Hello everyone and welcome to the Week 5 Minnesota Vikings roundtable here at Daily Norseman. The Vikes are coming off a concerning loss to the Steelers, and now will turn their efforts toward the Cleveland Browns in the second of back-to-back international affairs for the local boys.
Who’s ready for some morning football?
Let’s talk to it.
Question 1: There’s still a game to go, of course, but what’s your take on back-to-back international games?
Brandon Warne: To be frank: meh. As a football consumer, all it really does for me is make sure there are games going on for like 15 straight hours. In my 20s, that would have been HUGE. In my late 30s, I don’t know. It’s fine. I have no complaints. Hopefully a second week overseas to acclimate helps the Vikings play better, because last week was painful.
Christopher Gates: From a fan’s perspective, I don’t really dig it that much. Having football games that kick off at 8:30 in the morning is still weird and will be for as long as we’re doing this. I can see where it might benefit the team, however. While the Browns had to make the long flight across the ocean this week, the Vikings just had to jump a 90-minute flight from Dublin to London, which I’m sure would be beneficial to them. Hopefully, it results in a win for the Vikings, or this logic is going to look really stupid.Home
Warren Ludford: I don’t mind the back-to-back international games because they’re both road games. If they were home games that would be different. But as road games their essentially neutral venues where crowd noise isn’t a factor like it would be in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Also, already being in the time zone and not having to travel as far for the second game compared to the Browns is probably at bit of an advantage.
Sam Buegler: Right now, I don’t mind it. I want to see how the teams look on Sunday to really get a feel for it, but I am hoping that being overseas for multiple weeks will allow the Vikes to be more rested and ready. For me personally, I wasn’t able to watch the first game, but am looking forward to the second!
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Question 2: On a scale of 1-100, how much of a must-win game is this?
BW: I’m very hesitant to use the “must-win” adage when I talk about sports, but this one has to be pretty close. I’m more concerned with keeping up with the rest of the division and an NFC at large that might be a bit deeper than we all expected. If you don’t win a game like this against a rookie quarterback — even with the injuries to the offensive line — it certainly doesn’t inspire confidence against a schedule that’s about to get tougher. But at the end of the day, it’s the NFL and it’s “any given Sunday” so the Vikings could somehow lose Sunday and win three of their next four. Sometimes the league just works like that. I’m going with 80 on the must-win scale.
CG: I’d put it somewhere in the 75-80 range. This team has just been ravaged by injuries to this point, as we all know, but the Browns are still struggling offensively and have decided to give a rookie quarterback his first-ever start against a Brian Flores defense, which isn’t the sort of thing I would do if I were running an NFL football team. If this team can get a win in this one, hopefully they can use the bye week to get themselves healthier and get ready for the remainder of the season. If they lose this one, however, things could go pear-shaped in a hurry.
WL: I’d say this is about a 90 for the Vikings to have a decent shot at the playoffs. It’s tough that the Vikings are facing the Browns stout defense with basically their second-string offensive line, but the Browns are one of the weaker teams on the Vikings’ schedule and they need to manage a win in London going into their bye week. The rest of the schedule is pretty tough, and I’m guessing the Lions/Packers and 49ers/Rams/Seahawks will account for at least two of the three wild card spots, so the Vikings can’t afford to get too far behind.
SB: 65. I do think it’s a winnable game, and wouldn’t be the end of the season if we lost. Leaving the European Vacation 50% would be nice, and I do think we should win. I just am not at DEFCON 1 yet. (editor’s note: thank you for using DEFCON properly)
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Question 3: Look into your crystal ball: when will J.J. McCarthy return to the starting lineup?
BW: I literally have no idea, and don’t want to pretend that I do. I think a revenge game storyline for Wentz against the Eagles could be fun, but other than that, there are reasons for and against putting JJM out there in any of the games out of the bye. With a gun to my head, I’ll say….Los Angeles on the short week just because I don’t think it’ll matter as much that it’s a short week when he hasn’t been playing. I don’t know. I really don’t. Wentz could surely make this a lot tougher of a decision with a nice outing on Sunday.
CG: I don’t know if they’ll put him out there against the Eagles the week after the bye. Then it’s a trip to Los Angeles on a short week, followed by a road trip to Detroit before hosting the Ravens at home. If he’s not out there for the Philadelphia game, I think it will be the Lions game in Detroit because I don’t think they’d throw him out there after a short week.
WL: My guess is the Eagles game after the bye week, assuming the offensive line is back healthy then too. Kevin O’Connell’s tone about McCarthy doesn’t suggest he’s in a hurry to get him back as the starter, but on the other hand I don’t think Wentz has been so good that he’s taking the job away from McCarthy. Apparently, there are some footwork issues to correct, but that can be done during the bye week, and McCarthy can then prepare as the starter for the Eagles.
SB: Week 7. I think that having him travel with the team bodes well for his recovery, and Wentz hasn’t given us any reason to stick with him over McCarthy. Assuming he is still on track, McCarthy will be ready to go against the Eagles.
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BW: I’m thinking the angle here is that his defense will give him opportunities by keeping his team in the game. In other words, he won’t have to do too much, and I feel like we have seen this blow up on the Vikings so many times in the team’s history that it’s hard not to have that reflex. Cooper Rush a few years ago comes to mind.
CG: Dillon Gabriel was one of the most prolific passers in college football history, as he tied Case Keenum’s career record for touchdowns thrown by a college quarterback. (Of course, Keenum did it in four seasons while Gabriel had six. . .modern college football, y’all.) He’s obviously talented, and nobody has any pro film on him other than what he put out there in the preseason, so the biggest issue is the fear of the unknown. Of course, Brian Flores can put a stop to all of that, and hopefully he will. With this being the Vikings, being fans for as long as we have been, nothing should be surprising at this point.
WL: Mostly the unpredictable nature of the QB and playcalling as that could change a bit to accommodate the new QB. That said, I’d be surprised if the Browns didn’t focus on the run and quick passing game- like the Steelers did- against the Vikings’ defense.
SB: I am afraid of him having something to prove. This applies to all rookies, but especially with Dillion Gabriel. He has Sanders behind him (even if he is 3rd string), and all of the media circus that has gone along with that. My guess is that it is going to motivate him to prove himself even more. He wants to quiet all of the talk about Sanders and prove that he is the right choice for the Browns. We will see if that comes to fruition against the Vikings’ defense.
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Question 5: What’s your final score/result prediction?
BW: I have the Vikings winning an ugly one, 17-14. Carson Wentz gets it done, but just barely. Time to get back home and get some guys healthy for the gauntlet after the (much-needed) bye week.
CG: This is going to be an ugly, ugly football game. It might be the first team to 17 wins, honestly. The Browns haven’t scored more than 17 points in a game this year, and I’m not sure if going to Dillon Gabriel is going to help them that much given what Brian Flores does to rookie quarterbacks. There’s even a decent chance that the defenses outscore the offenses in this one. Seriously. At the end, I think the Vikings’ makeshift, patchwork offensive line is going to do just enough, and Will Reichard will be the hero of the day as the Vikings get out of London with a 16-13 victory.
WL: 20-13 Vikings.
SB: 17-7 Vikings. I agree with Vegas on this one; it is going to be a low-scoring affair. As worried as I am for our offensive line (oh no), I still think the Vikings can take this one.
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