Vikings @ Lions Game Day Discussion Thread -- Week 1

[dead_poet]

Ndamukong Suh - DL - Lions

Ndamukong Suh has been fined $100,000 for his low block of Vikings C John Sullivan in Sunday’s win.

Suh’s lucky he avoided the second suspension of his career after taking a dangerous and completely unnecessary shot at Sullivan’s knee. Suh’s one of the very best players in the league, but his act is long past thin. It’s a symptom of a coaching staff that’s been struggling to instill discipline for the entirety of Jim Schwartz’s five-year tenure.
Source: Dave Birkett on Twitter

[Funkytown]

Ndamukong Suh - DL - Lions

Ndamukong Suh has been fined $100,000 for his low block of Vikings C John Sullivan in Sunday’s win.

Suh’s lucky he avoided the second suspension of his career after taking a dangerous and completely unnecessary shot at Sullivan’s knee. Suh’s one of the very best players in the league, but his act is long past thin. It’s a symptom of a coaching staff that’s been struggling to instill discipline for the entirety of Jim Schwartz’s five-year tenure.
Source: Dave Birkett on Twitter

Definitely deserved a hefty fine. Another time or two--he deserves a huge fine plus a lengthy suspension. This is getting beyond old at this point.

[Mothman]

Opener shows the Vikings have plenty of blame to share
Christian Ponder certainly struggled against the Lions, but his line’s play and coaching decisions didn’t help, either.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikin ... um=twitter

Thanks for the link. Scoggins should share that article with his fellow Strib writer, Jim Souhan.

Kalil had a pretty bad game. He really needs to pick it up this week and it won't get any easier because he'll be facing Julius Peppers most of the time.

By the way, I'm glad to see Suh was heavily fined for that block on Sullivan. I think he should have been suspended.

[Delaqure]

There is plenty of blame to go around for this loss. The On-line couldn't block their way out of a wet paper bag. Musgrave couldn't adjust his own belt much less an offense. The defense couldn't stop my grandma with a walker. But Ponder was the biggest reason we lost. The kid was inaccurate and couldn't stay cool in a freezer.

And quite frankly after That performance he should have stepped forward and shouldered the blame. Not because it was all his fault but because he is the leader of this club. Man I have seen quarterbacks play their guts out and blame themselves for a loss when they had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I have been on the fence with Ponder and at times supported him. I believe in giving them time to mature. But I expect improvement. I'm starting to slip off the fence. Another game or two like Sunday and I am jumping off. Onto Demo's side and it will take Ponder and a 400 lb gorilla to get me back on.

[J. Kapp 11]

Ndamukong Suh - DL - Lions

Ndamukong Suh has been fined $100,000 for his low block of Vikings C John Sullivan in Sunday’s win.

Suh’s lucky he avoided the second suspension of his career after taking a dangerous and completely unnecessary shot at Sullivan’s knee. Suh’s one of the very best players in the league, but his act is long past thin. It’s a symptom of a coaching staff that’s been struggling to instill discipline for the entirety of Jim Schwartz’s five-year tenure.
Source: Dave Birkett on Twitter

Ndamukong Suh's stat line from Sunday.

Tackles: 0
Assists: 0
Sacks: 0
Personal foul penalties: 1
Ultra-dirty chop blocks: 1
Dollars lost in fines: 100,000

Yep. One of the very best players in the league, all right.

[Delaqure]

There is plenty of blame to go around for this loss. The On-line couldn't block their way out of a wet paper bag. Musgrave couldn't adjust his own belt much less an offense. The defense couldn't stop my grandma with a walker. But Ponder was the biggest reason we lost. The kid was inaccurate and couldn't stay cool in a freezer.

And quite frankly after That performance he should have stepped forward and shouldered the blame. Not because it was all his fault but because he is the leader of this club. Man I have seen quarterbacks play their guts out and blame themselves for a loss when they had absolutely nothing to do with it.

I have been on the fence with Ponder and at times supported him. I believe in giving them time to mature. But I expect improvement. I'm starting to slip off the fence. Another game or two like Sunday and I am jumping off. Onto Demo's side and it will take Ponder and a 400 lb gorilla to get me back on.

[dead_poet]

Talked to #Vikings C John Sullivan, who said he respects the NFL's decision to fine Suh, not suspend him. "I have no say in the process." "I’m just happy I wasn’t hurt – seriously injured. There’s a reason that play is illegal. It’s incredibly dangerous." Sullivan dealt with a lot of injuries early in his career. But he said he feels fine, plans to start Sunday. Great news for #Vikings.

[Eli]

Ndamukong Suh's stat line from Sunday.

Tackles: 0
Assists: 0
Sacks: 0
Personal foul penalties: 1
Ultra-dirty chop blocks: 1
Dollars lost in fines: 100,000

Yep. One of the very best players in the league, all right.

That's one of the more misleading stat lines that you're going to see. Suh was extremely disruptive, both against the pass and run. On most of those plays where Peterson lost yardage, the Vikings' OL was stood straight up in their stances. More often than not, a LB or DB swooped in and made the tackle in the backfield.

Suh was the lineman who pressured Ponder and hit his arm on the easy INT by Tulloch. He also had the pressure up the gut on a late sack that caused Ponder to step directly into the arms of Fairley and Ansah.

[King James]

Ndamukong Suh's stat line from Sunday.

Tackles: 0
Assists: 0
Sacks: 0
Personal foul penalties: 1
Ultra-dirty chop blocks: 1
Dollars lost in fines: 100,000

Yep. One of the very best players in the league, all right.

See this is where the stats are misleading. Suh had a wonderful game. He didn't get the numbers but he went to work on John Sullivan. Sully allowed Suh to drop him back 36 times, even pushed him as far as 7 yards in the backfield. And like one user said, was responsible for that batted pass that resulted in a interception.

Make no doubt about it. Our O-Line got straight handled Sunday.

[CalVike]

Here's a comment about the officiating in this game from Greg Bedard of the MMQB:

Link:
http://mmqb.si.com/2013/09/13/greg-beda ... tes-week2/

6. There was a fairly questionable call with 8:38 left and the Lions leading the Vikings, 27-24. On 3rd-and-5 from Minnesota’s 27-yard line, Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford appeared to throw an uncatchable ball to Calvin Johnson—the ball hit six yards beyond Johnson near the edge of the six-foot white border line—but Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes was called for pass interference. Big call, as the Lions went on to score and seal the game. I saw NFL’s vice president of officiating Dean Blandino at the Patriots-Jets game on Thursday and asked him about it. He said a pass has to be blatantly uncatchable—at least outside that white stripe—for it to be deemed an uncatchable ball. Another question I have from that game: why was referee John Parry yucking it up with the Lions after a few plays, including that one? I’m sure the Vikings were thrilled Parry was giggling while announcing a big penalty in the game.

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[Just Me]

Here's a comment about the officiating in this game from Greg Bedard of the MMQB:

Link:
http://mmqb.si.com/2013/09/13/greg-beda ... tes-week2/

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I actually commented on that call during the game and thought then that the pass was 'uncatchable'. Another poster thought that it was. I'll confess, however, I thought it went farther OOB than just the 6 feet (I would have guessed 10 feet or so), and so I thought the contact was irrelevant. Not much can be said about it now though. It was a judgment call and its over...

[John_Viveiros]

Remember this (if anyone reads old threads... seems an appropriate place for an "I told you so" post like this one):

I have to be honest here. As a contrarian, I have to say that something about Kaepernick's game makes me hold off on annointing him as one of the next great QB's. I love his wins against the Pack, of course, but I still am not convinced he's great at reading defenses. Or that he's consistently accurate. He's a great running QB of course. But I think his game has flaws that may cap his potential.

Admitting you are a contrarian sounds somewhat anti-contrarienish(?) in itself. Kaepernick is a stud pocket QB. He audibles when necessary, goes through his progressions, and throws darts to the open receivers. As of now, his game has no flaws in my opinion.

Thought that was funny too. Not only does Kaep go through his 1st, 2nd, 3rd, then back to 1st etc, he also makes pre-snaps read like a veteran. He is literally 100x smarter than Ponder on the field. Even without the read option, Kaep uses his athleticism to keep the play alive, not freaking run like a headless chicken when the pocket breaks down. Did ya see that one move he did on the DE after his RT got beat? DE went by his RT, Kaep stepped up to avoid him, DE goes forward for the sack, Kaep steps back and when he does his RT nails the DE. Just beautiful watching pocket movements.

John_V might of just had one of the worst takes ever. Kaepernick throws lasers that are pin point accurate and maybe rushed for 25 yards yesterday? This kid can throw.

Allrighty. Let's take a look at the last two weeks of the "Can't Miss Kid". 26 for 55, 277 yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs, 6 sacks, 2 fumbles lost, 16 rushes for 107 yards. QB rating around 32.5. His offense produced 10 points in those two games. Frankly, that's worse than Ponder. I'd still rather have Kaepernick, but, again, it's a bit premature to anoint Kaepernick as the next great QB.

[mondry]

I'll say BOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAHH IN YO FACE to that for you John!