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00:00It's strength on strength here.
00:04But I do like the Lions to be able to move the football through the air, and it's mostly
00:08my faith.
00:09Yeah, I think the offensive line's going to have their day.
00:11The offensive line, which is, I'll argue, the best in the NFL, just goes out and does
00:18what they do, and they are playing very well right now.
00:21Well, I obviously have raised concerns about how the pass rush is going to look without
00:27Aiden Hutchinson, but I actually have faith in the secondary that they can get things
00:30done.
00:31I like the secondary.
00:32I like that Brian Branch is, you know, a do-it-all safety.
00:36You know who else likes that is Aaron Glenn.
00:39Yeah.
00:40Aaron Glenn loves his safeties to be able to do it all.
00:42I like the athleticism of the linebackers.
00:44I think the Lions' defense is better than people give them credit for, that they'll
00:49be able to absorb this hit without Hutch for, hopefully for the rest of the season, they'll
00:55be able to handle it fine, but it's going to, you're going to have to rely on the offense
00:59scoring a ton of points.
01:01Like you mentioned, Vikings lead the league in quarterback rating against, and it's, I
01:06mean, the Lions are third, they're not far behind, but what the Vikings do is they turn
01:10you over.
01:1111 interceptions is a ton of interceptions in five games.
01:16They're getting after it.
01:17They're making things happen there.
01:19They've got 20 quarterback sacks in the five games, too, as a defense.
01:24They're bringing it defensively, but they've not faced an offensive line like the Lions
01:28have.
01:30And right now it appears this Lions offensive line is totally healthy.
01:35They got two healthy running backs.
01:36They got a healthy room of receivers and tight ends.
01:40I like the Lions offense going against the Vikings defense.
01:46From the other side, I feel like we've, we've been able to, the Lions have been able to
01:52withstand anything the Vikings throw at them in the past.
01:55Like you look at last year, Vikings had all these yards and it didn't matter because in
02:00the end their quarterback wasn't good enough.
02:03I'm not sold that Sam Darnold's somehow reinvented himself and he's the guy.
02:08I think Sam Darnold is an average quarterback who's playing with well above average toys
02:14right now.
02:15And because of that, he's going to look better.
02:18This is a big game for Sam Darnold.
02:20This is a huge game for Sam Darnold.
02:22And maybe this is a game where we all eat crow on this.
02:24Those that don't, don't believe in them, people like me or, or not.
02:30Or this is a game where the Lions show up that their offense is just better.
02:34I think it's interesting.
02:35You got a shootout with two teams that are very good against the pass.
02:40Well, it's because of my faith in the Lions offensive line, the receivers, Jerry Goff
02:45coupled with the loss of Aiden Hutchinson.
02:50I don't know where Lions defense is going to settle in, but it's probably going to take
02:54a step back.
02:55Let's be honest.
02:56And so the thing about Darnold, and this is one of the reasons why I give the Lions a
03:01bit of an edge, and you said you weren't so sure about Sam Darnold.
03:07Like I said, if I were doing this show in Minnesota and I were covering the Vikings,
03:12you kind of look for some things, some trends.
03:15You look for, you know, what, what's going on with our team.
03:19All right.
03:20And, and if you go back two games ago, the Vikings are coming off a buy, so they got
03:23to feel good about that.
03:24But if you go back two games ago, they're playing green Bay.
03:28They roar out to a 28 to seven lead.
03:30You remember that?
03:32And at that point, their possessions after the 28, seven lead were as follows punt, interception,
03:42punt, punt, fumble, field goal, punt, turnover on downs.
03:49Then last time out, Minnesota played the best pass defense they played this year in terms
03:53of QBR against, that's the Jets.
03:56The best pressure rate Sam Darnold has faced this year, the Jets.
04:02In that game, Sam Darnold goes 14 for 31 for 179 yards.
04:10No touchdowns, one pick and a 50.3 rating.
04:16So going back to when Minnesota took a 28 to seven lead at green Bay, which was midway
04:23through the second quarter.
04:24And it was impressive.
04:25Don't get me wrong.
04:26Did they take the foot off the gas?
04:27Maybe we'll find out if they've, they've kind of gotten into an offensive rut.
04:33It's six plus quarters of meager results.
04:39Now they won both those games, obviously, but it's something that, again, if we were
04:44doing the show in Minnesota, I'd be like, okay, this is an important game for Sam Darnold
04:51to show that that's just ebbs and flows of the season.
04:56It's not, it's not the, you know, him reverting to what something he was because he is one
05:01of the great stories in the NFL right now.
05:03He really is.
05:04Yeah.
05:05I would argue that it doesn't trend well, that the second half of that game against
05:10the Packers, that they were just a sieve and the Packers damn near caught them.
05:14And then they, they're not very explosive against the Jets on the Jets have a good defense,
05:19but you know, the Jets still made it a game and I don't think the Jets are that good.
05:26So I mean, right now I'm thinking, I like the Lions on this game.
05:33I still respect what the Vikings can do defensively, but I respect what the offense for the lines
05:39can do more.
05:40I, I, you said what, 34, 28 and kind of a shootout.
05:44I'm looking more like a 24, 20 game with the Lions on top.
05:49I think the Lions are, they do a really good job of playing with a chip on their shoulder
05:55and playing with a purpose and playing with incentive.
05:59And they've got all of that this week.
06:01You know, it's not just, Oh, we're playing a five and old Vikings.
06:04We're on the road.
06:05It's a, there is so much of win it for Hutch mentality.
06:09And also you can ride that for a minute.
06:10You can ride that for a minute.
06:11And this is the minute.
06:12And not only that, but then you've got the chip on the shoulder from the guys in the
06:16defense that may be like, okay, we're more than just Hutchinson, dude.
06:20We got a really, really good defense.
06:22Yeah.
06:23We're going to miss Hutch, but the rest of us here, we got jobs to do.
06:27We're really good players.
06:28We can make this happen.
06:29We got a soundbite from Aaron Glenn later in the show lines, defensive coordinator.
06:33And he, he was defiant in him and say, here's what I don't want anyone to do.
06:40Dismiss what we have on the defensive side of the ball.
06:43Cause Hutch is gone.
06:44He was defiant and you know, he's stirring that pot behind closed doors.
06:48Oh yeah.
06:49Yeah.
06:50Kang, what's your gut telling you on this game?
06:53I too, like get her, don't have a super strong feeling.
06:55And I also think as we get closer to the game, I'm going to feel more jitters because
06:59it's going to be a, I think it's underrated how big of a game this is, honestly.
07:03And I didn't even know nationally, they weren't pumping it up, which they should be.
07:06This is incredible offense versus an undefeated team.
07:10But my lean Doug is the lines are so good offensively, then it starts with the offensive
07:15line that they will, they will impose their will in this game as they will the rest of
07:20the season on teams, even without Hutchinson on the defense side of the ball.
07:23I think they're just a very, very good team and they'll win this game on the road.
07:27The Hutch loss is big, but I still think overall the rest of the defense is better than last
07:32year.
07:33The rest of the defense.
07:34What concerns me is the injury report right now, Carlton Davis hasn't practiced the last
07:39couple of days.
07:40I'm a little concerned with that with Justin Jefferson on the other side.
07:42I don't know if I trust a handsy rookie cornerback alone out there with them.
07:47But with that being said, I think the offense is too good for the Lions to lose.
07:50Aiden Hutchinson also hasn't practiced.
07:52Are you sure?
07:53Yeah.
07:54Kevin Zeitler was limited yesterday.
07:56That's the extent of the Lions injury report as far as guys that are available.
08:01And Minnesota see a big part of Minnesota to my feeling on this game changes a lot of
08:07I find that Aaron Jones can't play.
08:09He was limited in practice.
08:10The belief is he may play Hutch or not Hutch TJ Hawkinson is a little bit sounds like it's
08:18a little bit more dicey his situation, but all right, here's what we want to do.
08:22Turn it over to you.
08:23Kang, did you give a score?
08:24You didn't give a score.
08:25Are you still putting one together?
08:26Uh, yeah.
08:27I may have had to pick a score right now.
08:28I think the office is too good.
08:29I'm going to go 29 to 19, 29, 19.
08:35I thought you'd appreciate that, Gator.
08:39I think it's interesting.
08:40I like it.
08:41It's like Kang's got the computer going on.
08:42It spits out a number.
08:43It makes no sense, but it's a computer.
08:45It's an algorithm.
08:4629, 19.