Chris Kluwe on Michael Sam, Donald Trump, Mike Tice, Randy Moss, Bridgewater and Jeff Locke…
5. What are your thoughts on Jeff Locke’s game? Do you think the Vikes should bring in competition? Do you have an opinion on Nick O’Tool? He seems to be the best punter that’s still available, if you’re for bringing in competition, would he be the guy?
I think he’s struggled due to a combination of having to kick outdoors in Minnesota, a loss of confidence during his rookie year from having to try and learn directional punting basically on the fly (which takes about a year or two to really get down consistently), and then being put into a situation where a lot of pressure was probably being brought down on him to justify the 5th round draft pick. I think competition should have been brought in last year, which could have actually been used to build his confidence by beating out another guy, but this year is definitely make or break since they’ll be inside the new stadium and weather won’t be a factor anymore. I doubt the Vikings will bring in serious competition this year, because they’re still probably trying to justify the draft pick, but there should definitely be another punter during OTAs/minicamps up through preseason.
All that being said, I think Locke still has the potential to be a good punter in the NFL, and it’s not his fault he landed in the situation he did – no one really chooses who drafts you (unless you’re Eli Manning I guess) – he just needs to figure out how to translate that potential into results on the field.
I don’t have any particular thoughts on O’Tool as I haven’t seen him play, but if he is the best guy still available and they don’t bring him in, but a camp leg guy instead, then that tells you, barring any major disasters/injuries, they’ve committed to Locke through at least the first couple games.
9. You played for the Vikes for 8 seasons, under multiple coaches (Tice, Childress, Frazier), who do you think was the best coach? The worst?
I think Tice was the best coach from a player’s perspective (because he’d been a player and understood what that was like), but not great at the actual business of being the head coach. Meetings were fairly undisciplined that year. I think Childress was a very good evaluator of talent and putting people in the positions they were supposed to be in, but a horrible micromanager who couldn’t step back and let people do their jobs. If he had been able to step back and not micromanage the team into oblivion, we’d likely have had a Super Bowl ring in 2009-10. I think Frazier was a good defensive coordinator who was out of his element running an entire team, and never really got the players to buy in to what his vision was (because we had no idea what that vision was).
15. Were you present during Randy Moss’ infamous 2010 “Catering meltdown”? How was Moss in the locker room? Do you think he should’ve been released? How did other players react to his release?
I was, and it was really weird. He didn’t even taste the food, just came in, looked at it, then yelled out “Man, I wouldn’t feed this #### to my dog” and left. It was very awkward for those of us standing in line getting the food, and I’m not really sure what prompted it. I know that most of us went up to the catering people afterwards and told them the food was good to try and not make them feel like #### (and it actually was pretty decent food).
Moss seemed like an okay guy in the locker room, had a lot of funny stories, but he also definitely practiced when he wanted to, and wouldn’t practice if he didn’t want to. He’s one of the few guys I’ve met that believed their own hype as a superstar out on the field and would do whatever they wanted. When he was released, most guys were basically “meh”, as he hadn’t exactly been lighting the world on fire with receptions that year.
16. Do you think that the Saints robbed you guys of a Super Bowl? During the game, on the sidelines, were people aware that Favre was getting targeted? Do you think the fines and suspensions were fair (for Bountygate)? Anything you could discuss about that game would be amazing, just general thoughts, on that, or that season in general…
We definitely felt something was up with the late hits on Brett, especially when he got taken down after a handoff early in the game. When they went hi-low on him, our sideline was super pissed off, because at that point it was obvious and the refs weren’t doing anything about it.
That being said, we had 6 turnovers that game, 4 I think in the redzone, so we definitely beat ourselves rather than the Saints robbing us. We outplayed them in every aspect, but just couldn’t get it done when it counted.
That season as a whole was amazing. After the San Francisco game, where Brett hit Greg Lewis for that game-winning touchdown, was when a lot of guys really started feeling like this was the year, and you could sense that energy in the locker room. It was pretty cool to be a part of.
Much,
MUCH more at the link:
https://purpleptsd.com/2016/06/13/chris ... interview/