Pete, thank you for the time. Oh, thanks for having me on. How are we guys tonight?
Absolutely. Well, outside of Sam Donald, we'll talk about him in a second. The Vikings are 3-0. Nobody knew what to expect when McCarthy went down. What has impressed you the most about this team and their 3-0 record? Oh, I mean, yeah, it's like, it's like, where do you where do you kind of begin? You know, with this group, I think defensively, is been is been as big of an upgrade.
Is there any other, you know, phase of the game, right? I think, you know, we brought in quite a few free agents. Blake Cashman, Jonathan Granard, Andrew Van Ginkle, Jerry Tillery, you know, Stefan Gilmore, Zach Griffin, Fabian Moreau. I mean, this is, you know, it's quite the list of new faces, you know, on this on the drafted Dallas Turner from, you know, from Alabama. So, a lot of new faces on the defense and then for Brian Flores to get these guys to play so well as a unit so quickly. I think it's pretty, it's pretty remarkable.
And that's, that's really, that's a big part of it. I think you look at where the Vikings were a year ago. We were 0-3. And we had turned the ball over 11 times in those first three games, right? So, now we're seeing sitting, we have five interceptions.
I believe just one fumble recovery, but 15 sacks. I mean, it's a different, it's a different group defensively. And then obviously, on the offensive side of the ball, I think Blake Brandel playing less guard is settled down that front quite a bit, helped Garrett Bradbury out quite a bit.
And, you know, they've been doing a pretty good job. And then Aaron Jones, I mean, his biggest Sam Darnold has been, Aaron Jones has been really big for us as well. Just making something out of nothing is, you know, it's not as if the run plays are blocked any better this year than they were a year ago, maybe a little bit, but he just has a way of making people take bad angles.
He's very difficult to bring down. And, you know, he's been very impressive this, you know, so far this season as well. I'm glad you mentioned Aaron Jones. So, a few years ago, he led the NFL in touchdowns. He doesn't get the same amount of attention of a Christian McCaffrey or a Derrick Henry.
But when he's healthy, he's certainly one of the best dual threats that we have in the game. Sam Darnold, this man, I know we played for the Jets, quarterbacks in their careers can typically go to die. What has Sam, what has Sam Darnold done here that the fans have done for him in the last few years?
Well, here's the thing with Darnold. I mean, he was drafted third overall. So, you know, he has the requisite height, weight and the speed and arm strength to be a good quarterback.
He's not missing in any of the physical attributes. That's what the draft is all about, right? You know, you don't draft a guy in the first round who's missing something, right? You don't draft a five foot eleven quarterback in the first round.
Not too often, right? So, he has the physical attributes. He goes to New York. And it's just a matter of, I think as this game evolves, the quarterback position is becoming more and more and more important. And there are fewer and fewer staffs, coaching staffs that know how to develop that talent.
It's one thing when you sign a Kirk Cousins or, you know, a free agent and they've done this, they've been down this road before. It's something completely different to take a guy out of college and develop them. So, he struggled. And turnovers were his main issue.
They were, you know, they were a bit of an issue in college. When he got to the Jets, it was an issue. And he goes to Carolina, which is like out of the frying pan and into the oven. But then he was fortunate enough to spend a year in San Francisco where he finally got some good tutelage, I think, and his numbers improved while he was there. But his opportunity to spend an entire offseason, work with Kevin O'Connell, who, by the way, was an NFL quarterback. He was a quarterback coach. He was an offensive coordinator.
Now he's a head coach. So, it's, you know, it's, I think it's given him the opportunity to, you know, and the coaching that he needs. And basically, I think with Sam, it's turnovers and that's what we got to keep an eye on. And, you know, he, when he showed up, he's very comfortable attacking the outside of defenses, which is interesting.
It's usually the other way around. It's just those throws across the middle, and he's getting better and better at them, and he's getting more and more comfortable with them. And so we'll, you know, we'll see. I don't know how, we don't know how high his, you know, we don't, none of us know how good he can be, right?
And we're just kind of sitting back and enjoying this right now. And hopefully, you know, Jordan Addison gets back into the mix because I really think with his, with Donald's arm strength and Jordan Addison's ability to run routes, with all the attention on Justin Jefferson, Addison can be a really big part of this offense. And I'm not talking about 80, you know, 80 yard touchdown passes and things like that, but I'm talking about you put him one on one with a corner. He's going to beat him on the comebacks or the deep outs and, you know, the 9, 10 yard routes that you need to move the chain sometimes. So, you know, once Jordan Addison comes back, there's a whole, that's a big, big, you know, piece of the puzzle, I think, for this offense.
Vikings radio analyst, Pete Bursich is here with us on the JR sport re-show Coast to Coast. Well, the Texans were one big test. It took care of them 34 to 7. I don't know the odds of doing the same thing against a divisional foe. We got the Packers up next. I assume that Jordan Love is going to make his return. What do you expect in that game? I guess the way the Vikings are playing right now, they're going to be competitive in every matchup, no?
I would, yeah, I would hope so. I was very intrigued about, you know, with the matchup with C.J. Stroud.
C.J. Stroud's a very, very good quarterback. He's one of, I think, one of, if not the best young quarterback that's out there. You know, the running game was a little bit, you know, mixed, a little bit set back without Joe Mixon or Damian Pierce coming into this game. But, you know, the defense did a very, very good job of taking away throws in the middle of the field.
Niko Collins, a big body wide receiver, his numbers and how well he was playing the first couple weeks. I mean, he was playing as well as any receiver in the league. And Stroud does an unbelievable job of finding him, especially when you blitz him. Stroud can break and get his way outside the pocket. He keeps his eyes down the field and those receivers and he are all on the same page. Tank Dell, very explosive. Don't forget about Stephon Viggs.
This is quite the group that came up to Minnesota. And you get that interception early, you get up on them early, and then, you know, get up with two touchdowns on them early. We were able to hold on to it.
And that's kind of the difference. I mean, we've been up on teams before. We weren't able to hold on to it. But going into Green Bay, this is as big of a game as you can get four games into it. Because if you win this game, you're basically two games ahead of Green Bay with one matchup left.
If you lose this game, even though your records are identical, you're a game behind because you lost to them head to head. So this is a very, very important game for the division and for the Vikings this weekend. And, you know, Green Bay has done a masterful job at intercepting the football and taking it away from other teams. They have seven interceptions this year, so that group is playing at a high level.
And the more I talk about it, the more excited I get. I hate, you know, I hate Green Bay. I grew up in Chicago and played up, you know, been up here for 29 years. The only thing that you have in common with Chicago fans is, you know, you just dislike. I don't dislike the Green Bay fans per se in Wisconsin. I'm okay with that.
The problem is when you live in Minneapolis or Chicago, they all move out of Wisconsin and move into your city. Right. And, you know, they're throwing up their Green Bay flags and they've only had the best quarterback in the league since 1992. So, you know, and they've won Super Bowls.
And so you hate them for that, too. But whatever. But yeah, this is playing in Lambeau.
Nothing. There's nothing like winning in Lambeau Field, I'll tell you what. But yeah, I'm just like I said, I'm just talking myself into getting fired. Well, let me let me ask you this, Pete, with the success that the team has had already. It's not like the schedule is going to get any easier for the Vikings. You got Green Bay. You got that quarterback, one of them that you just referred to, Aaron Rodgers and the Jets. You have a bye, an early bye.
And then you have Detroit. It's it's going to get rough. Are the fans in Minnesota and the Twin Cities, are they just kind of taking this in? Are there any expectations now? Is everybody cautiously optimistic? How are the fans reacting to this?
Yeah, I think cautiously optimistic is probably the best way is probably the best way to describe it right now. And the difference this year between last year or the year before, just really just the expectations of the NFC North. People expected Detroit and Green Bay to be two of the better teams in the NFC North. You know, obviously the 49ers out west. And so, you know, you know, you're going to play those teams twice, you know, two of those teams twice a year.
So it's going to be going to be a dogfight. And I think that tempered expectations. But with the way this team has played, you know, we had Kirk Cousins here for for a number of years. And we were used to him and the type of passing game that he brought. And, you know, we didn't want to go back to the Christian Ponder years.
And, you know, those sort of things where we were struggling, you know, struggling at the position. And boom in watch, you know, Sam Donald and he's everything is advertised, if not more. I mean, he's vastly exceeded expectations. So when you're three games into it and you're exceeding expectations, people have a tendency to say, OK, well, you know, that's good. But, you know, it's wait and speak. And, you know, they're not going to have to wait long because, like you just pointed out, the schedule does not get easier.
It does not. And I guess final question for you, Pete. Nobody is uttering anything about J.J. McCarthy. He gets a chance to relax and rehab for a whole year. Well, at least for now, with no expectations, no thoughts, nothing.
No, it's good for him. I mean, everything that you talk with the coaches, you know, Kevin O'Connell and everybody. The plan was really Sam Darnell was the starter and it was up to J.J. to take it, you know, take that away from him.
Now, I will say this. J.J. McCarthy as a thrower, I think, came along a lot more quickly than they expected. They know he as a person, as a leader, you know, the intangibles, he has all those things. But there are some fundamental things that they wanted to clear up and throwing and some other things. And from what I understand, he did that very, very quickly and was coming along to the point where it may have been a legitimate challenge. For the opening day starter spot. And, you know, so it was it was unfortunate for him to progress that much and then obviously lose the year. But, yeah, he's the kind of guy that is going to be in the meetings, is going to learn as much as he can. And hopefully that that smooths things out for next year, because I really think he's he's the guy here, no matter how well Sam Darnell does. Well, Pete, I think you got a nice run ahead of you. Good luck against those Green Bay Packers in the next game. I understand that they're going to call you up to help knock some people around if they need it. Yeah, I don't care what happens the rest of the year.
They just got to win in Green Bay. That's it. That's all I care about.
The one game a year, you don't want to get all bent out of shape for. So here we go. Hey, Pete, where can people follow you on the radio and K-Fan and everywhere else? Fill us in. Yeah, my Twitter account is at Pete Bercich, B-E-R-C-I-C-H. And, you know, and K-Fan is FM 100.3 up here in the Twin Cities, part of Clear Channel. So you can look us up there, too, I guess. Hey, thank you, Pete. Enjoy the game and enjoy the rest of the evening.
