00:06great to have you with us valentian rico mark in for mike here on this friday alongside
00:15rico beard hatchet paul sarah and the two-time pro bowler tj lang you went to rumble twice
00:25i i was voted in twice went once because i had to get a hawaii surgery no thank god it
00:32was orlando
00:32both times yeah that was i think the first year 2016 maybe um yeah thanks i don't want to brag
00:42about myself yeah yeah you know what you know what i learned though and i tell all these young
00:49players now when you're an alternate um and they call you the week before because somebody drops
00:54out take it go because that still goes on your uh you know your your resume as being a pro
01:00bowler
01:00and i was contracting negotiations yeah but i was stubborn when i was a young guy i'm like i'm not
01:05going until i'm voted in and i had probably i think i had two more opportunities to go and i'm
01:09kind of
01:10kicking myself a little bit like but still regardless not about me do they do the right
01:16thing getting rid of the game good question because there was the one the one game i actually
01:23played in there's a bonus for the winning team and the losing team was about half of that so the
01:30first the first three quarters was kind of patty cake and around out there and then all of a sudden
01:36it was like some people are running stunts and blitzes and like these guys want that extra money
01:43and the funny thing is is most like back in the day especially uh most the tackles in the pro
01:48bowl
01:49games were always in the pro bowl they were always left tackles so these guys would argue
01:54for who had to play right tackle because none of them they were all left tackles so you're going out
01:59there playing right tackle like andrew whitworth had to bump out to right tackle going against von
02:03miller one of the best pass rushers in the league and it's like no not doing this like you young
02:07bucks
02:08you guys figure it out i ain't going out there to the right side again but um yeah probably i
02:12mean
02:13it's just they got rid of i think mostly everything now didn't they yeah they they don't even know
02:18you just gave us the ultimate viewers guy that we we didn't even know we needed like only pay
02:22attention to the fourth quarter pretty much that's how it used to be well that was i mean that was
02:26also
02:2610 shoot that was 2017 2018 i think so you know time has clearly passed but no the the days
02:34of uh
02:35sean taylor lighting up a punter trying to run a fake punt are long gone and and you know what
02:40like you don't i don't know if you really have the question i think a lot of guys had that
02:44i never
02:45got i don't think anybody got answered was are you covered by the team if you get hurt in that
02:50game
02:50right because it's not really a team sanctioned event it kind of it was kind of looked at as if
02:56you get hurt on your own training you know in your hometown you're not really on our property so like
03:03i think that paused a lot of guys but when you start talking about you know the money in the
03:07fourth
03:07quarter and it wasn't i mean most of these guys were playing so much money making so much money
03:12anyways no because tj i remember the infamous robert edwards getting blowing his knee out playing
03:18beach volleyball but it was a sanctioned pro bowl event he blew out his knee he was a running back
03:24for the uh new york patriots and he never played again yeah it's a good question i mean and i
03:30don't
03:31think that you're covered under that from your contract and and people think there's a misconception
03:35around contracts where uh you know hey you can't do this you can't do that you can't you can do
03:41anything you want but if you get hurt doing certain things then it's you know your your guaranteed
03:49money's gone we're not covering you we'll put you on the nfi list which is basically you got hurt on
03:53your own time we're not responsible for that i'm not sure if the pro bowl um fell into that category
03:59or
03:59not i know obviously being an nfl event but not being a team sanctioned event that was always the
04:04question that guys had like let's take care of each other we're not going to run tees we're not
04:08going to run stunts we're not going to run a ton of blitzes because nobody wants to get hurt going
04:13into the offseason but um interesting topic to bring up mark thank you for the introduction oh you
04:18got it great to have you i'm glad that uh they got rid of the pro bowl 15 20 years
04:24ago used to be
04:25fun right and then obviously the last call it four or five years has just been a money grab
04:33waste of time let's try to get some viewers hey let's go see some guys catch a ball out of
04:37a
04:37helicopter it's like all right we're good but let's let's talk about some guys who played in
04:42that pro bowl light event two teams gonna be battling for the north minnesota coming in town
04:51to detroit tj looking at these numbers a couple things popped up but i'm just gonna are these two
04:58of the luckiest teams in the nfl right now because when you look at some of their wins you're kind
05:04of
05:04like i i can't believe you actually won that game like minnesota's game against the bears
05:11fumble on the one nine to three and then caleb 1920s throwback caleb fumbles as he's running in
05:17i mean he he falls out blows out his hammy running in for a touchdown unabated he that happens five
05:25field goals to beat the dolphins you beat them with 15 to 10 sorry paul and then and then but
05:32then you
05:32look at some of the lions games you're like well do you look at the new orleans game like well
05:36that was
05:36a strip sack fumble for a touchdown that wasn't last week where you had three interceptions two
05:45of them dropped one was turned over for a penalty and two chip shot field goals and he's just two
05:51of
05:51the luckiest teams no or no or is this going to be a legitimate you know this is these are
05:57two
05:57powerful teams no i i would never call a team that starts six and i don't care who you play
06:01there's been a ton of games uh this season already where you're like whoa cardinals we thought stunk
06:08go to la and beat the rams in their own house right like anything could happen so i'm not going
06:13to call
06:13a team that are six no or four and two lucky you need certainly at some point of the season
06:19you need
06:20you know some good bounces or maybe a call to go your way but no i don't think that this
06:25is a fluke
06:26well when i look at minnesota i don't see a dynamic offense which is what we've been so
06:32um entrenched into believing is what when you wins your games especially probably for the last
06:38five six years offense offense their offense doesn't look good at all they have no run game
06:42kyler murray i think it's three times i know missed a couple games but i think they've scored
06:47nine offensive touchdowns in six games like that's pretty pathetic the 29th offense yeah but when you
06:53look at what it takes you know with all three phases of the game hey defense pick us up special
06:59teams pick us up i don't think any of these teams have gotten lucky i think they've gotten in tight
07:03games and they they're they're both well coached teams that just find ways to make plays in the big
07:08time moments and you know when you when you talk about the green bay game last week clearly there were
07:13some very odd calls on both sides of the ball and green bay you know probably had a gripe with
07:19a
07:19couple of them i think detroit had a gripe with a couple of them yeah derrick barnes
07:22you know the running back drops the ball he doesn't know that he's making a tackle and
07:26what do you mean 15 right like there was just some weird calls in that game but
07:29and even even at the end where you go for it on the fourth and one hey defense we need
07:34to get a stop
07:35they did also special teams let's not act like that was a blown kick dj want to block that kick
07:41he got he got hand on it that changed the direction of that so that wasn't like oh man their
07:47kicker just
07:47shanked another one no you guys stepped up and had to cover for you know the other the offense
07:53that failed on that fourth one so um and even the josh jacobs uh drop in the end zone i
08:00can't remember
08:00who it was it was either lafleur or jacobs after the game that you go back and watch that play
08:05it
08:06was very good coverage by derrick barnes very good coverage he made sure he didn't interfere and and one
08:11of those guys said josh jacobs didn't feel the he didn't see the ball until it hit his hands and
08:17those are the toughest catches like you're trying with with the velocity that jordan love throws with
08:22so it wasn't like oh josh jacobs dropped a wide open touchdown pass derrick barnes was right in his
08:28face with good coverage so i don't look at that as saying oh you got lucky that he dropped that
08:33no you you were tight enough on that play to make it a very contested catch and that's all you
08:38needed to do so uh but the lions certainly need to they need to adjust some things because their
08:44run game last week i did not like at all long developing slow plays guys blitzing off the edge
08:52that have no purpose of of making tackles especially that fourth and one that was just like what just
08:59get jameer gibbs is at his best when he's running straight downhill out of the backfield full speed he's
09:05not a levy on bell type that hey let me get the ball in the backfield dance around read the
09:09double
09:10teams and then cut it you know what he could certainly can do that but his strength is getting
09:15downhill fast and they didn't do that nearly enough last week against uh against green bay and i thought
09:21that's what really really hurt him to make that game much closer than it should be now could you say
09:27green bay got lucky by jameer gibbs fumbling inside the 10 yard line you know in the last minute of
09:33the
09:33the first half right and it wasn't even his fault cade mays is trying to throw a block and push
09:37the
09:38pile and he ends up punching it out did the green bay get lucky by you know a center quarterback
09:43exchange coming out of the half like you look at those two plays and all of a sudden you're thinking
09:48hey even if we get three points out of there probably a two two two possession game so i don't
09:53play the whole i say that because it's just funny because people i mean this is when i talk about
10:00minnesota they look at me like oh they don't stand a chance i'm like there's minnesota six and no
10:05they're not oh and six that'd be a mistake if you think that they got every no everybody that i
10:11talked to is just looking at me like oh lions lions like that's the second best defense maybe for
10:16arguably with seattle let's one okay it doesn't have a chance they beat this team last year with
10:21max brosmer that's what i said uh it's different like he completed two passes and what was a jet sweep
10:28the first one the last one was max brosmer that was at minnesota which is man when you're confused
10:34and obviously we knew at that time the offense was all out of whack you know dan campbell was trying
10:39to juggle everything head coach calling plays designing right like that was that was the game
10:45the first game was jj mccarthy and they made some minnesota i'm talking when they came to fort
10:49field earlier in that game or the season made some incredible catches and you go back like i went back
10:55and i'm a nerd i went back and re-watched it i'm just like what why does it always like
10:59the top three catches of the week are always against the lions like what
11:05and i'm not taking anything away from minnesota but they're this team is not going to underestimate
11:11uh what minnesota's doing i mean if it's if it's a one two maybe three game stretch where you're like
11:17gosh they just keep getting lucky how are they keep getting away with this it's been six games where
11:21their defense is truly confusing guys what gives me hope and we'll talk about it you know i'm sure
11:29throughout the next hour you're at home jared goff should have time at the line of scrimmage jared
11:34goff should have the ability to communicate with his offensive line and his receivers without the
11:40crowd noise to get his guys in advantageous positions he didn't do that enough last week
11:46against green bay i thought i thought there was a couple checks where you're like you just can't run
11:50that play man like this guy's going to be unblocked and everybody was so hard on kade mays
11:54you know bad run blocking because you see a linebacker you know sprinting up the middle in
11:59the a gap and it's like everybody thinks center you know center's got to do that to me jared goff
12:04still needs to improve on i'm putting his guys in in good positions to to get some double teams get
12:10a
12:10hat on a hat and just give your guys some a chance to make some plays he didn't do that
12:14enough
12:14but he's still playing at a high level i i have hope because i'm not bullish i don't think about
12:21the lions i think it's going to be a close game but i think that dan campbell if he can
12:26revert back to
12:27a couple years ago with some of the unique protections that they were throwing at minnesota
12:30and brian flores when they beat them uh twice that's something that i hope he reverted back to
12:35a little bit this week tj lang is with us coming your way next we'll go inside the enigma that
12:41is
12:41minnesota's historic defense valenian rico mark in for mike here on 97 one
