Vikings @ Chargers

[makila]

Thursday games with a beat up team suck. I wish they wouldn't play on Thursday in general, such a short turn around.

[CharVike]

Thursday games with a beat up team suck. I wish they wouldn't play on Thursday in general, such a short turn around.

I agree with this. The Charges are beat up also. At least set the game up for both teams coming off a bye. At least they would be rested.

[VikingLord]

Is Darrisaw's knee injury new? I hadn't seen him on the injury report for that before I don't think.

He pulled himself from the Eagles game, said he hit his "snap count". Saw somewhere KOC was peeved. Apparently the wording for the injury report gets funky, for some reason they had to list it as the knee.

How do you know he pulled himself from the game? Is that something that was reported? I wonder how often that happens in pro football, because I don't think I've ever heard of an otherwise healthy player deciding he's just done playing in a particular game. If true, that is not a good sign for his future in Minnesota, and probably not anywhere else either. Talented or not, he's got to do his part or the team will struggle.

Along those lines, I didn't really notice he was out after he took himself out. Personally, I'd rather have a less talented guy who wants to play and plays hard than a more talented guy who decides his interests trump the team's interest and either doesn't give full effort or bails once he decides he no longer wants to play.

If I were KAM and what you're saying is accurate I'd be shopping him for draft picks.

[VikingsFan12345]

He pulled himself from the Eagles game, said he hit his "snap count". Saw somewhere KOC was peeved. Apparently the wording for the injury report gets funky, for some reason they had to list it as the knee.

How do you know he pulled himself from the game? Is that something that was reported? I wonder how often that happens in pro football, because I don't think I've ever heard of an otherwise healthy player deciding he's just done playing in a particular game. If true, that is not a good sign for his future in Minnesota, and probably not anywhere else either. Talented or not, he's got to do his part or the team will struggle.

Along those lines, I didn't really notice he was out after he took himself out. Personally, I'd rather have a less talented guy who wants to play and plays hard than a more talented guy who decides his interests trump the team's interest and either doesn't give full effort or bails once he decides he no longer wants to play.

If I were KAM and what you're saying is accurate I'd be shopping him for draft picks.

No team is going to want an injured prone player, remember Vikings tried to trade Cline but no team wanted him because he is injured too much so Vikings cut him

[psjordan]

How do you know he pulled himself from the game?

Apparently I heard from someone who munged the CLE game and the PHI game:

ESPN’s Kevin Seifert tweeted about Darrisaw’s status this week, “Uh oh. The Vikings added Christian Darrisaw to their injury report Wednesday and are calling him questionable for Thursday night’s game in Los Angeles. The team didn’t practice all week — just walk-throughs — so it’s not immediately clear what’s up.”

“Christian Darrisaw took regularly scheduled days off from practice before the bye and took himself out of the Browns game as he worked back from his ACL/MCL injury. But he played every snap vs. Eagles. If this were a rest day, the report would have said ‘not injury related.'”

So I guess the conclusion is that his "Questionable" status IS injury related to his knee.

I'm really getting weary of injured players, but in the big scheme I guess you have to take chances on hurt "starting talent" over healthy "backup talent" in terms of roster building.

[VikingLord]

Certain players seem to have more issues with injuries than others. Some seem like they either never get injured or are able to play through them, while others can't seem to stay healthy. JJ McCarthy is starting to appear to be in the latter group.

As far as Darrisaw is concerned, he doesn't seem to be coasting when he's on the field or gimpy, so I'm not sure what his situation is. The way I figure it, once he stepped back on the field he should have been fully healed and ready to play. If that isn't the case then he should stay off the field until he is. Not having him out there isn't a good thing but the Vikings would seem to understand that putting a player on the field who isn't fully healthy isn't the best long-term move.

As for McCarthy, it seems possible they're keeping him off the field not because he's injured, but because what they saw when he was on the field was so alarming even KOC realizes that the team's chances of winning aren't good if he's under center and ultimately KOC is judged on win-loss results. If that is the case then his injury very well could linger for as many weeks as it takes until either the Vikings are out of the playoffs or Wentz is showing up to the pre-game warmups in a wheelchair. I continue to believe there is also a very good chance we get to see Brosmer at some point if Wentz keeps making egregious mistakes and it becomes clear the game is no longer competitive. Wentz only makes sense as a starter for this team if the team wins games. If that isn't happening and McCarthy isn't healthy, KOC has nothing to lose by giving Brosmer a chance.

We'll see how things go tonight. The Chargers are an equally flawed team and I expect the Vikings to be competitive in the game. Anything less than that and it might be time for KOC to shake things up on both sides of the ball.

[ERIK the PURPLE]

Now I’m seeing O’Neal is out. Wtf? I’m really tired of this injury crap. What do we have…Pansies? How many times did Tinglehoff and Yary miss? Or any other OL for that matter.
Just shut the whole thing down. Ridiculous.

[ERIK the PURPLE]

The NFL needs to establish weight limits for Linemen. 275 lbs max. Back in the 70’s that was the max. The Human body can’t take 325-350 pounds. Too much strain on ligaments and joints.

[makila]

[Alaskan]

I think he should sit out the rest of the year with that ankle!

[VikingLord]

Injuries or not, that was an awful performance on both sides of the ball. I'm not sure what the point of Wentz continuing to go out there is. He was hurt. I don't think it excused his performance, but he was really indecisive and took a lot of sacks as a result. The offensive line didn't do him any favors, but he just wasn't seeing the field. Not sure if Brosmer could have gotten them moving but unfortunately KOC just stuck with Wentz.

McCarthy will return for the Lions game unless he got hurt trying to jump over Jefferson. With the offensive line playing like it has been, McCarthy is unlikely to fare any better than Wentz did, and more than likely he'll be even worse. The next several games will likely seal the fate of this season. If the Vikings play their cards right (or heck, even if they actually try to win games after that) they should end up with some higher draft picks. But what a waste this season has been compared to what we saw from them last year.

As far as the defense is concerned, they couldn't stop the run or the pass tonight. It is dismaying to watch opposing receivers catching balls with no Vikings defender anywhere near. I don't understand the failure to cover unless Flores doesn't think his guys can physically do that. And that run defense... This year's defense might be the worst Vikings rush defense I've ever seen. After sort of looking better last week against Barkley they reverted back to the porous group we've seen since the start of the year.

Not sure how to explain the massive drop off from last year's team. Maybe it is injuries, but tonight seemed like a lack of preparation and effort compared to the Chargers who clearly wanted to wash the taste of their last game out of their mouths.

[VikingsFan12345]

McCarthy got very lucky, can you imagine McCarthy tearing his acl because of it?

[makila]

I am still pissed. Tried to sleep it off. And it's mainly at KOC. Also the front office for the shape of the roster.

Lost a lot of respect for KOC last night. And I gained a ton of respect for Wentz. Is he a nfl qb anymore? Absolutely not. Is he any sort of answer? Absolutely not. As I've been a broken record about, there's a reason he wasn't on a roster the 1st week of August. Did he deserve to have his HC send him out there to get beat over and over and over when he clearly was in very bad shape? No. Wentz is one tough son of a ####. Most of us would have been in the fetal position in the 1st quarter. He gave everything to this team last night that he could. KOC talks about franchises ruining QBs, and you have to save players from themselves, blah blah blah. He did NONE of that last night. It was disgusting to watch. The other players on the roster saw it. They saw it on the sideline. They saw it on the field. We all saw it. He didn't give a #### what happened to the player.

If you have only ONE QB on your roster that you think you can play, then you need to find another damn QB. Brosmer should have been in after half time. End of story. What would have happened if he played bad? We lose? No ####, that was already happening.

And the defense? What's its excuse? It's almost fully healthy and just is ####. BFlo, the shine is gone. They can't do any of the basic things. Turner played HORRENDOUS. Harrison Smith is our best safety? That's pathetic.

STs? How about we try to not have penalties on every damn punt.

KAMs roster has ZERO depth.

First time I've really started to lean on the side of these aren't the guys.

[CharVike]

No sense getting POed over this. I'm more ticked about spending money on Sunday Ticket. Talk about flushing money down the toilet for nothing. KAM/KOC took the entertainment value out of this team for me. Every finger will point to backup Wentz, and yes he's bad, but this overall roster is in bad shape. KAM is supposed to be a FA wizard but I see no proof of that on the field. We can't stop the run which shows what you have upfront. He's proven he can't draft so I'm very concerned about what we have in JJM. If he's Dallas Turner level then we will throw the next 3 seasons out the window. Darrisaw played 2 series. Just tell him to take the rest of the year off and pick guys off practice squads and maybe you will find somebody. Tell O'Neil the same thing unless you can trade him for something. Give Rouse the playing time and maybe? Now it is off to face the Lions and they need to get their game up to speed if they intend to compete for the SB. Right now they are far off that mark although they will beat junk.

[CharVike]

I am still pissed. Tried to sleep it off. And it's mainly at KOC. Also the front office for the shape of the roster.

Lost a lot of respect for KOC last night. And I gained a ton of respect for Wentz. Is he a nfl qb anymore? Absolutely not. Is he any sort of answer? Absolutely not. As I've been a broken record about, there's a reason he wasn't on a roster the 1st week of August. Did he deserve to have his HC send him out there to get beat over and over and over when he clearly was in very bad shape? No. Wentz is one tough son of a ####. Most of us would have been in the fetal position in the 1st quarter. He gave everything to this team last night that he could. KOC talks about franchises ruining QBs, and you have to save players from themselves, blah blah blah. He did NONE of that last night. It was disgusting to watch. The other players on the roster saw it. They saw it on the sideline. They saw it on the field. We all saw it. He didn't give a #### what happened to the player.

If you have only ONE QB on your roster that you think you can play, then you need to find another damn QB. Brosmer should have been in after half time. End of story. What would have happened if he played bad? We loose? No ####, that was already happening.

And the defense? What's its excuse? It's almost fully healthy and just is ####. BFlo, the shine is gone. They can't do any of the basic things. Turner played HORRENDOUS. Harrison Smith is our best safety? That's pathetic.

STs? How about we try to not have penalties on every damn punt.

KAMs roster has ZERO depth.

First time I've really started to lean on the side of these aren't the guys.

Good read and I don't blame you for the feelings. What this team is doing to Wentz is ridiculous and everyone on the coaching staff should be ashamed. No sense in KOC saying anything at his press conference. I could give the script before he opens his mouth.