's right that's that's absolutely right they know that Daniel Jones is going to struggle they know Sam darnold in this first game very well might struggle too so um I think this matchup is going to be one that is won based on who has the fewest turnovers from that quarterback spot okay let me try the other side of that so I mostly agree that Jones isn't all that good and he's been banged up a lot too even since the games where he was really good against the Vikings he got murdered last year with that offensive line and they've improved it but I don't know if they've improved it enough to be great against this defensive unit especially on the edges for the Vikings that I think is good and the interior Rush on Pass Downs will be good with Dallas Turner mixing in I think I I even like Jad ward in the way that he's fit in to that interior Rush role in the NASCAR third down package if you will but uh I I think on on Daniel Jones's side is when you now look at their receiving unit and then go back and look at what he had in when he made the playoffs it's way better I mean they have one of the best talents to come out in the draft in years Slayton is a pretty good player hayatt is actually a deep threat that you should be a little bit nervous about and juell Robinson is that underneath guy who can be a bit of a playmaker this isn't a group where I go uh who are these people I know these people and uh you've seen the Malik neighbors highlights during training camp and preseason that I don't doubt is legit and if Stefan Gilmore just coming off his couch here is limited in his snaps and you've got to play other people or if it's a bad matchup with I think Byron Murphy Jr versus Malik neighbors is not the greatest matchup because of the size of neighbors that Jones might be able to have more success than we think just because of these receivers being better and the Vikings cornerback group has to prove it because sha Griffin missed all of Camp Gilmore just got here Byron Murphy versus a great wide receiver last year was not a good matchup with Keenan Allen Aman R st Brown so I think that there still should be some nerves that the receivers can do something for the Giants yeah that's why this game I think with Flores it'll be one before the snap the the the eight play will be one uh or a lot of these passing plays will be one or loss before the snap of if Daniel Jones knows where to go with the football and he feels confident that my one read with Malik neighbors if it's in the slot on a quick slant or whatever is going to be open or does Flores muddy those looks before the snap have a lot of late movement a lot of rotation all those things that kind of make Jones second guess hold on bat the football and then you can get it knocked out potentially if you're blitzing from a side that you didn't adjust the protection to I think that is the chess game that is going to decide this game against a quarterback who you can do those things against and we saw Flores when he faced quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes last year he didn't try to do a ton um he will adjust and he understands that there are guys you can just get after and then that's to your point about those those receiving weapons you counter that right by just making sure that he doesn't know where to go with it right yeah deciphering line of scrimmage is always a challenge for opposing quarterbacks he has been around but he's talking about adjusting protections with some new linemen with a new running back and that's another part I wanted to bring up was just how strong you think this Vikings defense really is and they've got a new running back not as scary as saquon Barkley who was great in the games against the Vikings but I think that they're a lot better talent-wise than they were last year and they're going into this healthy with of course Makai Blackman out for the year but everybody else who's in the starting lineup is in the lineup for this game and I think that Flores just has a lot more to work with than he did last year where he was trying to get everything out of every single player but the guy who was starting a corner for them for the whole season until he got benched is now cb5 Caleb Evans I mean that just shows you and that's their one of their worst positions that we're concerned about I think that almost across the board they've gotten better at every single position on defense yeah I would agree with you I'm especially excited to see what Ivan pace and Blake Cashman look like together on the interior those are two guys who have a youth and Mobility together in a way that when Hicks was in there you just didn't have that explosiveness um next to Ivan pace and I think both of those guys can work really well in the run you mentioned single ter I I think he's pretty underrated he's he's incredibly efficient as a guy who's always going to get you over a thousand yards from scrimmage every year and so yeah with their revamped o line I do think that those we're going to learn too about Jonathan Bullard about Harrison Phillips and Jerry Tillery who's a starter for them on the interior when they bulk up that is where I question this defense it's not the NASCAR pass rusher package I'm worried about it's going to be if the Giants get into a third too and you need to worry about them running it and now you're in that bigger bigger package then can you cover Malik Neighbors when you're not trying to fake a blitz or do all those other things so I think the Vikings need to stop the run need to force Daniel Jones into those bad spots um because that is the part where if if you get into again November December and Harrison Phillips is playing over 70% of the snaps again because you don't have a depth Levi Drake Rodriguez Jaylen Redmond uh Taki taiani those guys hadn't come along enough to play them they're going to be hurting again late in the year and even early in the year here they're probably going to promote what Jonah Williams up probably Elevate him for a spot on Game Day these are a bunch of new guys that we just need to see how that depth on the interior plays out I am a really thinking about the defensive line a lot in the young players that they decided to keep and whether that is a great sign or not a great sign because it can be a great sign if Levi Drake Rodriguez is like the dude uh and he has been good I I think that there's a a lot to work with there and a lot to work on there uh that I don't think you could throw him in and say impact player right away that is maybe a next year thing from what we've seen the motor is there the size but it's a it's a raw player that I think needs a lot of work so you can't say well you've got him uh tyman is an interesting guy for a run stuffing perspective I think that he can manhandle some offensive linemen someone has to step up though because the three that are starting is not the most impressive group and I guess you could say under that same category Tillery could be the guy that could step up as well he is an enormous human being hug and moves really well for his size I think maybe with the Chargers they asked him to do too much because he was better in a more limited role but even Brian Flores when Brian Flores was talking with us the other day and he was like yeah we're we're trying to figure out these roles and how much is Jerry Tillery going to play like can you tell us because I'm curious about that as well I I want to know because that is the point where if it just holds the rest of it is really good overall but if that gets run over we saw that in Philadelphia we also saw no pass rush from that unit the entire season last year at some point you have to bother a quarterback up the middle or opposing defenses can deal with what you're throwing at them yeah that's just it we talk about these new off we talk about these new guys and I just still don't think they have any kind of Difference Maker there they just don't they have guys that were saying hey can you be average and above average maybe we not saying and there should be no expectation that they're going to have a pro bowler or anybody who gets any kind of All Pro votes from this interior group and that's what they're missing that's when you talk about Dexter Lawrence and coaches say we fear the guy who can disrupt you up the middle much more than we do the edge players like there's a huge reason for that that's why they're so hard to get in the draft in free agency that's why Christian Wilkins is signing for almost 30 million a year um even though he's maybe what a top 10 player not maybe not top five but the point is is that they're hard to find hard to get and there's there's a reason why the Vikings are kind of swimming at that spot and we're just saying hey Jerry Tillery former first round pick can you revive your career here for us um that's what they're banking on right now right is it going to be well he's he's mostly healthy so not a davenport situation but a Dean Lowry where you're like well you know there was a little speck of good play on his PFF grades and it's not there or did you find something that the guy had a miserable situation with the Chargers I I tend to think that there's more there than with the Chargers and if he gives that similar play that he did with the Raiders that's helpful it's not going to change your entire interior and your entire defense but at least it's helpful I want to ask you about the kickoff do you like it what do you think's going to happen we have been given conflicting reports about who the kick returner is going to be qu daensa told us miles gasin and that was the reason why he made the team and then Matt Daniels told us Ty Chandler I like Ty Chandler as a kick returner if that was his only job I do not like it if he's going to split 5050 reps or 6040 with Aaron Jones they need Tai Chandler to be healthy and this this kickoff is I think real hell on the actual returner not on the guys who are in the trenches that don't have to run as far and smash into each other at 20 miles an hour but the guy who's returning gets crunched and that's how Malik nolles got hurt in the preseason game do you want someone who's tougher Chandler who might not get hurt or are you concerned he could get hurt is this going to be a creative play that we see returns will the Vikings just say you know what we want to kick it out of the back of the end zone I mean everything is on the table here yeah I think you've heard um from other teams San Francisco uh Kyle shannan came out and just said it where he said we're just probably going to force touchbacks every time because they did that in the preseason and he was asked about it and he said look this is just a play that has too many unknowns and coaches are not really open to unknowns and and risk they want to control as much as they can cuz in reality they don't control a whole lot uh in team sports so once you're on the field that's all there is and so are they going to want to put the ball in play and Matt Daniels walked us through the thinking when he said look we can try to squib just line drive a kick into the landing Zone which is a 20 yard section that's where you have to hit and if you force a fair catch from there then you can get the ball at the 20 and it is much more of an advantage for the defense but we could just drill it through the back of the end zone force them at the thir 30 and just live with it because he was saying this is going to be a lot harder to cover there's a lot more blocking schemes that we're not going to be prepared for the way that you can set up double teams and and not strictly walls but the way that you can Bunch people up with this play is a lot different it's much more like a running play on offense than it is like a kickoff that we're used to um I think coaches are going to be afraid of it I think we're going to be let down by it I think there's going to be a lot more touchbacks I don't think Tai Chandler is going to get hurt because I don't think he's going to be returning much yeah and I think quacy mentioned miles gasin who they did try in the preseason who probably is the backup here that's probably their option if they find themselves getting a lot of returns uh and if you see Ty Chandler carving out much of a role on offense which I still want to see yeah me too I feel the same I feel like we heard this there's some national talking point of Tai Chandler could be 1B I I really think that's going to come down to how much Tai has grown as a past protector and frankly how much Aaron Jones looks like he needs help if Aaron Jones takes the ball and runs with it there's no room for for Tai Chandler right 730 yeah there's only room for him if we get into November and December and practices are limited he's dealing with X Y and Z then yes I could see it but these guys are not in the same category when it comes to Veterans who you can trust Tai Chandler is just still getting his feet wet as a running back so sure put him at kick returner if they give you a chance I agree I like him better than gasin in that spot his speed is unquestionable um I just think what is questionable is how many chances are they really going to get well I'm hopeful I've wanted this for a long time I missed the old kick returns I was watching a game from the late 90s and they were talking about broadcasters yeah this kicker he's amazing at kitching kicking touchbacks and it was like one out of every five and then it just became that the guys got stronger legs and more technique and they moved it up and it just became easier and easier and I agree that a lot of coaches may just not want to bother with it if I'm Kyle Shanahan and my offense is amazing and my defense is amazing who do I not want to ruin this for me is my special teams and I I think that Kevin oconnell though might want to take a different approach because the offense and defense of this team especially led by Sam darnold could be questionable even on both sides if there's some injuries on defense and the players that they're playing against at quarterback over the first couple of weeks after Daniel Jones roll some variant dice see if Tai Chandler get you a couple touchdowns or some big returns because there were big returns and if you dodge two tacklers you might be gone in this kick return I think they should try to pick up ground balls I think they should try to if they kick it into the endzone return it out and see if you can get some big plays and with will rard kick some squibs hope the other team fumbles it and you get you know you flip the field and get a chance in the red zone or something play the variance game with this that's how I would approach it maybe not this week but I certainly would against the better teams that they're going to face yeah if if they give you a chance if they're not kicking it out of the back of the Zone which as you mentioned kickers nowadays can do um unlike back in the day when yeah Johnny two legs was kicking it to the to the goal line um that was that a kicker Johnny two legs oh might might have been I remember him from the uh St Louis Browns do you think though that they're going to let Tai Chandler return it from nine yards deep in the end zone no that's what I mean so a lot of those kicks are going to be forced to that area and if the other team doesn't want you to do it you're not going to be able to and I even on the other side though kick the squib pop up see see if you can get something there too it is a great point about the offense though this is not Kirk this is not a team or an offense with the Vikings with darnold where you're just banking on 30 points necessarily so that is a great point that you are going to probably want to take more chances if your offense needs it who will win and what will it mean I think the Vikings are going to win I think it's going to be a low-scoring game as Vegas predicts um and I think it's going to mean that this Brian Flores defense is going to be fun to watch this year um I think they're going to do enough against Devin single ter it's not saquon Barkley they'll do enough to stop the run they'll get Daniel Jones into some tough spots and we're going to see this old secondary look good in September okay like that um because it's against a rough quarterback right now even though he's got great skill Talent um I think it's going to look good I think the talk will be oh boy can Sam darnold just score 15 20 points a game to to make them a relevant team I'm going to try to speak this into existence okay I think it's going to be a hilarious shootout that we don't expect that's what I think because and here's my only logic my only logic is that week one everybody's got all their tricks up their sleeve and tricks always benefit the offense and it feels like every few years we get a big explosion in week one of offense and then everyone's talking oh offense is back this year they set a record for most this or most that and as the season goes along quarterbacks get hurt it evens out as it always does but at the beginning of the year everybody healthy Sam Darnell hits a couple bombs to Justin Jefferson Daniel Jones hits a couple to Malik neighbors and we're going okay some entertainment value in East Rutherford New Jersey that's that's my hope and I'm trying to I'm trying to make it happen because I I want that I want this to be a fun debut win or lose for Sam darnold I mean losing is so much worse for this team based on who they're GNA play but I I want it to be an entertaining debut for this team just to get into a new era I suppose with some fun and I kind of really want that for the season I just want the season to have fun games because I don't think it's going to be going into late January so let's let's see what happens here let's let's get some entertainment on Sundays I love that because if you remember back a couple years Carson Wentz had a huge week one at the end of his career um M Jones I believe had a big week one last year there are weird performances always in week one and I I tend to think coaches will always be more conservative and yeah hand it off as opposed to throw on early in the season all that stuff but you're right like that coaches have been hiding things they've got schemes they've got plays that they feel good about and they're going to try and take these calculated risks and chances to go deep um whether it's Daniel Jones and Malik neighbors or darnold and Justin Jefferson so I like that prediction even though I like to think you know logically conservatively which never happens cu the NFL will play these games and before you know it Baker Mayfield is getting paid 40 million a year or whatever Daniel Jones