J. Kapp 11 wrote:
C'mon man. Why do you have to say something like that?
Vikings fans are understandably over the moon about SB's performance, and a lot of those fans were fine with the trade. Go back and read the thread. I was very transparent about it. At first, I wasn't sure, mainly because of the price, but after a day or two, I realized that he was the No. 1 pick in the draft, and has always had an elite arm ... he also was beginning to shine in Philly during the latter stages of last year. So after initially questioning the trade, I embraced it with hope, understanding that this kind of success in an emergency trade is rare. I also think my attitude was pretty typical on this board. Certainly not unique.
The better question is, "How many of you saw this kind of performance coming so early in the season?"
I wasn't sure he would play a game like this AT ALL during 2016, let alone his very first game, with only two weeks of practice. I didn't even want him to start last night. Not that I'm a Shaun Hill fan. I was simply afraid that Sam would be too unfamiliar and would make critical mistakes. Instead, he outplayed the great and God-like Erin Rodgers by a mile. And Rodgers was was the one making all the mistakes. Definitely didn't see THAT coming.
I was in favor of the trade from the get go, even though I winced at the price. All things considered, however, I felt like we had to do something. We are slightly above average with Hill, and I thought we had the potential to be very good with a passer like Bradford.
But as you point out, Kapp, there's no way in heck that I thought SB would play THIS well in his first game so soon after arriving in town and learning Norv's system. He looked so polished and confident and already has good chemistry with Diggs. I can see that he's still working things out with Rudy, but the TD pass to him was a beauty and the way he stood in and took the blow while delivering a perfect ball to Diggs was impressive.
Now comes the hard part: teams will be ready for him and our suddenly air-based offense that will be without AD. What a drastic shift in philosophy.