Sunday, October 24, 2010

Vikes Loss at Lambert- My Thoughts

Vikings Lose 28-24 at Lambert. It's pretty clear the Brett Favre Magic is gone. Still the Vikes barely lost this one and there are a number of could have been's.

Could Have Been's in Chronological Order:
1. Packers receiver clearly bobbles football while going out of bounds in the end zone. Chilly doesn't challenge, giving Green Bay 4 Free Points.

2. Visanthe Shiancoe catches what to my judgement was a clear touchdown. By the time he landed his hands were under the ball. It was clear from the replay that the ball didn't move when he hit the ground, yet despite this visual evidence that it was a touchdown the ref reverses the call on the field, Vikes kick fieldgoal, thus 4 Vikings points were taken off the board.

3. Vikings driving at the end of the game, something like 1st and 15 from the 20 yardline. Phil Loadholt called for hands to the face putting Vikes in 1st and 30. I think the replay showed the hands to the face happened but was brief. Loadholt mostly had the shoulder. Tick Tack call especially with some of the holding's that were not called on both teams.

4. Favre makes long throw to the endzone to Percy Harvin who was clearly interfered with while the ball was in the air. The intereference caused Harvin to not get a second foot in bounds when he caught the ball for what would have been a go ahead touchdown. Vikes should have had the ball 1st and goal at the 1.

5. On third down replay clearly shows Clay Mathews try to draw a penalty by flipping his helmet off his head. This should have been an unsportsmanlike conduct 15 yard penalty giving the Vikes a much needed first down. Seriously how do you miss Clay Mathews with no helmet? Instead the Vikings can't convert on 4th and long and the Packers win the game.

My thinking was the Vikes needed to win either this week or next week and they would still be in OK shape. Now the Vikes must win next week in New England and they pretty much have to sweep the Bears, sweep the Lions, and beat Green Bay in the dome.

On the encouraging side. The offence showed some life and pass blocking was the best it has been all season.

1 comment:

MNAngler said...

The reffing was absolutely horrid in this game. And Childress is absolutely clueless. He should have challenged the GB bobble, should have gotten his team out for extra pts faster to prevent challenges, and should have tried for *something* at the end of the first half. Three points at the end of the first half would have changed the aspect of the game at the end.

With arguably the top three offensive players in their respective positions to ever play the game, there is no excuse for these kinds of losses. He just doesn't know how to call plays or manage a game.