Hello, and welcome to the forty nine Ers First and ten Podcast, ten minutes of the most up to date forty nine Ers news First Thing in the morning. I'm your host, Brionna McDonald, and I'm joined by a special guest on today's episode, Minnesota Vikings on air, talent Tatum Everett. Tatum, thanks for joining.
Hey, brit thank you so much for having me. It's nice to hear you this morning. I'm getting really really excited about Monday. I can't believe if it's already like the Wednesday after games, so really just just a few days away.
Yes, it's coming up, and the Vikings are coming off of a big win against a divisional opponent, defeating the Chicago Bears nineteen to thirteen in Week six. Tatum, what are some of your biggest takeaways from that game and how are the Vikings coming into the this week's contest against the forty nine Ers.
The biggest takeaway for me is the defense. They were stand They stood out to me a lot in this last game. I think that they really won the game for this club because you know, you really felt the absence of Justin Jefferson. This defense stepped up. They had a turnover. They had pressured justin Fields the most of
the NFL, which is pretty consistent for US. They blitzed justin field seventy one point nine percent of the time, and just to put out in perspective, the NFL average is twenty six point three percent, So there's a lot of different moving pieces in Brian Flores's defense. They really try to get to the quarterback and disrupt their rhythm, which was very successful. They were Fields was hit on seven of his fourteen passing plays in which he didn't scramble.
So they liked to get the quarterback very very often. They blitzed forty eight percents their average, which is just kind of unheard of, I think a little bit. But that's kind of the thing to watch in this one. How much can the Vikings disrupt rock Party and the forty nine ers offense. I think that's definitely something to watch. As far as the offense, I think, as I mentioned earlier, I think that you can really feel the absence of
Justin Jefferson, especially on early downs. You know, the Vikings have been We're in a lot of third and long situations and they weren't very good on third down. I think they were two of eight or something like that. So it was very evident that they could not keep drives going because justin Jefferson played, he caught eighty percent of his catches on first and second down this year, so he was targeted very often on first and second
down and then uses a decoy on third down. And so that's why the Vikings were able to put together maybe a more consistent offensive performance. But without Jefferson they need to find a target or an offensive weapon to really step up in those early downs because they just haven't had the success offensively without their best weapon. I mean you could even argue they built and really Kevin
O'Connell has said they built their offense around JJ. So without him, they really need people to step up and figure out what they can do.
Yeah, definitely, And let's go back to that Vikings defense because the forty nine ers are going to go from the league's number one defense in Cleveland to another tough battle in Minnesota this Monday. The Vikings were able to get after the quarterback and attack the ball a total of five sacks against the Bears, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and then two recoveries. Tell us about the Vikings philosophy on d and what the forty nine ers should expect this week.
Yeah, I think it's pretty interesting to see the changes over the last couple of years because or are the last two seasons when you had Kevin O'Connell's first defensive coordinator at Don Intel, they really weren't blitzing at all. It felt like they weren't getting any pressure on the quarterback. And now with this group, they have been able to give a little bit more pressure and blitz a lot more. Brian Flores, we knew he was going to be blitz happy,
but he has definitely proven that and more. They use a lot of different people to attack the quarterback. Daneil Hunter said this week that or after the game against the Bears that teams are going to watch us on film and know that we can send multiple players in the backfield to try and stop the run game, try and disrupt the passing rhythm, and so it's just really interesting to see multiple players get in there. There are a lot of safeties. They rely on their safeties to
play in multiple spots. Sometimes they look like they're playing linebacker, but they play in nickel and dime packages. The one thing of note though, is Marcus Davenport, one of the Vikings big defensive free agency hires this offseason. He has just got put on IR today, so he will be on IR for obviously minimum next four weeks, so he will not be in Monday's game. And that was a big, big thing because teams weren't keying as much on Daniel
Hunter as they can when Marcus Davenport's in there. And so right now you're going to have some younger defensive ends that are going to try and step up. Obviously Daniel Hunters more of an outside linebacker, both of those, but the way that this team is built, it's not like a really true defensive line, so they rely on a lot of their linebackers and safety blitzes, cornerback blitzes and things like that. So I think you're going to
see a lot of movement. They're going to try and confuse brock Party pretty often, knowing that he is more of a you know, in his second year. So I think that's what they're going to try and do as far as disguising their looks and sending a multitude of players his way.
Yeah, and talking defensive player that San Francisco's offensive line will have to game plan for. Is Daniel Hunter currently tied for the NFL lead with eight sacks. What's his season been like and how does his presence really impact the game?
Yeah, I mean, I think the defense, if we're talking about stars of the offense and JJ, I think Daniel's really the anchor for that defense. You know, he's been here for a long time. He is just so athletically gifted and can just get past I mean, he gets double team pretty often, and I'm sure that's what San Francisco will try to do. But he is just someone that the defense always or the offense has to always
account for. He's had a great season. He had a good season last year, but honestly, like his sack total is up almost double by this time that this time last season. You know, I think he ended with double digit sacks last year, and he's really knocking on the doorstep of that halfway through the season. So I think that he's definitely someone you have to account for. Very very smart player and really leads this team on that side of the ball.
Well across the ball is the forty nine ers offense, and there are some question marks surrounding a few key playmakers and their status for this week's game, including running back Christian McCaffrey and wide receiver Deebo Samuel but Tatum. What are your initial thoughts on San Francisco's offensive unit.
I think it's one of the best in the league. They prove that day in and day out. Brock Purty has become so much more confident in this offense in year two. I do think that the Cleveland game was quite interesting to watch, and I'm pretty sure the Vikings are diving deep into that. I think the Browns has more,
you know, depth of talent at certain positions. But I do think that that's a good game plan to kind of watch and go off of, because it's really one of the only teams that kind of has gotten too brock Purty. Right, one of my favorite forty nine ers is Brandon Nayuk. I think he's having such a great season and I like his ability to be just that
consistent guy who always catches the ball. But I don't know with that without a Christian McCaffrey or a Deebo Samuel definitely, you know, it's kind of the same thing we're dealing with offensively, right, Like the stars are not there and so you have to kind of get guys to step up and prepare. And luckily for these teams, they have an extra day to do so.
Yeah, and the Vikings will have some big time playmakers in the spotlight from Monday Night football. And although the matchup won't be taking place on the National tight Ends Day, which is this Sunday, Monday will be sort of an observed holiday for these two teams. So tell us more about Minnesota's tight end TJ. Hockinson, who's coming off of a big game against the Bears, and how he elevates the Vikings offense.
Yeah, yeah, I know. And that's so great that on the tight National tight End weekend we get George Kittle and TJ Hockinson, two guys who know each other really well tight end university. Like they really just kind of, I think, exemplify this position they can play. Their run blocking might be second to the how well they can catch the ball and get out in open space.
But t J.
Hockinson's been such a great addition, obviously the Vikings signing him this offseason. But I will say that I'm still looking for TJ to step up a little bit more. He has had a couple of tough games where he's been targeted and there have been some dropped passes. In fact, he's only caught well. Heading into the Chicago game, he'd
only got one of six contested catches. So I think that he is you know, for him, this has kind of been I wouldn't say it down year, but it's been a slow start for him and he's not used to that because, I mean, we saw what he did when he came over to the Vikings last season, and I mean he was in the building five days and they caught like he was out there making being the top receiver against the Commanders. He had been in the
building for like four days. So I think that there is there's going to be a game where he breaks off and he'll get that confidence back, is what I think, you know, hoping it's this one. Obviously, the sooner the better.
Yeah. Leading Minnesota's offense is quarterback Kirk Cousins. How do you evaluate his performance so far this season and how do you think he'll fare in this week's seven matchup against the forty nine ers defense.
Yeah, I think Kirk is playing a little bit safe sometimes I really want to see him become a little bit more aggressive, and he's going to have to really figure out as the offense where they want to go without JJ. I think Kirk is such a consistent player. He passed for three hundred plus yards in most games. I think there's been a couple where the last.
Like there's been two this sea.
Actually it was the two wins. Surprisingly enough, I think that he's not hit that three hundred yard mark. So you know, I think Kirk is always a solid guy. He's a good, consistent quarterback. He's also in a contract year, trying to figure out what to do next, and so I think he just wants to lead this team, and he's become more of a vocal leader now with Kevin
O'Connell around. So I think that he is going to definitely need to be alert because I think that that San Francisco forty nine Ers defensive front is something else, right like having to face the Bucks. Already, you pace the Eagles front and all those defensive fronts are so good, and then here come the forty nine ers. So they have seen this before, and I think that it.
Definitely didn't bode well.
The first couple of times. So this offensive line has a tall task ahead. But I think that with the addition of Dalton Reisner coming in for Ezra Cleveland, he played great on the snaps that he was in. He's someone that the Vikings signed mid season so far, and so I'm excited to see him maybe get into the mix because, like I said, that defensive front from forty nine Ers might be the best that we've seen this season, and we've already faced the Bucks and the Eagles.
It's going to be a really exciting primetime game coming up. And now that we've covered both sides of the ball, tatum which matchup between either position groups or players are you most looking forward to watching on Monday Night football.
I think it is that defensive front against our offensive line, because I am just very hesitant because of just how good the forty nine ers are upfront with Nick Bosa and even Fred Warner is one of the best linebackers in the league. I think that that's going to be difficult to run the ball, and the Vikings have have had their struggles running the ball. Kevin O'Connell said this week, you know, I know that we are struggling running the ball, but maybe that just isn't going to be our thing.
Maybe we need to pass more.
You know, the run game will be a byproduct, which which is kind of what happened last season. But again, this is just going to be one of those games where I think the defense is going to have to keep the offense in this one. The Vikings have only one time of possession once this season, and that was against the Panthers in that win, which was still a very close game, So they need to be able to
run the ball and control the clock. I think what I said earlier about being better on the early downs, controlling the clock, and trying to stay consistent in the run game is going to be extremely important. However, something's got to change, right Like, They've got to kind of find themselves in this game because the defense is going to face a tough test as well, but they've got to keep the offense in this.
One very exciting matchup to watch this Monday too. Very powerful defenses and two dynamic offenses are going head to head in Monday Night Football. But that will do it for today. Thank you so much Tatum for joining me in this update. Don't forget to follow first Intent on Spotify and Apple podcasts turn on the notifications so you're in the know when we post any breaking news updates, and thank you faithful for tuning in