Week 8 Vikings at Chargers Thursday Night Football Recap -- ROOKIE DAY!

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2:08Get yours now at topgolf.com slash fun pass. Now Matlock in motion back to the left. Herbert rolling to the right, looking to the right, stops, has to reverse course. Throws to the end zone, caught, touchdown! Chargers! Trey Harris! How about rewarding a young man who blocks his tail off on every rundown with his first touchdown of his career. Get that ball to the sideline. A beautiful play by Herbert, evades the rush, climbs the pocket, and throws a strike. Oh, Trey Harris, the rookie. Great moment for the rookie in a night full of great moments for a lot of Chargers. That Trey Harris, as Jordan Rodriguez said, he's got some stuff to him.

2:54So does Matt Money Smith on KFI. So does Justin Herbert and this entire Chargers team on a Thursday night football game where they destroy the Minnesota Vikings. 37 to 10. Shooky. This was a game of two teams who came in not feeling great. Fan base is very anxious and one left looking like a team that I think eventually we will see in the playoffs. I know that's projecting far ahead and another team that has a lot of problems. Let's start with the positive. What a night for Herbo Nation. Just a great night to watch the quarterback at his best. Yeah, absolutely. It's like I posted on social media.

3:36He's on another planet. It was right after that touchdown pass that we just played as the highlight there because again another example of how prime vision is the best play the best way to watch football when you watch it from that angle you're like wow that's an incredible play because of the ground that he gains to step up and make that throw on the run it was just a prime example of a great night where in which he looked completely in control felt very comfortable and was willing to you know improvise to make plays to use his arm but really i gotta give all the credit in the world greg to four things with this chargers team and that might sound crazy but they all go in order number one they got joe alt back which was huge for their protection and their run game number two they got creative with their run blocking and they committed to what greg roman had done best in the past which is loading up on the big uglies the bigger guys in the 22 personnel and relying on that to clear paths and also do it in a variety of different fashions.

4:33Matt Locke in motion, the fullback, you know, offset eye, all sorts of different things. They were willing to get creative. Number three, the running game flourishing as a result. Kamani Vidal having a great day. And then fourth, and most importantly, all of that coming together to allow Justin Herbert to do everything that he does well, which is work out of play action, work on the run, use that cannon for an arm, find guys all over the field, outside early, middle of the field after that, going down the field for a touchdown drive, back outside later. Everything was working, and it all started with the return of Joe Alt.

5:06That's it. We're done. It's been a great week on NFL Daily. Shooky wrapped it up so succinctly. I'm serious. I mean, this was not a game where you could say, well, if this happened or that happened, you mentioned the running game. They finished with 419 yards overall, 207 on the ground. And then they hold the Vikings to 34 yards on the ground. It's just been the biggest weakness of this team. And it's been going back for a long time before Harbaugh was there, since Harbaugh's been there. The running game has just not been consistent enough. And tonight, they pushed the Vikings around. And last year, the run defense was more than good enough.

5:55But the last month, they have been among, if not the worst run defenses in the league. until late in this game, in a garbage time drive, they had actually held the Vikings to a zero. I said 0.0 % design success rate. So the return of Aaron Jones does not help out at all. But I want to go back to something you said. You mentioned 22 personnel. For the listeners out there, what does that mean? And what did you see when you saw that personnel? Two tight ends, two backs. You're going heavy. You're absolutely stating that you want to run the football and you want to win up front. But the difference is, and Sam Schwartstein from Prime Vision did a great job with this in explaining it.

6:40They weren't your typical 22. It wasn't, you know, I don't know, Cole Komet and Colston Loveland or, you know, David Ajoku and Harold Fannin. These are guys who are 300-plus pounds, one of them being played at tight end, another one at fullback and Scott Matlock. They are absolutely coming out there and saying, we're going to run football. We're going to run it down your throats. We're going to block it up well. and they did that repeatedly with the heavier personnel, which again, that balanced out the offense. I think at one point early in the fourth quarter, Sam came back on and he made another note, which I thought was extremely revelatory for how this game had unfolded.

7:11Two thirds of the Chargers offensive plays had come out of run action, whether it was handoffs or it was play action. And it all started with them being able to establish the game on the ground early and keeping the Vikings defense honest because they tried. Flores tried. He brought blitzes early. The pick six that wasn't was the product of a blitz off the edge where Herbert tried to get the ball out hot and quick, but it didn't work ultimately because they committed, the Chargers did, to running the football and winning the battle of bulk up front. It is a great point about the blitzes. They blitzed basically every snap on that first drive, and we'll get into the near pick six, but Herbert just showed that he was going to be able to solve it after that play, and he got hit four or five times on that first drive, and he just made it happen anyways.

8:02And at that point, it was kind of like, okay, we can't beat you that way. Can we just beat you straight up? And I think the answer for this pretty disappointing Vikings defense this year was no. They just don't have enough of a pass rush. I misspoke the other day when I mentioned Van Ginkle. He hasn't been around since week three. Dallas Turner had a penalty tonight. He's made no impact this year. It's really Jonathan Gennard, and that's about it because they're not getting enough out of Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Allen. And what a great thing for Chargers fans to hear that, what? Like the other team just didn't have like a pressure rate through the absolute roof.

8:41And actually, it was 38 % tonight. But part of that is Herbert, you know, holding the ball a little longer to make something happen. And part of that is for Herbert, that's nothing. And he ends up scrambling on a lot of those plays. I want to go back to what you said. There was a play early where it appeared that Herbert, on the very first drive, threw a pick six. Only two plays later, he hits a third and 13 to Keenan Allen to keep that drive alive. And I thought that was such a fitting sequence. The Vikings have been on the bad end of a couple overturned passes lately, and then when they get some bad luck, like they can't recover from that.

9:25So they give up the third and 13 to Keenan Allen, who's just been awesome this season. Awesome. The last couple of weeks is going to be the all time leading receiver in Chargers history, passing Antonio Gates at some point, if he can just stay healthy. And then later in that drive, it's a third in eight in the red zone. Again, third and line when you think the Vikings are going to finally get home and they do not. Herbo makes them pay. Herbert to throw looking left. Now middle and caught touchdown! Chargers! Arande Gadsden got his first touchdown last week. Does not take long to get his second.

10:05If you thought it was a fluke, think again. He dominated the first half of this game, Arande Gadsden. This is real. Five catches, 77 yards, and a touchdown. I'm pretty sure that was all in the first half, Chuck. I don't know if he had a second half catch because Herbert didn't have to throw it. What have you seen? What do you like watching Gadsden out there? It was him and Ladd McConkie each had matching stat lines of five catches for 77 yards by halftime. What have I seen from him? He's an athletic tight end. He's the son of another former NFL player. And he's a guy who has steadily found a role in this offense.

10:38It really showed up as far back as a month ago. He had a breakout game last week against the Colts in a loss of seven catches for 164. But what I saw in that sequence there, when you mentioned Keenan Allen and Aranda Gadsden, who I think is going to continue to be a part of their offense. So fantasy managers go pick him up if he's available because Herbert obviously loves throwing football. As soon as he throws the near pick six to the outside on a play that Herbert had to get the ball out because there was pressure in his face and he leaves it inside and it gets caught, overturned, they get a second chance.

11:09They immediately say, we're going to stop going outside the numbers. We're just going to feast in the middle of the field. And it's all because of Herbert being able to buy time. Now on that touchdown pass, that's a simple read. And it's been a rough five days for Josh Metellus in coverage. But all it is is dropping back, winning the inside leverage. He wins it. Herbert fires it in there. Dot for a touchdown. Gadsden's going to catch it. He's got pretty reliable hands for the most part. But it's the combination of the two where they can just continually feast on the area in between the hashes.

11:34And it all comes back to Herbert being able to buy time, step up pocket, keep his eyes downfield, use that arm, find guys open, hit them accurately, and keep the chains moving. And I feel like we've been robbed of Herbert greatness over the last three to four weeks because they haven't had their offensive line. They haven't had their top two running backs. And all it took was to get one guy back. And suddenly they had that opportunity again. And it was such a beautiful thing to watch. It really was. And yet they still had a bunch of injuries tonight. You mentioned all coming back. That was the key.

12:03I've been saying for the last month and a half, man, every win they can get without all it's so big. It's almost, it's almost like the Bengals trying to get as many wins as possible before Burrow comes back. Cause it's not to that level, but we knew all it was going to be back and he ends up coming back a little sooner than first expected and it was huge. I think it was even bigger. It's a tough call, but might be even bigger in the running game than he was in the passing game. You saw him blowing open a hole for Vidal on the early touchdown run that made it 14-0 where he just pushes one of the defensive tackles for the Vikings back into the end zone.

12:42He's awesome. He makes a big deal. And yet they still had a bunch of injuries tonight just to lift them up. list them up. Mekhi Becton left with a knee injury early. That's not great. Derwin James left with an injury early. Now, he was talking and laughing on the bench in the second half, even though he's in a sweatshirt. I take that as a relatively good sign, but obviously not good that he didn't play the rest of the game. Tony Jefferson, his backup was out. Tarheeb still, the cornerback, left. So these Thursday night games are brutal. The Vikings had a bunch of injuries as well. I just think Gadsden is a really smooth mover with and without the ball.

13:19He's only 250 pounds. You know, he's not going to be Brock Bowers, but that's the mold of tight end that he is. And he is getting a ton of snaps. And even if he's not like a monster blocker, it just it gives you enough formational diversity. When you have Keenan Allen out there, you have Trey Harris out there. Poor Quinton Johnston was a no show tonight. But man, they just have a ton of options. It was such a blowout Are you surprised, Shook, that it was that one-sided and that, for instance, the EPA per play for the Chargers in the first half of this game was the highest of any offense in any game all season?

14:02What happened to the Vikings defense we love? Because there's a lot of injuries. We'll get to them on the offensive side. They're relatively healthy. They got Blake Cashman back. They're relatively healthy on defense. Yeah, I was surprised because I thought the Vikings would cause more problems for the Chargers offense because we've seen nothing but problems for them since they lost Joe Hall, but they got him back, which made a big difference. And I was also surprised by not the lack of fight, but just it felt like the Vikings were always really close and either they'd make a mistake or they'd commit a penalty or something would happen that would open the door for the Chargers to continue to move the football down the field.

14:39And it just became so lopsided. I wasn't surprised by their offensive performance. We know what Carson Wentz is, which who, by the way, was playing through a very obvious injury, and I hope that he doesn't have to continue to play with that injury. It was more the defense. It was more the defense. And Vikings fans aren't surprised, though, and I know they're not, and I know they'll get in the comments and say that because they've seen this happen for weeks. So guess what? I guess I'm in your company now. I just thought in this matchup you might have put up a better fight against the Chargers offense that has definitely had a bumpy road the last few weeks.

15:05it's been a brutal couple of months for for quasi a dofamenta not just that justin jefferson confused him by pretending to be a team photographer in a show that my 10 year old son loves and i think that's it's probably the target audience i don't know how many different shows eli manning can have where where people just dress up i'm just gonna keep uh hitting this point and it's just like an insane thing. He signs Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave in the offseason to beef up their defensive line. Just hasn't worked. They trade a number of picks to move up for Dallas Turner last year. This was supposed to be his breakout year, and since they haven't had Van Ginkle, they needed him to step up.

15:53That hasn't happened. On the offensive line, they signed the two Colts offensive linemen. Will Fries is out there tonight, and he hasn't really been great this year. And Ryan Kelly has concussion problems or has an injury problem again. And that's something that carried over from the Colts last year. And then they've also just had bad luck, not just in terms of their acquisitions. It was a shocker. Brian O 'Neal, the right tackle, didn't play tonight. Right. He was questionable on the injury report, but he played every step last week and he must have gutted through it because he was not available on the quick turnaround to play.

16:28So that's the right tackle. and then their left tackle Christian Derrissaw apparently was a game time decision worked out to prove that he could play before the game and only lasted nine snaps. If you had told me and we knew going into it that they weren't going to have their two starting tackles, it would have been more obvious that the Chargers were real favorites in this game and that it was going to be very difficult for their offense to get anything done. And that's what happened. They made the Chargers pass rush look pretty good today. Yeah, they did. and I did get a bit of a moment of bummer when I watched Odafe Owe get that sack on Carson Wentz because he kind of delays a stunt and then twists back around toward the guard and they pick up the stunt well on the inside between center and guard because the D tackle kind of crashes inside and then Will Fries is late to pick it up and Owe goes right around him and gets in there for the sack and I'm just like, ah, ah, this is killing me, man.

17:25Like, you're supposed to be better than this. This is why they went and signed you. But again, you're right. Like, I wouldn't sound the alarms on the Vikings necessarily because they are missing so many guys. Oh, by the way, their quarterback, like, their quarterback hasn't played in a long time, and they seem to be playing it extremely cautiously. But I do, I had this thought in the third quarter tonight where I'm like, man, you know, the Vikings, they're one last-minute drive of Carson Wentz leading them over the Browns from being 2-5 right now, which would be real concerning. Right. I remember saying that day when we did the show, I was at that game thinking like this felt close to not a season saving win.

18:07But if you look at their schedule, man, they really needed to get this one while they could. And it's come home to roost. They lose to the Eagles after they come home. They lose this game and they're not remotely competitive. And now the bad news starts. FDN Fantasy, a.k.a. Aaron Schatz, in his numbers, has them as the toughest remaining schedule in the entire NFL. They come back. They have Detroit. They have five division games left, including the Packers game is in the next few games. They have the Ravens, a couple other tough out-of-division games, and it's going to be a really difficult path back to the playoffs.

18:54And there is a path to this team bottoming out. I'm not saying that's going to happen. If you can get healthy, you get your tackles. J.J. McCarthy gives you something. I don't think this season is over, but I do think it is more likely than not. They finished with a losing record this season, certainly. And there is a more likely chance, I think, they end up with like a top eight to 10 pick than they do make the playoffs. And that is a, it's a big come down and it's really going to be up to McCarthy of, of whether this season ends up feeling like a success and they've treated him very carefully.

19:34And now it's going to be time to play. They've kind of telegraphed that they've been planning all along for him to return next week. I don't think it was exactly a soft benching, But if he was medically cleared to be the emergency quarterback, in theory, he could have been playing here. And I think they just wanted to get more time with him on the practice field and hope they could get a win along the way these last two weeks. And it just didn't happen. Carson Wentz wasn't great, but I don't know what you were expecting. You know what I mean? Considering the situation. Yeah, once the situation worsened, once they lost Derisaw, it was like, oh, this is going to be bad.

20:07Now Wentz, to his credit, threw a really beautiful touchdown pass in the back of the end zone. And he made a few nice throws like that. He did start to get into a bit of a rhythm with Justin Jefferson, but they had a lot of missed opportunities. Will Reichard missing that field goal at the end of the half by kicking part of the ground, and it comes up short on a 53-yarder, which was eye-opening to most everybody because he's got the leg for much more than that. It was just indicative of the small mistakes and the small misses that they had all night. And by the fourth quarter, you knew Wentz was playing very hurt, and he's the type of guy that he's going to hang on to.

20:37I was like, does Kevin O 'Connell not like Carson Wentz? Like I thought he liked Carson Wentz, but I started to think like, is he just out there like as like a human shield taking bullets? That's kind of what he was doing. He doesn't have to. Yeah. Like put in Max Rosmer. Yeah. They were like, all right, short week. We'll buy a little bit more time for JJ to get right. Right. Like, and for those who are watching on YouTube, you'll see Wentz, you know, gets a pass deflected. He knocks it down. He starts to grab his shoulder. I don't know what the injury is specifically, but I know that brace and I know that hold, and that is not a good feeling from my own experience.

21:08so he credit him for gutting it out but it's it's tough for them when you look at their season outlook because they've played one division game so far and they're in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL with the rest of their schedule in the division awaiting them by the way next week they play the Lions in Detroit it's going to be a really rough road and that's going to be a tough situation to throw McCarthy back into because he's a de facto rookie at this point like he he didn't play last year he's only gotten a couple games worth of experience this season it's going to be really tough for them.

21:38It's definitely, it's not impossible, but they got to get healthy. They already had their bye week in week six and the road is not going to get any easier by any stretch of the imagination going forward. So they're going to need a turnaround. They're going to need one pretty quickly. They need Flores to cook up some magic because this defense is average this season at best. If you took out the numbers of one of the most dominant defensive performances of the year against the Bengals, they really are a below average defense. They have the pieces and I thought the continuity potentially to be special this year.

22:11But defense and counting on defense year after year is tricky. Sometimes opponents catch up a little bit to your schemes and Flores has been creative, but they haven't had enough one-on-one winners.

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