The future of Matt Kalil

[mmvikes]

He is playing better. Not to rookie pro bowl level, but he is progressing again.

[HardcoreVikesFan]

His effort against Jared Allen on that sack early in the game was down-right pathetic. He gave one punch and stopped his feet. Just pathetic.

[PacificNorseWest]

Yeah, I'm pretty sick of this dude. His effort looks lackadaisical and Jared Allen point blank made Kalil look like he doesn't belong in the NFL as an LT. There was also another play I remember when Briggs blitzed right through him and Kalil went to block the DE instead of inside-out, like you're taught. It totally blew up the play.

[DK Sweets]

I've tried to defend him all season long, but it's too the point now where I don't know how to defend him anymore. He is, in my mind, a lost cause at this point.

[Demi]

P.A. and Sage pointed out he had 75 snaps and only had a few bad ones. Skol Kalil Skol!

[Purpnation]

Damn Kalil, what happened?

[PurpleKoolaid]

P.A. and Sage pointed out he had 75 snaps and only had a few bad ones. Skol Kalil Skol!

I think PA is still standing up for Twill.

[J. Kapp 11]

His effort against Jared Allen on that sack early in the game was down-right pathetic. He gave one punch and stopped his feet. Just pathetic.

It was.

And yet, at other times he handled Allen with no problem.

It's almost like he only tries hard after he gets embarrassed.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Yeah, his heart isn't into it for 60 minutes. I used to think this about Phil too, but I really believe he has changed. Running into the endzone, congrats to the RB or receiver, patting Teddy on the bum, picking teddy up after a sack. I like that I a lineman. Now if only he and Kalil could get a real nasty streak going while on the field.

[Laserman]

Worst starting left tackle in the nfl.

[Superfreak84]

Worst starting left tackle in the nfl.

Not only the worst, but probably plays with the least amount of passion too!

[Pondering Her Percy]

What bothers me the most is that he WAS good at one point. It's not like Spielman drafted a bust from the start. Making the pro bowl as a rookie LT is no joke. I just don't understand it

[Mothman]

What bothers me the most is that he WAS good at one point. It's not like Spielman drafted a bust from the start. Making the pro bowl as a rookie LT is no joke. I just don't understand it

I'd put it this way:

Injury + attempts to play through injury = bad habits, which lead to bad results, which lead to a loss of confidence ... which leads to the Matt Kalil we see now.

Plus, teams had a year's worth of film on him after his rookie year and they also have film of the bad habits he's developed. They seem to be finding tendencies they can exploit.

Kalil's in a downward spiral with fans now: every tackle is going to give up some plays to good DEs. He's allowed too many but now every single one will be another big strike against him. He may have to be better than he ever was before to really win people back.

[dead_poet]

The other frustrating thing is that he seems to do fairly well most games. He just has a few big-time (I mean glaring) technique issues on some snaps in just about every game where he just gets flat-out embarrassed. Is that mental? Conditioning? Injury-related? I have no idea but it's incredibly frustrating.

[Mothman]

The other frustrating thing is that he seems to do fairly well most games. He just has a few big-time (I mean glaring) technique issues on some snaps in just about every game where he just gets flat-out embarrassed. Is that mental? Conditioning? Injury-related? I have no idea but it's incredibly frustrating.

It IS incredibly frustrating and I think it's happening for various reasons. On some plays, he just seems to mis-read the defender (or perhaps it's that the defender is getting a great read on him). On others, there seems to be some confusion between he and Johnson about who to block. Sometimes, he seems to set his feet wrong and it allows the defender to quickly get around him. Perhaps strength and conditioning are issues as well (I know FiestaVike has talked about that quite a bit).

Hopefully, he can work his way out of it. Obviously, a lot of us are wondering if a new o-line coach might help too.

I wish we had definiteive answers. It was certainly interesting to read Kalil's take on things the other day.