Luke Braun | "Locked On Vikings" Podcast Host

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Shop in store or visit Ashley.com today. We're pleased to welcome our old friend, first time this season, Luke Braun, to talk Vikings. He's got the Locked on Vikings podcast and a unique sense of humor that you won't find anywhere else. And after I put it out there on Twitter that we would be having him on the show, this is Luke's response.

This is his quote atop the tweet. Are you lying awake, seething, crying, choking on your own vomit? Tune in to Amy Lawrence with your final moments in this mortal prison. Okay, that's not melodramatic at all, Luke. How are you? I'm doing great, Amy. I'm glad you put up with me. Of course.

No, absolutely. Well, I want to start with the positives. What's the silver lining? There's got to be a silver lining, Luke.

What is it? There's a couple, honestly. These first couple weeks, we've seen the explosiveness from Jordan Addison. I think in terms of the start to his season, hey, he's still a rookie, getting used to the speed of the NFL, getting used to the playbook and all that, and already seeing this production and understanding that it's probably uphill from here anyways.

That's super exciting. I think the passing offense has worked. I think the piecemeal offensive line in terms of pass protection held up about as well as you could expect, and on the back end of coverage, which is also supposed to be one of the weakest parts of the Vikings, they did a fantastic job of limiting A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith, a couple of explosive plays where they got the top taken off of them. Honestly, I expected that to be a lot worse.

So, yeah, there's a lot of stuff to love. Honestly, I look at this team, there's two plays, one in each of their two losses. If you overturn those two plays, they're 2-0.

It's that close. Interception on the goal line right before the half against Tampa Bay, fumble on the goal line right before the half against Philadelphia. You take those two away, that fumble was a 10-point swing, ultimately, because it could have been a touchdown if you hanged on to it, and then they go back and they score a 61-yard field goal. And then last week, you had an interception directly on the goal line.

They lost by three, and then they lost by six. You get rid of those two plays, and the Vikings are 2-0, and we'll keep the other four fumbles. We'll keep the bad run defense.

We'll keep all those other problems. Just give me those two plays back, and we're 2-0. I think this team is a lot closer than their record makes it look, but you don't get those plays back.

You don't get those games back, and now it's a matter of, as good as they are or aren't, they're in the hole, whether it's fair or not. So why are fans choking on their own vomit in these hours in the middle of the night? I mean, that's high school.

That's horrific. You cannot have four fumbles. Madison fumbled twice.

He got lucky. One gets called back on an unrelated offside penalty. Absolutely disgusting ball security. After last week, when they fumbled three times and lost a game by three points, you would think it'd be an emphasis. You would think they'd go back and say, oh my god, ball security is so important. Everybody, hey, do not fumble. Be really tight on it. Hold that ball tight. Do not get it punched out. Get it punched out five freaking times?

That's completely unacceptable. Definitely the turnovers, having lost the turnover battle now 7-1, and you think, maybe they only have half of those. Let's give them four turnovers instead of three.

Well then maybe, as you point out, they are 2-0. What about the run defense though, Luke? Because Brian Flores, new defensive coordinator, a lot of attention around his hire away from Pittsburgh.

Where are you seeing the impact? Yeah, so the way that they approached coverage in this game worked. I think that they had a really, really successful result in coverage. And coverage and run defense are linked in a way that if you are going to make, I think, the formational adjustment that it required. Basically, the Vikings came out in front that, it looked to me at least, I want to double check this, but they came out in front all game that left the B-gaps fairly open and trusted either defensive backs or linebackers to fill those gaps. But it was defensive backs a little too often. But I think it was structured that way for reasons that had to do with the coverage.

So you couldn't really fix the defense without jeopardizing what you were doing in coverage. That's my working theory. I'm going to plug my Patreon page, which is patreon.com slash luke run NFL. I'm probably going to go do a film breakdown on there that investigates that exact thing.

So if that X's and no stuff is interesting, please come hang out. But that felt like why. And what you need when you're doing that kind of thing is defensive tackles that can two-gap. That can be responsible for a guy saying, you know, no tackle on the center. And if it goes to his left, I got him.

If it goes to his right, I got him. I control this lineman and I'm going to move him out of the way if this run comes my way. And we just didn't have that. And we just got physically dominated up front.

Harrison Phillips had a couple of good plays, but he got blown out a whole bunch. Kyrie's Tonga, I think, had a disaster game. Jonathan Bullard disaster game. Dean Lowry disaster game.

You just need bigger dude. They actually have a guy, Jacqueline Roy, they took from LSU. He's a fifth round pick and probably like a rotational player, but he's sort of the guy that might be here specifically to be a run defense guy, but he didn't suit up today.

So they didn't actually have him available. Maybe they'll rectify that next week because they got Austin Eckler coming to the U.S. Bank Stadium. Maybe give up 150 yards rushing, not 250 yards rushing. Well, it's like 15, 16, 17 play drives and Tampa did it. Eight minutes. Yeah, these drives will just break your will. And it's just like disrespectful to like the Eagles called the same run over and over and over again and scored a touchdown on it.

It's like that is what they do when they are not scared of you at all. Exactly. Luke Braun is with us from L.A. actually where he does locked on Vikings. I do love the way that he manages and also the film breakdowns are great.

So make sure you check those out. His Twitter will plug at the end of our conversation, but he's got some real good stuff on video. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. I noticed during the game that you tweeted that there's no intensity with the Vikings. Something about bring back Zimmer, if I remember it correctly, which is an observation that a lot of fans really appreciated.

What do you mean by no intensity? That was a controversial one. Yeah, no. Here's the thing. Game Day tweets don't count. All right. I'm tweeting through it. It's emotional. You cannot hold me to account for what I tweet on Game Day.

I'm just letting random thoughts fly without vetting them at all. But I will say, yeah, I think that there was a huge lack of intensity when you're getting run on like that. What I want to see is somebody go make a play. Someone shoot a gap, get a TFL. Someone make a cool pass breakup. Someone go make a play that gets everybody used again.

You're just lining up and getting walked every single play. That can't happen. And I think that there is a very calm nature to the culture. And there's pros and cons to that versus the kind of intensity of Zimmer. But I think it stems from who Kevin O'Connell is.

He's a very laid back guy. That's very, you know, hey, we'll take everything in stride. We'll solve our problems as they come. But we're never going to get too worked up over this thing or the other thing that can be really, really great in certain scenarios. But sometimes you need a guy to go get you juiced up. Sometimes you need Dez Bryant yelling at you on the sidelines. Stephon Diggs going crazy. Not AJ Brown. I mean, AJ Brown was yelling.

Yeah. Give me Everson Griffin back, right? That was the backbone of the Vikings for a decade in that regard. We need that guy.

Yeah, we definitely did have some yelling. It was just on the other sideline. So who's the candidate? Because I feel like Justin Jefferson can get fired up. But who would be the AJ Brown counterpart if you were to look for someone on the Vikings sideline?

I really want it to be Justin Jefferson because he has that energy and he has such a larger than life presence just because of how much of a superstar he is. But he really isn't that guy. He's a goofball.

He's perfect for the Kevin O'Connell thing where it's just, hey, we're smiling. We're having fun. It's a game. I know you just threw an interception. It's not a big deal.

We're still having lots of fun. That can really help with that kind of thing. But I don't know. Maybe we look to a rookie. Maybe eventually it could be somebody like Jordan Madison who's a pretty quiet guy. But maybe if he comes out of his shell and maybe we can get that from him or somebody like that. Maybe it's somebody on the offensive line. Derek Bradbury wasn't active today because he's got a back thing. But he's kind of a hot head.

I could see it being the center, right? Give me one of the big boys going off. Somebody's got to take up that mantle. It's not going to be the Neil Hunter.

He's a very quiet guy. Maybe it can be somebody like Brian Osamwah or Josh Metellus who have sort of taken up leadership roles. Those guys like Zadairia Smith and Eric Kendrick leave. But there is sort of a power vacuum in terms of leadership on the Vikings roster just because of all the veterans that left like Adam Thielen and Kendrick. That would have been my answer.

But now I don't know. Somebody's got to step up, though, and eventually whoever that is is going to, I think, find that dimension of themselves. It definitely is a work in progress to start the season, even for teams that start out with a 2-0 mark. It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio. Luke Braun with the locked on Vikings.

He's got work to do over this one. Now, we know that the running back or the running position, the running game was going to change some without Dalvin Cook. And it's Madison. And we knew that was going to change some. And of course, the offensive line. But 28 yards. I know they had to pass more to kind of catch up and pull back with the touchdown, the six points multiple times. But it does seem like they need a greater commitment to the run game. Or am I missing something? I mean, yeah, they are missing a commitment to the run game. Absolutely.

But I don't know if they would agree that they need one. I think they come into this. We got the analytics GM that's going, whatever, throw the rock 50 times. We're going to be that team that puts up a whole bunch of yards. And I think that there's like intangible stuff that you lose when you do that, that we kind of saw here. You know, that 16 play drive, and then the Eagles come out and do it again. I mean, that breaks your spirit, right?

That breaks your will. And not to mention the clock control and taking away opportunities and comeback situations and all that stuff. But I mean, yeah, they they tried to improve the run game by mixing in more lead blocker stuff with either a fullback or an extra tight end or something. They signed Josh Oliver for that. They extend TJ Hopkinson, they extend CJ Ham. So that they did kind of commit to that group of people, but they let Dalvin Cook go, they let all his backups take over and they went with the exact same offensive line, two of whom were not available tonight. So I was like, yeah, maybe that did just go real bad.

And they kind of didn't care. If you guys, if this line, which is, I think, built more, you know, it's built to pass block, it's not built to ball people and move people. And it's built to, you know, finesse his own run, pull around that kind of crap. And if you're going to be that and we're going to take a whole bunch of deep shots, then you're going to live in this world of like volatility. And what's frustrating is all of that would be fine if you hang on to the bang football. It always comes back to that, doesn't it? You really kind of shoot yourself in the foot. I'm going to add another silver lining to this, Luke, because I do think the division is also a silver lining. It's wide open. After seeing the NFC North for the first week and now a game, a second game with the Vikings, what are your thoughts on how this division looks, even though it's early at this point?

Yeah, it's pretty early. But I think we can say juries out on a couple of teams, right? Let's say juries out on the Vikings.

They'll be nice to them. They're 0-2, but juries out. They were close and it was turnovers and, you know, we'll see who they really turn into as the year wears on. And I think the juries out on the Packers.

I'm not quite sure what to make of Jordan Love. He can't really get a lot of information out of them because of who they played, which is the Bears. I'm ready to count out the Bears. That wasn't a football team.

I'm sorry. That is a team in absolute crisis and I think people are way closer to being fired than actually figuring something out and becoming a team in the NFC worth paying attention to. So I'm like super out on the Bears and I think the Bears are out on the Bears and people might start losing their job soon, which is wild to say when only one game has been played, but it's truly that bad of a game. They need to like come to God and find a way to win. But then you kind of look at the Lions and I mean, how can you not be super encouraged by everything they did against Kansas City? I'm not allowing myself to be endeared by the Lions because they I've paid them too much over the years, you know, put up or shut up. But I mean, come on, either like a power running team in this and in today's day and age, and they just went into Kansas City and beat the Chiefs at home.

Like, come on, that rules. That was a really impressive statement about their passing offense and kind of what kind of explosiveness they can generate. But if they can find that dimension, then I think they can actually, you know, be a team that you actually have to pay attention to in January. But for me right now, the NFC North looks like a division that puts one team in the playoffs.

That team gets out wild card weekend and then we let the real the real boys play from the NFC. Well, Luke, I've been waiting to ask you this question. Did you watch the quarterback series on Netflix that featured among other QBs your favorite Kirk Cousins?

I did. What did you learn about Kirk that you did not know before? I think the amount of work that they put in that was really the point of the documentary was to showcase the amount of work that goes in and what I didn't know just how hurt he was in 2022 what he was playing through. He never showed up on an injury report but I like he had.

What was it a broken rib a bruised rib. Never showed up on an injury report never missed so much as a practice never missed so much as a rep. And part of that is just straight up toughness, but I think another part is also the therapist study brought into work on him and the effort that he put into taking care of his body is underrated part of the NFL. And I don't know I like I already knew some of this like we knew about the brain doctor thing that he did like the like putting all the nodes up to his head and like all that crazy stuff that he does and just the constant effort to like find any edge that he possibly can find. But maybe what I didn't appreciate before I saw that and it actually came up tonight was just how hard on himself he is. I thought I was hard on Kirk Cousins, you are like I'm pretty harsh on Kirk Cousins, I got nothing on Kirk Cousins. He said that that play that you played the Paul Allen clip of tonight the explosive pass to Justin Jefferson should have been a touchdown pass but he fumbled out through the end zone. They asked Jefferson after and he's like yeah I can't fumble like I can't do my teammates like that like that's totally on me I got to be better, which is a wild thing for got to be saying after putting up a buck 50 on Darius play, but you know he's been a teammate right. And then he asked Kirk Cousins and he's like yeah you know I think if I had thrown that ball perfectly he probably doesn't bobble it and then he doesn't fumble it.

It's like what? That was a great throw, what are you talking about? But that's how he thinks about it all the time driving home from the playoff loss against the Giants he's going oh I missed that throw I missed that throw and I missed that. He had a fantastic game against the Giants, I know everybody talked about the 4th and 8th, he had a phenomenal game against the Giants and I'm a hater so you know it's real when I'm saying that it was a good game. So he's just so unbelievably harsh on himself to a point where I don't even know if that's actually a healthy way to grow as a player or a person, but it's definitely something that has come up and hey that will carve out an 11 year career in the NFL so who might have judged? I did warn people that you are not a big believer, I tried to soften the blow a little bit, but you have just put yourself out there and told people what you think of Kirk Cousins so I'm glad that you do have some aspects of his personality, his preparation that you now appreciate, a greater appreciation for. I'm impressed Luke, way to go, way to grow, way to become more of a renaissance man when it comes to Kirk Cousins. Just don't look up the books that he was buying at Barnes and Noble, don't go do that.

I loved that series because I do feel like it gave you, as you point out, just a glimpse of how much work these guys put in. I mean him with the note cards over and over and over again. It didn't show up in the doc but he has every single note he has ever taken in a football thing going all the way back to high school. You could ask him about a second quarter Michigan Michigan State game from 2010 and he would be like hang on let me dig that out and he would have play by play notes from their film session. That's incredible.

He's got like big bins in his garage. He definitely is anal retentive and yet that's one of the reasons why, as you point out, he's a veteran quarterback in the NFL and why he continues to play extremely well. Though the Vikings are 0-2 so if you're looking for more breakdown, more of this super, it's really interesting, the various aspects of the game and why they could be 2-0 if they just didn't fumble.

You can find Luke on Twitter at Luke Braun NFL B-R-A-U-N. It's got the link there to Patreon.com which is where you'll get some of the film breakdowns. You always bring such great energy and humor which is why we love you. Thank you so much for a couple of minutes.

Anytime Amy, anytime. Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale with everything you do for other people on one side and everything you do for yourself on the other side. If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you and therapy is a great place to start. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist online who can help you find that balance and stick to it. Visit BetterHelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

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