Big Red Rage - Marco Wilson Leaps Into Spotlight

and buy Arizona Cardinals podcasts. Visit Hacy Cardinals dot Com, Slash podcasts, The Rods Rising Guard, Kim Rising Vision, Flurring Rage taking over. Here's Paul Calvci. I'm ready. I'm one hundred percent ready. I'm telling you I'm ready. And Ron will Flint. It doesn't get any better than that. Unleash the far, all right, wolf. If you're scoring at home. There was the pick, there was the punctuation, and then there was the hardware. He went the distance, he went airborne,

and then he went viral. If we're talking Thursday to Thursday, it's gonna be real hard to top the week up. Tonight's guest on the Big Red Rage, presented by santan Ford in Gilbert. We are santan Ford because putting them big into the big Red rage is your NFC defensive Player of the Week. Cardinals cornerback Marco Wilson is on board tonight. Marco, how are we doing? I'm doing great? How are you doing? Oh? Man? I tell you we're all We're all feeding off your energy this So what

does this last? I mean seriously, Thursday to Thursday? What has it been like? What has your phone been like? Have you even caught up? Yeah? Now, my phone was definitely blowing up. A whole bunch of people hitting me up, you know, telling me about the play they saw. It's been real cool, you know, it's been real cool. So overall, Marco, what kind of season do you think you're having right now? Uh? I say, I'm pretty having a I said a solid season.

I mean, I think I've been elevanting my play every week. Um, and I've just been doing what the coach has been asking me to do, trying to help my team however we need it. Um. You know, came up, came up big this this weekend, making some big plays. But I think I think I've been getting better and better each week. You mentioned the coaches in this season, and of course this season starts in August with cam and coach Kingsbury had a couple of things to say. What did he

want to see out of you? Get out of you that maybe he wasn't seen at that point? Uh, honestly, maybe may just make more plays because I'm never a guy who's really out of position and like someone who's messing up plays and stuff like that. I've come in and I'm pretty detailed. That's That's the thing. I hang my head on some my details. I'm great a tension to detail. So probably just just making more plays, you know,

picks and stuff like that. But you know, it's it's it's something I didn't put too much pressure on myself. I understood what I needed to do, and I just took it day by day and just you know, did the things necessary that I need to do to you know, try to fix these things. You know, Marco, I've got a question here. I want to ask you about Thursday Night, of course, and then I want to follow it up PAULI,

if that's okay with you. But my first question is was was Thursday Night the best game you've played as a problem I asked him this earlier in the week Go Ahead, Marco, I said, not at all. I mean the first drive I gave up a pretty bad touchdown, So that's definitely out the book for best game ever. But it's definitely I think I played a great game. After that. They completed I say, one pass for not

even ten yards after that on me. So I think it was a solid game, and I think it was honestly good that I got scored on like that because it was a good challenge. Like it happened early on. I got to be able to turn my mind around and make a good game out of it. Okay, what about the meme? Okay, what about you diving across the end zone? Marco, I gotta tell you about I've been a on this game for a long time. I've seen a lot of stuff. I've never seen anybody take off

from the four yard line and land in the minus two. Man, where do you get those kinds of hops? Man? God given talent? Man, that's all I can't say. I mean, my dad was an athlete, you know, my mom's a little a little bit of an athlete, I say, but

let's just gotta give him a talent. Man, I likened it to go into the big Top as a kid, the circus and the human cannonball where they put the guy you know and just and the guy shoots across the big top end of the net, except Marco was working without a net, and we'll get into that in

detail in a little bit. Here's Cliff Kingsbury. We mentioned NFC Defensive Player of the Week and it's not going to be your best game ever in the book, in your book at least, but in the box score you had the pick six, he had two passes, defense, he had three times les and then you got the hardware.

Here's your head coach, Cliff Kingsbury. Excited for him. He's worked really hard since training camp, continue to get better and just his presence on the field, how calm he looked out there Thursday night, His demeanor, the situational awareness has really improved and that was a big time play he made. So it's it's fun to see a guy like that gradually get better and earn some some recognition from outside this building. What do you hear from vance Joseph?

What are you from? Cornerbacks coach Graig Williams? What are they still impressing upon you because you're only halfway through year two in this league. So what do they what do they harp on you week by week? Just just keep doing what I what got me to start in position as a rookie, which is, like I said, my attention to details. You know, out of this world, I think, Uh, And just continue to do that and not change anything up I'm doing or trying to do too much or

doing less than what I've been doing. But just keep doing what I've been doing, is what they tell me. And you know, I know that's exactly what I should do. I don't I don't need to change anything. I don't think. The only thing I can do is just do more what you're more preparation, maybe stay more after practice, stuff like that. Marco, if you could go into the detail of playing the cornerback position in the National Football League,

I mean, there's so much that goes into it. Obviously, the physicality that comes with it, and when I say that, I mean the more of the raw athleticism that it takes to play that position right there. But it's also a bit of a mind game, is it not. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of mental preparation going into a game as a cornerback. I think more than people expect. Honestly, I think the mental part is honestly more than the

physical part. But I say this is this is definitely one of the hardest positions of playing football, and especially with all the rules they're creating to help offenses. I know, I know these guys want to see offenses go crazy. So it's definitely getting harder to play as a dB. You can't do a lot of things used to be able to do, so it's definitely challenging, but you know, it's fun. At the end of the day. It's fun and I enjoy doing what I do. I mean, look

at DAP he drew three defensive holding flags in one game. Yeah. Yeah, but you've been doing this since you are a true freshman at Florida, So I mean, and when I saw I saw the stat You played in a high school program with Patrick Certan and Tyson Campbell. Yeah, I played with a lot of guys. Those are usually just the guys that get like, you know, the name put out there, But I played with We got a lot of guys in the NFL right now out of American Herd. Yeah,

that's that's just I mean, so to what degree? I mean, you know, have you been preparing for this NFL career since age? What I mean in a lot of ways. I mean, you must feel mentally prepared. I'll probably say I got super serious after like in my freshman year of high school. That's when I changed to playing cornerback. Um, and I realized, like, I'm having really fun playing cornerback, and I'm pretty decent at it right now at a young age, like I can probably you know, do something

serious with this. So Marco, right now this season, I'm just talking about this season. Who's the toughest receiver you face so far? That's a good question. You played a lot of marquee guys already and you might be getting the best receiver in the game this Sunday kind of thing, justin Jefferson. So yeah, let me ask you this. I'll follow up with this right here, even though you haven't answered, I'll follow up with this mark all right here. Do you do you keep a diary of any of your

opponents and write stuff down? Do you take notes? Is there anything you do uh specific to the position? And um, what's your right face in the future I'll take I'll take a ton of notes. I have a notebook that I bring into the building every day. I'm taking plenty of notes on the guys that I'm going against. So and that's something that really helps me. I think tak taking notes like that really makes things thick in my

in my brain. So when it when it gets down to game time and things I hectic, you know, like I could think quickly. So I just googled it up. You're on it, whys KELBC on his phone. I just googled it up. So if I'm seeing this right at the combine, you ran a four three five, and then move that decimal point over one because your vertical was forty three and a half inches. Yeah, oh my goodness. So Wolf, there's part of the answer. Okay, to to to what you were talking about with the front flip.

Here's Buddha Baker to his locker yesterday and he was just asked about your pure athleticism. You know, he has all the attributes, the size, the speed. He's very explosive. If you guys didn't know, I think he'd bench like what was it twenty times and the twenty six reps. You know guy who jumps forty inches. Uh you know, not as fast as me yet, but you know he's getting there, and uh you know he's in there. He's making plays, making tackles, you know, picking the ball and

jumping sky high ins an end zone. You can also leap over cars apparently. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, whatsad what's that parkour? Yeah? I saw the little YouTube video, and uh, you know, I would expect nothing less from that guy. He's he's a different type of folk, different type of folk. I like that. Tell us about the video most people have seen it. If you're on social media, how old you when you shot that? And just what gonna response

if you received. I think I was probably like either thirteen or fourteen years old, like eighth grade, and I had I had always been into like doing flips. When I was like seven years old, I taught myself how to do a backflip. And then I remember one day I was I was real young, and I seen a video on YouTube. It was a parkour video by some guys named Storm Free Run, and I watched the video and I thought everything they were doing was fire. I'm like,

they're flipping, they jumping off the wall. I'm like this is cool, Like I could. I could probably do this so just when I had when I used to have a lot of downtime as a kid, I would, you know, practice new flips, jump over obstacles and stuff like that. The feedback I'm getting from it's funny because that video has been out for so long and a lot of people. I would only really show some of my friends and

I'd be like, he, don't tell nobody. Don't tell nobody about this video because I know they're gonna laugh about it. But it's great feedback. I mean, I'm glad this video came back up because people could see like things I used to be in interest I used to have, So it's pretty cool. Marco. How does Parker help you play corner? Does it? I mean, is there anything that translates from parcore over to playing corner of the National Football League.

I'd probably say the only thing that really helps with that is just the athletic ability that it takes to do. Parkour just helps me, you know, play a position like cornerback, which requires a lot of athleticism. When you launched into that front flip, did you know exactly how it was gonna finish? Oh? Yeah, Like I said, I did that same exact thing before, like in college, I've gotten a pick in practice and I ran to the endzone and doing that and using college you can't. I didn't get

a chance. They have a pick six and if I would, I probably would have done it because it'd probably be a flag in college. So I had to take my chance with this one. You realize when you're a grandparent, you can show that meme to the kid, the grand kids. You realize Landy Dalton and the four ground and you in the background. Yeah, that'd be pretty amazing, pretty amazing, I bet I kid you not. I saw that thing and laughed out for about five minutes. Man, Okay, what

sports did you play in high school? Marcou and high school only did I only did a football on track track, and I was that uh yeah, I actually I used to always go to States for triple jump doing jump, so that'd probably makes some sense. Didn't you win a weren't you right up there among the state's best sprinters like one yard? I see that in your I was I was a great sprinter, but I did win States for like group group events like the four by one. We had a crazy team. It Pat Urtane was on

a four by one team. Anthony Schwartz is at the Browns right now, Tyson Campboots, Oh my goodness, fast just speat everywhere people want to know about the athleticism in the NFL. Welcome like Buddha Baker won a state one hundred title and high school in Washington. And then what Mike Marco does. So you know it makes sense, right. I mean, these guys are the point one percent who are playing this game we call NFL football. Is speaking of d Hop he returned. What does he you for cornerbacks?

Because I see d Hop talking to defensive guys a lot on the sideline. How much is he helped you with your game? I think d Hop's helped me a lot. I think especially last year when I when I came in as a young rookie, I was going against him a lot, and it was something I was super excited about. He beat me a few times and and I didn't get too mad because at the end of the day, I know it's d Hop. I know he does. I

know he's best receiver in the country right now. So what I do is just talk to him like yo, like what did you see? What did you see me doing right here? How did you think to do this? And he'll tell me everything. I mean, because he's not gonna hold out on answers. I'm on his team. He wants me to win too, so he's helped me a lot. Man. He's a smart guy, he's been playing for a long time and he's a great player, so it helps a lot. So Marco, what would you rather play man off her?

Press man? I'd probably say press man. That's because that's that's just what I've been used to. But I think VJ has been been doing a great job with helping me work on my feet and off curveses too, so I could try to perfect you know, press and off you know. Speaking of DJ, he mentioned that the defense was a little surprise Friday morning because he had an edge to him. He liked to win, didn't necessarily love the defense, and there were three big plays back. He

kept harping on the three big place. So you'll hear from your defensive coordinator what he told the media when we come back, and we'll talk about Justin Jefferson and the Vikings. Ridiculous stats. Wolf on Justin Jefferson, you realize he has the most yards receiving of anybody in NFL history through three seasons, and he still has eleven games to go. Yes, I mean he's been playing real good. He's tracking to break Randy Moss's single season record. Hello

Randy Moss. Another Florida guy, Right, you're a Florida guy. Patrick Peterson is a Fort Lauderdale guy. He had some stuff to say on his podcast this week. We'll get into all that. The Big Red Rage, Rud Marco Wilson, We come back, presented by Santan Ford and Gil Back

to the past. It was Dalton Perstown fires over the middle of the ball is tipped into the air and picked off with the thirty yards line running left to its twenty Marco Wilson to the dead He high stepped head, then he does a flip into the end zone of the topdown Marco Wilson and the pick six and the

Cardinals take the lane twenty to fourteen. Dalton straight dropped back throws over the middle and a one handed interception by his Asa Simmons in midfield runs it back to the left of the forty pat the thirty pad, the twenty five pad, the twenty pad. Simmons in back to back interceptive returns for touchdowns by the Cardinals. On the end of the half. It was twenty two points right

before halftime, scored by the Arizona Cardinals. In fact, the Cardinals did the nation of favor and saved America from another low scoring Thursday night football game. Instead of these twelve nine, twelve seven games, you guys put the most points on the board in over five years at Thursday Night Football. We like to call ourselves the original Thursday

Night Football. Here the Big Red Rage, presented by Santan Ford and Gilbert pall Kelbac mostly and our very special guests Marco Wilson, the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. You mentioned the phone. Uh, it must have blown up right after you. I mean we just served the call. You got into the locker room, picked up your phone and then and then you tell us what was that Like, Yeah, it was. It was a whole bunch of people, you know,

hitting me up. But you know, of course, I try to hurry up and look through all the messages to find with my family saying I'd love to see what my family saying because they're the most important. I know. They were super excited because they weren't at the game. They had to see it on TV, so it was just while, you know, wow, But it's a blessing. Man. I'm so happy to be able to have that opportunity to make a play like that and be able to play in the NFL and just do what I'm doing.

So Marco, as you're watching yourself right now, not only from the beginning of the year, but also from the beginning of your career, where do you think you've gotten better and where do you think you need to improve? I think I've improved just my awareness of the game, honestly, and just a few tech meet things with these with these zone coverages that I've had to learn since coming into the NFL, I think I've gotten I've gotten better

with that. Uh And and I think I also still need to work on all my own coverages because still that's that's something I've always done since college. So that's that's something I'm still been working on every day in practice and just trying to perfect that so I can just be good with both man coverages his own coverage. I just want to be all around guy. You mentioned looking for messages from your family. Are you still coached by your dad, because your dad does that for a

le coaches corners for a living, doesn't he. Yeah, yeah, No, my dad helps me a lot, you know. He's always you know, even even doing film study through it the week to help me out as well. Um, and then of course on the off season, I do all my all my cornerback training with my with my pops. Man, I'm just grateful that's that's been really really a big deal for me because I see a lot of guys who don't have much guidance and they kind of have

to do it on their own. And I've just been super blessed that I didn't have to go out and do it on my own, because who knows what I would have been doing. He's he's helped me so much, so, Marco. When you talk about a zone, man, of course, you know you've got covered too, or roll up corner, you've got three deep, You've got the for zones that are out there. Is there one that you prefer? Not really, honestly,

I think I think they're all pretty good coverages. The zone coverage to make plays you could you can always make different type of plays and different type of coverage, So I don't really prefer one or the other because they all give me a different spice. You know that I'm that I'm cool with, you know, seeing what I could do. All right, So here's your defensive coordinator, advanced Joseph Earlier. Today. Cardinals get to win on Thursday night.

Everyone's feeling pretty good. They come into the meeting room Friday morning and well, we'll let the defensive coordinator take it from there. Last Thursday to make those three big plays, that was fun to watch. But they give up those three big plays that we gave up that lad to seventeen points. We don't like that. Those three plays were the biggest place we've had all year. I mean, sixty plus forty plus fifty plus. That's not good defense. You know.

In Friday, Friday morning, we had a spirited meeting. They were a little shocked, you know, of my attitude on Friday morning. But the standard did dip. That's got to stop. Well later he said, we speak the truth. Is that accurate. It's very accurate, very accurate. And then I wouldn't wander any other way. Honestly. He might have said, people were shocked, but I wasn't shocked, honestly, especially because I was. I was one of those guys that gave up them big plays.

So it was cool to have a big play that I made and had a good game, but it was I was for sure thing about that play that I gave him, and how I can't. I can't let stuff like that happen anymore. So it's understandable. I understand exactly why he felt like that felt that way, because you know, moving forward, if we give up plays like that, it's not it's not gonna be good. Marco, where do you think this defense can get better? Where do you think

it needs to get better rest of this this season unfolds? Honestly, I think I think the best thing for us to do just moving forward, just to get better is just everybody honing in on the job and just doing doing their job to you know, the max maximum detail. I think if we just sit here and everyone does a job to the maximum detail, this defense will flow together because we got athletes and talent everywhere. What do you remember from Kirk Cousins last year? I remember a guy

who got rid of the ball like ultra quick. He got sacked only one time. It used to getting the ball out quick. He had a darn good game. Cardinals won, you know, but they had to withstand a miss field goal at the end by Minnesota. What's your takeaway on the veteran quarterback. I think he's a great quarterback and you know, always a guy who's as a vet like

that is going to be very smart, you know. And last year I didn't get to play much because I did hurt myself last year before when I what I do remember he was he was on pointed their gay man. This week, we got to make sure he plays. He doesn't play as good as he did last year. How about the offense in general, as you're sitting here watching tape on them, but what does the offense do? Well? I think their main thing is they just they got They got good guys everywhere. You know, the Dalvin Cook's

an amazing running back. You got Justin Jefferson, the land kJ Osborne. They got weapons everywhere, and I think that's their best deal because they could hit you with a big play from from anywhere, and if you get caught lacking us, they can make you pay. DJ mentioned the Rams, Kevin O'Connell coming from the Sean McVeigh tree. Their similarities the two schemes. Yeah, definitely, definitely. And when you play the Rams, I mean, this is just me now, you

tell me this true or false. But they're either going to try and mess with your eyes a lot, right, Yeah, yeah, they do a lot of tricky things. So I was gonna be super important on Sunday, and of course Wolf there's gonna be a ton of eyes on Justin Jefferson. Right, they're all world receiver. It was interesting to start the week somebody to describe Justin Jefferson to Cliff Kingsbury is pretty much elite, and Cliff Kingsbury cut off the reporters. No, no, no, no,

he's all the way elite. He is elite. This this Justin Jefferson. Here's Vans Joseph on the Vikings star receiver. He's a special player obviously, and you know by numbers he's getting the ball, you know, two to one today, second guy. So he's no different Cooper Cup or Adams or DK Metcalf. So's he's a special player and he's been that way for three weeks straight years. We saw

him last year. He made some place last year. It wasn't bad, but obviously the plans always to keep those guys from hurting us and look, you guys have had success against other star receivers this year Cooper Cup, div Day Adams, Tyler Lockett, DK, metcalf so A J. Brown. What have you learned in those games against those teams with elite receivers. I think the main thing is just keeping your composure, you know, not getting too caught up in and who who the people are you're playing against.

Just a more focused on what you gotta do and what your assignment is going to execute that because I think if you executing your assignment to you know, maximum detail, you're gonna you're make the plays that you need to make. Where's your confidence level right now? Because you you sound like a confident dude to me, I'd probably say my confidence level has always been high, as it's always kind of keep it high no matter no matter what's going on.

I think confidence is the main thing, you know, on and off the field. If you're not confident about yourself, you're gonna fail. How much does that separate cornerbacks? Think about your last game, If you would have let that first drive eat at you, you never would have in the NFC Defensive Player of the Week, was there a time in your development where you give up a big touchdown path that's on the opening drive like that, and you might have gone in the tank. Might a lot

of guys go in the tank? Yeah? Play like a play like that would make a lot of people, you know, upset. I was for sure upset, But as soon as I hit that sideline, I washed it out of my brain because I know I've been I've been playing corner for long enough just to know that you're gonna get beat. And when you get beat, you can't you can't sit there and think about it because now you you can mess up your whole game. You got to forget about

it and just continue to move. Know that you that guy, know what you're capable above, and just go out there and just continue to play. Marco, do you consider yourself to be a good tackler? I know that you don't ask corners that very often, but do you consider yourself to be a good tackle? Yeah? I would say I'm a pretty solid tackler, and I'm not a guy who's gonna shy away from contact either. Who's the toughest tackle on the Minnesota Bikers? Who do you think it is

going to be the office tackle. No cook for sure, for sure, Why do you say that he's an elite back? And then you know, I just seeing him on film. He cut so quick, man, he runs with purpose, and on top of that, he's from back home. I know how back home to play, so I know the time it is. Hey, he had ninety six yards rushing in the first half last year, and then the Cardinals made a heck of a halftime adjustment and he really didn't

kill the Cardinals in the second half. Speaking a Florida Fort Lauderdale guy, Patrick Peterson, who spent a decade here after being the number five pick in the drap once upon a time, do you study other corners or have you? And did you follow Pat Pete when you were younger? Yeah, I definitely study study of the corner. I have a whole bunch of corners that I like to look at. I respect a game. I definitely looked at Pat a few times, so you know, growing up, you know, looked

up to him. He's a great top corner. I want to say I looked at him the most out of everybody, but I definitely got a few things from Pet Pete. You know what's amazing, Guys, is pat. He looked into the camera at the Miami game, right, so, the Vikings last game. They went to Miami, which he considers home, and he looked into the camera before the game he said, I'm gonna get a pick, and he did. He got a pick. He is predicting two picks this week on

his podcast Arco Wilson. Have you if you ever called your shot like that? Uh, I ain't gone. I've always been the guy to not say much before the games because I played football, I know anything can happen. I tend not to say say anything before the game until my work's done. I do my talking on the works done because I don't want to say one thing go out there, another thing happens and people look at me crazy.

So anything that I am predicting, anything that I think is gonna happen, I keep it strictly in my brain until after the game's over. It's good. Tell me about what you're seeing with Adam DeLand as well. You know everyone talks about Justin Jefferson, but what about Adam DeLand. What are you saying from this guy, another veteran guy as well. He moves great, you know, and he's super smart. He knows what he's doing. You know, contract the ball great,

he's a great player as well. They're weapons everywhere. Justin Jefferson him. I think they're great receivers. By the way, speaking of you know, talking and all that, are you much of a trash talker? Oh? No, I don't really say much on the field. I tend not to get into I'm focused on my job. Which Cardinals receiver talks the most trash? Come on, now, when you're in camp like in August, who's talking the most? Probably Tweezy makes sense?

Makes sense? Tell you do you see that Wake Forest beat Boston College and that Zach Allen six five two ninety had to wear Greg Dortch's Wake Forest shirt. Greg Dortch is listed at five seven hundred seventy five and he wears the medium. Wow, that must have been a visual yesterday when Zach Allen was wearing that shirt around and definitely definitely. Okay, Marco, you got you got five seconds here? Where do you see yourself in five years?

What I'll be I'm trying to figure out. I'll be twenty eight, uh Man, still in the NFL making play. Thank you so much, Thank you, thank you, for having me and thanks for the all time meme. Seriously, we're gonna enjoy that the rest of this season. We're gonna enjoy that. Five years into the future, we're gonna be enjoying that meme. So no problem. I'll try to make some more this you all right, many thanks to Marco Wilson.

We continue to be right back with more of the big Red Rage presented by satan Ford and Gilbert we are. Satan Ford Murray drop back, steps up now, turns rumps to his lapt rows left and the ends of pup gets us there sliding for topdown. For oh, that was all Kyler Murray. He had nowhere to go circling in the pocket, but he found a running lane and then he found d hopping the ends on for a touchdown. Well, it drops the fiscuit in the basket, does it nots?

And guess who's there? DeAndre Hopkins and off schedule touchdown once again for Kyler Murray at d hap pator Peterson Connall lost Hopkins there d Hophead four grabs fifty four yards at touchdown fifteen yards score in that week two win a year ago at home thirty four thirty three where run Wolfley, I know you remember vividly eight ly changes,

eight hundred ninety three total yards. You had a Cardinals defense that allowed three points in this second half after a miserable first half where they gave up twenty three points, two hundred ninety two total yards, one hundred forty two yards rushing in the first half alone, fifteen first downs.

It was the mother of all halftime adjustment games. And the Cardinals get to win thirty four thirty three against the Vikings, and that is their opponent this coming Sunday here in week eight on the Big Red Rage present of by satan Ford in Gilbert. Yeah, Polly, you know once, I love that you had the game book right in front of end. You were just ripping off the stats, Polly, way to go, big guy. I mean, I honestly though, we all know DeAndre Hopkins has a huge impact on

this offense. And we saw it again Thursday night. Did we nod? Oh my goodness? I mean, look, there's what the Cardinals did in the box score in that forty two thirty four win. By the way, the forty two points the most in the Cliff Kingsbury era. Yes, the defense pitched in with a couple of pick six is obviously, but just the way the offense looked right, Well, if just what players said after the game about d hop being on that field, being in that huddle, it just

looked different if nothing else, didn't it. Yeah, no, it absolutely did. And you know why, Paulli, because they were moving d Hop all over the place. He was in the slot, he was outside, he was on the right side of the field. He even went into motion. Man, I don't know if you saw that ball, he went

into motion. And you know, obviously we know that this has been a point of contention a lot for some fans that DeAndre Hopkins for the most part just lined up on the left hand side, and Kyler Murray was even talking about that very thing as well. Listen, d Hop has a massive impact on how defenses try to defend the Arizona Cardinals, and I think it's a great idea to move him around and get him a little lost if you can. Next Gen stats right after the

game said he was in four different spots. The Cardinals used him a total of three different spots all of last year the police sets. According to the the next gens Stats. Here's what the ed coach Cliff Kingsbury had to say about de Hop's impact against the Saints. I think when they're having a role coverage and do different things that it opens up other people in the run game and

all sorts of things. But you saw the playmaking ability and you know holds on third down that converts the first downs, and the passing affairs on third downs and in the end zone that converts the first downds. I mean that you can't put an emphasis on how big that is for us, and he changes things, there's no doubt. Yeah, that's a great point. Not only did he have the ten catchers for one hundred yards receiving on fourteen targets, but he drew three defensive flags and every one of

those was a critical point in the game. It was they extended drives. And then well there's what guys said about him in the huddle. Remember Eno Benjamin or postgame radio interview, he called de Hoop another quarterback in the huddle because he come back after the plane. He had so many observations about what the defense was doing and what the Cardinals needed to do in response. It was remarkable. Yeah, no, you're right, there's no doubt. Polly. DeAndre Hopkins totally changes

the offense for the Arizona Cardinals. I wish the Cardinals would have found a way to somehow, some way move the ball and be effective without DeAndre Hopkins. But now that he's back, you know what, I'm willing to embrace everything that we get from actually having d hop back. And what is that. I think he helps Kyler Murray. We've talked about this many times. I think he helps Kyler Murray and his progression and going through his progression wherever d hop is not just lined up to the left,

but wherever he is. I think it's going to clarify a lot of Kyler Murray's reads. And not only that, Polly and also is going to help the play caller, Cliff Kingsbury. This is something that Cliff Kingsbury has talked about to us as well, the fact that it does help him call plays because he can have a pretty good idea as to based on the personnel group, the down in distance, and the formation he's gonna go with.

He can pretty well have a guess as to what the defense is going to be and because of that, call plays against defense. So he does an awful lot for this team in many different ways. You know. Rondelle Moore talked to him today. Both of them said that because d Hop commands that cloud coverage is safety over the top and or double coverage, it's like taking two guys away. Yeah, and then it just trickles down through the rest of the offense. Guys are able to get open.

And then there's there's that mentality that d Hop brings, the accountability he brings. He's always talking to someone about something. In fact, I had a chance to interview d Hoop earlier today and we asked him about just being vocal in the huddle. That's just me, that's wym That's how I've been since I've been in NFL. I think I've always been a guy who was able to motivate and trying to push people because I want the same back to myself. I want guys to vocalize things that I'm

doing or need to do better. So for me, it's it's just you know, being out there and you know, just really not necessarily being a vocal leader. But then my play show, Paulie, that is right there, that is definition of leadership to me. Right there, you know what I want guys to come back at me too. I want guys to talk to me. This is what accountability does in a locker room, Paul. This is the best thing about it. First of all, D Hop keeps himself accountable.

He does. He keeps himself accountable. First, He's going to hold himself to a standard. He might not hold anybody else, but dog on it. If you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing, d Hop's gonna walk up on you. Man. You've heard me talk about this, Paul, many many times over the years. That to me is the definition of leadership. And d Hop is a leader, I mean, hard, stone cold leader inside that locker room, man. And that's that's

the thing nobody talks enough about. The tangibles are obvious, the intangibles lights out. And you know what, if you want to see it and hear it for yourself, go to this week's edition a Wire, Go to the Cardinals website, easy Cardinals dot com, the YouTube channel and see d Hop. It's a six minute video. He was miked up against the Saints and there's one pointing moment where Isaiah Simmons early in the game, comes off the field and die Hop goes right up and says, you got to make

that tackle. That's a play you gotta make, Isaiah. And you know, the two of them kind of awesome, go back and forth a little bit, but you know they're Clemson guys. I saw him today walking off the practice field together. They're really good friends. And to your point, Wolf, he has that ability to walk up on a guy and tell him, guess what, you gotta be better? And I on the sideline, it was palpable. He was working both sides, the offense and the defense. You're Marco Wilson,

say how much he's learned from a DeAndre Hopkins. How hop will tell him, Okay, here's what you did wrong. Here's how I beat you on that route. Yes, and Paul, I want to say this quickly because you already mentioned the fact he was targeted fourteen times and he had ten receptions for one hundred and three yards. And what I love about that, Paul, is this is his first game back. He didn't even have a practice. Man, he didn't even have a practice bullet. First game back, and

he goes out there and lights the l amp. What do you think that does? What do you think that does to defensive coordinators that watch that take that immediately reinforces everything they suspected about Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins. Immediately in that game, you grabbed the rest of the league's attention and said, Hey, oh, by the way, if you thought d Hop was going to slow down at all,

that's not going to be the case. And I love that because it totally reinforces a component of this offense that was alive and well in the first half in September and October of twenty twenty one, where you had Kyler Murray spreading the ball, doing a great job spreading the ball. I think he was reading coverage a lot of it through DeAndre Hopkins, and yet he was spreading the ball to other receivers. Now you've reinforced the fact, Hey, d Hop is back, and now we're going to spread

the ball a little bit more. I think we'll see that in the coming weeks. Hey, Kyler's passer rating over one hundred in that Thursday Night win against US Saints YEP and the Cardinals with d Hop over the last two seasons nine and two without d Hop five and nine, and in case Vikings, defensive coordinator at Dontel is listening right now. His corner Patrick Peterson predicted not one, but two interceptions. Is DeAndre Hopkins aware of that? Most definitely yes,

because I asked him in the locker room. They heard the comments for Patrick Peterson. So don't think that another fourteen target game ain't coming on Sunday, because I'm feeling it and I'm calling it. Episode forty seven a day FASH Podcasts featuring Oh here's a good get SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt, Available now via your preferred podcast provider. Get the latest updates via Twitter at ashpod. We continue more on the Vikings when we come back on the

Big Red. Rage was in a vice satan Ford in Gilbert account of the ball that will be the last play. The count steps up rolling barside, but Tom throwing Barside into the end zone and the ball is touch Day Cardinals. Paul and the Cardinals win the game on the final part and the Kings are going home for the new year. The seasons on the line. Mccount takes the snap. He stepped up. He's all by himself. Vision of the ends own the Cardinals and not the fighting down of the playoffs.

Two calls that will forever live in infamy and in glory. The winning and losing call two thousand and three, final play of the game, final play of the regular season then knocked the Vikings out of the postseason. It was like a Shakespearean tragedy right there. For Paul Allen, the Vikings voice, the radio play by play guy, and of course a very young Dave Pash preceded there. It is the big Red Rage presented by santan Ford and Gilbert We are santan Ford and that will be the subject

in the next Cardinals Folktales, Miracle in the Desert. It premiers next week. Ron will Flake. It's all about perspective, is it not, Polly. Those two calls right there pretty much put it in perspective. So both guys are still calling games for the respective teams. And you have a Vikings team that is five and one after their best start since two sixteen. They have won four straight games, all by one score. They have the only two game lead among the eight division leaders. Are you buying these

Minnesota Vikings coming off a win at Miami? Impressive at first glance, but when you consider they beat Skylar Thompson, the third string quarterback and Teddy Bridgewater without two h What do you make of the Vikings? Yeah, you know, Polly Hey, I don't want to discredit them in any way, shape or form. Five and one is five and one, and they have played very, very well. They can only play the people that line up acrossroom. They can who played the schedule that is on their schedule. So I'm

going to give him credit. They're five and one right now. I think they're a good team. When you look at them offensively, Kirk Cousins all starts with him. Now, now look at I'm not trying to say that Kirk Cousins is an elite quarterback. I don't think he is. I think he's a great quarterback. That's what I think. He is a great quarterback. I'm not going to call him an elite quarterback. He's got some great weapons around him. Justin Jefferson stop right there, man, it start right there

and stop right there. That guy is as good as it gets in the National Football League. Adam Feeling, of course, is a guy that is sneaky good. He's sneaky fast, and that's what makes him so dangerous. You don't look at him and say, oh my goodness, he's terrifying me the way Justin Jefferson is terrifying me as I watch him on film. But then there's, oh my goodness, the Dalvin Cook and the offensive line is something nobody really

talks enough about. I know Dalvin Cook, we all know how good he is, but the offensive line, in terms of running the ball, has done a fantastic job of blocking as well. This is an offense that can go out there and play very very well. And that's not even that's not even close, Paulie. To me, as I watched them on film, they get it done. What's interesting is Dalvin Cook has yet to top twenty carries in a game. And yeah, I mean he has done that

twenty five times the last three years. But for most people watching this offense that I've talked to, they say it's much more of a past first offense. Under Kevin O'Connell, who of course comes from Sean McVeigh, they've been very good at executing. For example, against Chicago and Week five they converted twelve third downs. Think about that most of the game since two thousand and nine, so they've been

doing the little things right. I'm just it does seem to have a different identity though than the Vikings team that came to town in Week two and once again ran for over under in forty yards in that first half. I'm not expecting that sort of offense. Yeah, no, you're right about that, Polly. They do throw the ball and off a lot, and you would too if you had the wide receivers they do, right, Yeah, you would definitely do that. But Man, Dalvin Cook is one of these guys.

You just can't forget about him. He's averaging almost five yards a carry right now. And yeah, they don't run the ball as much as they have certainly in the past. But the Cardinals defensively are going to have to bone up Man and also too offensively. This team, the Minnesota Vikings, remind me of the Raiders. They remind me of the Raiders, Polly.

The Raiders, they had Max Crosby of course, and Chandler Jones, those two guys coming off the edge, and that's very similar to what the Vikings have Daniel Hunter of course,

Zadarius Smith, those two guys coming off the edge. I'm wondering if the Cardinals won't adopt a similar game plan, especially as to what they did in that second half against the Raiders where they started running a lot of counter a lot of counter plays, the counter tray where they were pulling the guard and tackle, the offside guarden tackle and kicking out, trying to kick out Max Crosby and Chandler Jones and forced them to take on blocks by big dudes like Will Hernandez. I wonder if we

won't see that again, Paul. You know, that's a great question for Cliff Kingsberry, who had an extra few days during the weekend after Thursday Night football to do some self scouting. Here's what he learned from an offensive perspective. Just the big plays are way down. I think that's an area we gotta try and manufaction more of them getting hotbags going to help. I mean, you saw what he was able to do, but we gotta be able

to make some bigger plays down the field. And your point, they better protect Kyler Murray or get him out of the pocket, get him some time to Neil Hunter in four career games against the Arizona Cardinals has eight sacks. Hello, and Zadarius Smith has been really good this year And I talked to I had to interview a couple of Vikings people and for a scound report run their team. Everyone rais about dal Dalvin Tomlinson, the interior d lineman, who they said is so underrated and has been such

a wrecking ball this year. So those I mean they have a stout front four. They have a stout front seven. Jordan Hicks and all his knowledge of the Cardinals offense, and Kyler Murray along with Kendricks. I mean, that's a dynamic pairing a linebacker. Now you're right about that, PAULI they are. They're very very good. Their secondary now has struggled that that much. I will tell you their secondary has struggled. Harrison Smith, of course, is getting a little

long in the tooth. He's still a very very good player. Patrick Peterson one of the corners as well. But that secondary right now number twenty eight in the National Football League in terms of passing yards per game allowed, in number thirty two in terms of passing yards per play allowed, Paul, they have given up chunks of yardage and hopefully this is going to continue this weekend. By the way, Patrick Peterson in that podcast this week, not only did he

predict two interceptions against the Cardinals. Okay, he also said, he'll be standing up on the sideline. I'm quoting loosely now seeing what the Cardinals do because I pretty much know every defense they're going to be running for the most part. So we'll see. We'll see how much he can pass along Van's Joseph's system. And he also mentioned about Kyler. Murray has some pretty frank comments and among other things, said about Kyler, this is pat p Now.

He's got to understand how to rely on teammates and how to play within the scheme and respect the game. So there's no lack of motivation in that Cardinals locker room, I can tell you that much. Yeah, you know what. That's a two way street, isn't it. Though. You get somebody who starts talking about it, and before you know it, everyone's talking about it on both teams. Good for the game.

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