Hey, everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, presented by Fandul.

Matthew Collar here.

And returning to the show every time we have an opportunity to talk with Daniel Popper of

The Athletic.

We're going to do it.

And we've got a match up Thursday night between two teams

whose fans are not all that pleased with the results thus far. Daniel, why don't we just start

with that? I feel like the Vikings and Chargers, always and forever, are looking in the mirror

at each other. It's, hey, you've got a lot of good players, but you can't quite get over

the hump. Hey, you've got a lot of good players and can't quite get over the hump. And the fan

bases have grown restless and we're both told going into this year, this year is your year,

my friend, and it has not quite been that way. Is it entirely just injuries that have

ravaged this Chargers team to make them not what we expected them to be or what they look

like in the first couple weeks? Or is there more to the story, Mr. Popper? Yeah, well, first off,

thanks for having me. Second off, it is an ongoing Spider-Man meme between the Vikings and Chargers, and it always will be.

I think with, with this team, you have to start with the injuries, particularly at tackle.

You know, at a point in the game on Sunday, they had their sixth and seventh string tackles playing in the football game.

Wow.

So yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty bad, you know, and, and you go back to training camp,

Roshan Slater, they're starting left tackle a week after they gave him a market setting,

$100 plus million dollar extension.

He ruptures his but teller attendant on a freak play in a practice. Joe Alt moved to left tackle. He's been out with a high ankle sprain. Trey Pipkins, who is supposed to be their swing tackle, experienced that right tackle. He goes in. He's been out with a knee injury. Jamari Salier, their fourth tackle's been out with a knee injury. They traded for Austin Deculis from the Texans.

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