Soft benching?

Alec Lewis
@alec_lewis

Kevin O’Connell said QB Carson Wentz is being further evaluated with the shoulder injury suffered in yesterday’s game. Sounded like he came in pretty sore. One to watch.

Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert once said QBs should wear skirts because of how ridiculous the rules had become about protecting them. He said this in the 70s. He wouldn't recognize the game today. 

A few juicy topics for our beloved Vikings as they return to US soil for some much-needed rest and healing.

State of the Offense

• Health issues aside, the offense came out of the gate looking discombobulated with JJ at QB.  I feel like most every NFL head coach is so frightened of being criticized for pre-season injuries that getting actual game reps for guys that need the work is going by the wayside.  Need a new plan for next year.
  
• Good discussion on here about the lack of a quick game.  Was definitely better versus the Browns.
  
• Jones should be back after the bye.  Will be interesting to see how the carries get split between Jones and Mason.  I don't expect to see much of Scott after his fumble -- Akers is a safer pair of hands.  Jones had fumbling issues last year and Mason just looks better.  I expect Jones to get limited carries and probably more receptions going forward.
  
• So much talent at the receiving positions with Jettas, Addison, Nailor, Thielen.  Will Hockenson return to his old form?  They called him "one of the best route-running tight ends in the league" yesterday, but I mostly see him running flairs and stop routes with his back to the end zone and limited to no YAC potential.  KOC mentioned him as a guy who is sacrificing individually for the team -- assume this refers to him doing more blocking and chipping.  He's one to keep an eye on as his production is not equaling his paycheck.
  
• OL needs health.  One has to wonder if we made a big mistake on Ryan Kelly.  On the "pitch count" for Darrisaw, two things.  He is not playing the 2nd and 4th Q because it is too stressful on the knee to warmup, exert, rest and come back to immediate exertion.  Secondly, the narrative KOC is using around CD is very interesting.  My own reading between the lines has me wondering how much CD is dictating what he will do vs. the doctors and coaches.
  

• Must clean up the run defense.  I think it will naturally improve with the return of Blake Cashman, but the penetration we hoped for to disrupt the run game in the middle from Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave has largely been absent.  Jalen Redmond has balled-out and LDR has looked great in small stretches.  Ivan Pace continues to disappoint me.  He's just too boom or bust.  He's a decent blitzer because he attacks like a torpedo.  He does the same in the run game, however, and more often than not picks the wrong gap; misses the tackle; or helps create giant cut-back and jump-cut lanes that are gashing us right now.
  
• Worried about Van Ginkel -- he's a playmaker we're missing and "neck" injury just sounds scary.
  
• Secondary has been a real pleasant surprise.  Isaiah Rodgers and Byron Murphy are playing upper-tier ball.  Theo Jackson looks solid.  Glad we re-signed Metellus.  We will see what Harry and Okudah can give us.  We are susceptible to injury here big time -- thankfully the bug has not hit this group (other than Harry's mysterious illness).
  

1. Should Wentz continue to start once JJ is fully healthy (and will JJ's ankle injury mysteriously linger...)?  No doubt Wentz has outplayed JJ.  And he appears to be getting better as he starts to get more comfortable with the offense.  Hard to dislike the guy, seeing him lay it on the line against Cleveland.  He has his obvious flaws -- slowish release and processing; not particularly agile in the pocket.  But he's been reasonably accurate, has the arm talent, experience and is improving in this offense.  (his double-clutches kill me, though!)  He seems to have that veteran calm about him that you have to love (handling the low snap on the first play of the late TD drive against the Browns may have saved the game).  All that said, I think the reigns rightly belong to JJ.  He's a captain on the team.  We need to see what we have in him.  It will just be frustrating when he plays poorly in stretches (and he will) for a team that looks like a fringe playoff contender.  The fact that Wentz has played reasonably well and seems to be improving will make this all the more dicey.  One hopes, of course, that JJ re-grabs the reigns, takes off and we never look back.  That hope at the beginning of the season seems more unrealistic now.
   
2. What do you do with Jordan Addison?  Lest we forget -- in July 2023 Addison plead guilty to a misdemeanor stemming from being caught speeding at 140 mph in his Lambo at 3 am; in July 2024, Addison was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence when he was found asleep at the wheel of his car blocking traffic lanes near LAX.  He plead no contest to a lesser charge of "wet reckless" and received a 3-game suspension from the NFL.  After both incidents, Addison played the part -- he apologized, talked about how he has matured, etc., etc.  Now, in October of 2025 he was "suspended" by the team for 1Q after missing a team walkthrough with the team in London.  Has he matured?  Is he a head case?  A walking time bomb?  No doubt he is a talented receiver who makes the team better when he is on the field.  With a strong locker room, and (supposed) mentoring from Jettas and "fathering" from KOC, he has continued to mess up.  JA will demand a contract extension following the 2025 season.  The obvious benchmarks are Jameson Williams with Detroit and Tee Higgins in Cinci.  Both "stud" #2 receivers behind elite #1s (Amon Ra and Chase).  Williams talent/production is more debatable.  Williams signed a 3-year extension with the Kitties in September for $83 million with $67 million guaranteed.  Higgins signed a 4-year extension worth $115 million with lesser guarantees -- $41 million.  Neither Higgins nor Williams has had a strong start to the 2025 season on the heels of their extensions.  Addison will no doubt expect to beat both of those extensions.
   

It'll be a talker for the next few weeks, like it or not...

I'm in the camp of JJM and dont see this as a real issue to decide. 

I say lets see what we got in JJ and hopefully he is 100% post bye...

==========================
LONDON – The Vikings enter the bye week with three fascinating quarterbacks and a fascinating quandary. At least, that’s what it looks like from the outside.

But there is a reason the Vikings’ decisionmaking in this instance is easy to predict and inherently logical, even if their likely decision won’t necessarily be immediately popular with their fan base.

First, let’s take a realistic look at their current three quarterbacks.

Carson Wentz
He orchestrated a remarkable game-winning drive on Sunday in London. He is 2-1 as a starter, and his loss occurred in a game that was lost as much because of poor offensive line play and an inability to stop the Steelers’ previously mediocre offense as it was because of Wentz’s play.
Give him high grades for being a quality backup, a tough human and an admirable competitor.

J.J. McCarthy
He’s played eight NFL quarters. He has played well in one of them. He remains an awkward match for a veteran roster trying to win big this season. He is also a top-10 draft pick with obvious talent and a championship pedigree.

Max Brosmer
Is he this year’s version of Gino Torretta? Remember Gino Torretta? The Vikings spent a seventh-round draft pick on him in 1993. He won two national titles at Miami and is a member of the college football Hall of Fame, and he looked like the Vikings’ best quarterback during the 1993 preseason. He would throw a total of five passes, completing one, in NFL regular-season games.

Give Brosmer this: He looks like an NFL quarterback when he’s standing on the sideline. He’s a big, strong guy with arm talent who has demonstrated composure when given a chance to play.

If fans were running the Vikings, they might be tempted to stick with Wentz, who is probably better equipped to play behind a mangled offensive line at this point in his career than either of the youngsters.

And there will be many who admired Brosmer’s play for the Gophers and in this preseason, and will want him to get a shot.

This is where a reminder is in order.

If all the Vikings wanted at their quarterback position was efficient passing (which Brosmer might provide), they would have kept Kirk Cousins. If all the Vikings wanted at their quarterback position was a veteran who could run their offense, they would have kept Sam Darnold.

They cut Cousins and Darnold loose because their goal is to win a Super Bowl, and they believe the best way to achieve that goal is to develop a talented youngster who will be around and affordable for years.


That’s McCarthy.

McCarthy has a high ankle sprain. He may not be fully ready to play coming out of the bye, and it would be foolish to play him until he is healthy and playing behind a relatively healthy offensive line.

But he is the Vikings’ quarterback.

You don’t draft someone with a top-10 pick, then give up on him because he looked overmatched in one game. He’s the Vikings most athletic quarterback, and he has already shown the ability to rally a team to victory on the road under difficult circumstances.

McCarthy should return when he’s ready, regardless of how Wentz plays or Brosmer looks when we get a glimpse of him.

Consider this: McCarthy played 40 games at Michigan and won a national title while playing for Jim Harbaugh, one of the world’s best quarterback coaches.

Then he spent a year studying Kevin O’Connell’s offense from the sideline while injured.

If he looked unready to take on the massive responsibilities of an NFL starting quarterback at the beginning of his second season, how could Brosmer, who played one year of major college football, at Minnesota, be ready?

Probably the best way to look at this “competition” is this: None of these three are going to win a Super Bowl this year.

So this year should be about developing McCarthy, while hoping he can also win games. Wentz has played admirably and Brosmer is intriguing, but McCarthy is the future, and nothing that has happened this season has changed that.

STRIB

"The Vikings’ salvaging of their two-week Euro trip is proof positive of what separates the NFL’s top programs from everyone else. The fantasy-football-obsessed public will see Minnesota’s win over the Browns in London, drill down on throws Carson Wentz made to Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson, and believe this is only a story about the great environment that Kevin O’Connell has created to maximize quarterbacks in the Twin Cities.

That’s part of the story. But there’s more to it.

Yes, Wentz led a 10-play, 80-yard drive to beat Cleveland on Sunday. And yes, a beautifully placed 50-50 ball that Jefferson claimed for 21 yards was its catalyst, setting up a 12-yard dart to Addison to win the game. Having those guys would help any quarterback.

However, what made all this even more impressive was who was in front of Wentz. Justin Skule started the game at right tackle for Brian O’Neill, then flipped to left tackle for Christian Darrisaw, who was on restricted snaps since returning from a torn ACL and MCL last year. When Skule made that move, second-year man Walter Rouse came in at right tackle. Guard Blake Brandel was in at center for Ryan Kelly, who’s been out with a concussion. Undrafted rookie Joe Huber was in for first-rounder Donovan Jackson at guard, leaving Will Fries, at the other guard spot, as the only regular starter.

Yet, somehow, that group held up against Myles Garett and Mason Graham in a series of clear pass-first situations for the offense, and paved the way for that unit to drive 80 yards on 10 plays to win the game.

“We knew coming in that we were down a few guys,” Wentz told me from the locker room in London. “I’m so proud of the guys. To move from right tackle to left tackle against the best defensive end in the world, the way Justin [Skule] did that, unbelievable. Walt coming in late in the game playing right [tackle]. Blake playing a new position, in center. The way the guys stepped up and gave me chances to find these open dudes down the field was sweet.”

It's also a reflection of why the Vikings can do right by their players. Whether it’s giving J.J. McCarthy through the bye to heal his high ankle sprain, keeping Darrisaw on a strict pitch count or managing through safety Harrison Smith’s absence earlier in the year, there’s confidence that they’ll find a way. It’s allowed the staff to handle the roster in a way that’ll give the Vikings the best chance to have the best team at the end.

And it’s because they can acquire players such as Skule, Brandel, Rouse and Huber at a point where they can coach around any weaknesses they have, and still leverage the strengths that remain. That it happened Sunday in a position group where no team has great depth, and one that the Vikings spent a lot to improve this offseason, only punctuates the point.

“One, that goes to the coordinators upstairs and, two, the coaching,” Wentz said. “They do a great job of having guys ready. Everyone coaches their tail off for each and every guy. There’s no denying the game plan changes because of it, and they do a tremendous job recognizing what we need to do, tweaking it, how to attack a defense every single week with the players we have on the field. I think they did a great job today. It wasn’t perfect, it was tough, and we shot ourselves in the foot a couple times …”

However, it was damn impressive, and as such, the arrow is pointing up on the Vikings, as they return to the U.S. with a 3–2 record after a split of their international games." - Albert Breer, SI.com

The Purple Persuasion
@TPPSkol

The Vikings next 4 games (post-bye) seemed very daunting a couple weeks ago, but actually may be more winnable now. Not easy, but not impossible.

Week 7: Eagles
- Eagles 4-1 but just lost to the Broncos
- Drama starting to brew amongst their offense
- Eagles will have mini-bye before playing Vikings (TNF against Giants)

Week 8: at Chargers
- Tough game on a short week
- Chargers are 3-2 (after 2 straight loses, Giants and Commanders)
- Their OL is pretty injured right now too

Week 9: at Lions
- Probably the toughest game of the 4
- Lions are dominating teams and have ratteled off 4 straight wins after losing to Packers week 1

 Week 10: Ravens
- Wheels have really fallen off this squad now 1-4.
- They will likely be very desperate
- Lamar Jackson is injured but expected back before this game

A win is a win, so we'll take it and get the hell out of foggy London town and into a much-needed bye week:

• You have to tip your hat to Brandel, Huber, Skule (I guess) and even Rouse who I think played a good chunk of Q4 while Darrisaw took his mandatory rest after hitting a snap count. This was against the #1 D in the NFL. Weren't always perfect, but man they played WAY better than anyone thought and held up. Skule is a better RT backup than LT.
  
• Nice play call for the TD from Akers to Oliver, beautiful.
  
• The run D is concerning and I expect it to be the BFlo's weak spot for the rest of this season. I mean Judkins had open lanes for most of the day. Jon Allen seems to disappear at times. 
  
• I don't understand how NFL refs missed Will's kick hitting a wire, you could see it didn't travel normally in the air. B.S.
  
• The TV announcing team missed so much action, so many things that were happening. Brutal. Albert and Vilma suck.
  
• Very nice drive to win the game, excellent all the way around. But as much as Wentz has been mostly decent, we need JJ back in there. Carson is like a baby giraffe back there, all long limbs and slower motion. He moves a tick slower, takes a bit to wind up and throw. He's loving his moment in Minnesota, you can see it. I can't ding him too hard as he's still learning the offense, players around him, etc. but he missed some easy throws. 
  
• KOC stepped up and called one of his better games, good to see.
  
• You're never going to be able to trust Jordan Addison 100%. Too many temptations out there in the big world for him, no matter what he says. 
  
• I'm not complaining, but: what the hell was Stefanski doing with those timeouts he burned late in the game? TY very much Cleveland.
  
• Philly and Buffalo both went down, happens to the best of them. Turnovers: the first time in 27 games that Buffalo gave up more TOs than they got. Nix and Maye played well enough to win and sometimes that's all you need. No spectacular stats but big completions when needed. The rest of the team needs to play well also to beat teams like the Eagles and Bills. First time in a bit I really liked what I say from Drake Maye.
  
• Baltimore is in free fall at 1-4. 
  
• When bad teams play good games: the Miami-Carolina tilt was a fun watch.
  
• Uncle Sammy played so well for 80% of the game and then at the end should have had a pick 6 and then threw a horrible INT that basically lost the game for Seattle. That's the narrative for Darnold now and why Minnesota let him leave. 
  
• What a gut punch loss for Arizona, my god.....brutal way to lose a football game
  
• I wonder how many media members will jump off the Charger's bandwagon now? Cowherd might twist an ankle getting off. Where's the big timer in Herbert?
  
• Geno Smith and the Raiders....yuck.
  

Chicago
Cinci
Cleveland

None of em are world beaters and yet u can only play who's on the schedule right?

So I'm still not fired-up about the team, have more questions about JJM then I had in September and probably most disappointed in the defense (especially vs run). 

But 3/2 is good enough for #2 in the North (for now) and I feel fortunate with that record given the injuries. Glad to take a week off as a fan. Would really like to see what the team's ceiling is if ever at full strength.

Most importantly? Lets get JJM back behind Center and let's see what we got.

Where u at with 12 games to go???

The ball hit the Spydercam wire......the refs missed it. Tough one for Will the Thrill.

Former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez is in stable condition after he was apparently stabbed early Saturday. He is now under arrest for his role in the incident that led to his injury.

Sanchez was in Indianapolis to work as an analyst on FOX Sports’ broadcast of the Indianapolis Colts game against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. He’s been arrested by Indianapolis police on three misdemeanor charges related to the altercation.

FOX Sports announced Saturday afternoon that Sanchez was in stable condition at a local hospital.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has since announced that Sanchez was arrested at the hospital for “battery with injury, unlawful entry of a motor vehicle and public intoxication” for his role in the altercation. All three of the offenses are misdemeanors.

CNN is working to determine whether Sanchez has legal representation.

Earlier, IMPD shared a statement detailing an apparent stabbing involving Sanchez that occured around 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning less than a mile from the Colts’ Lucas Oil Stadium.

“The incident involved two adult males, resulting in one man receiving lacerations and the other sustaining injuries consistent with stab wounds. Detectives believe this was an isolated incident between the two men and not a random act of violence,” the statement said.

“IMPD Aggravated Assault detectives are continuing the investigation and have reviewed video footage of the incident. Both men received medical treatment. The man with the apparent stab wounds remains hospitalized in stable condition.”

Police said the decision to arrest Sanchez was made following consultation with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office, which will make the final charging decision. CNN has reached out to the Prosecutor’s Office for comment.

Sanchez remains in the hospital and has not yet been booked into the Adult Detention Center, according to IMPD.

“Mark Sanchez was injured in Indianapolis on Saturday and is currently recovering in the hospital in stable condition,” FOX Sports said in a statement before Sanchez’s arrest.

“We are deeply grateful to the medical team for their exceptional care and support. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark, and we ask that everyone please respect his and his family’s privacy during this time.”


CNN