End zone view .gifs of every Vikings dropback Week 3 against

[Skolcanada]

http://www.reddit.com/r/minnesotaviking ... back_week/

Not mine. Just thought it was good in depth analysis.

[Leafman]

http://www.reddit.com/r/minnesotaviking ... back_week/

Not mine. Just thought it was good in depth analysis.

Excellent stuff. The question is, do people have the patience and discipline to look at every GFY and analyze the plays for themselves before forming their opinions about Kalil's actual performance instead of just joining in on the "Kalil sucks" groupthink pile-on?

LEAFMAN THE PURPLE FAN

[Skolcanada]

That's my thought too. I'm hoping this is done for future games. Love the angles.

[chicagopurple]

the other big question would be that if you really do think he sucks....where is our better option at that position?? I don't see it. It IS an important question because now its all about Teddy and we dont want our star of the future becoming a skittish QB with post-traumatic stress syndrome........

[BGM]

the other big question would be that if you really do think he sucks....where is our better option at that position?? I don't see it. It IS an important question because now its all about Teddy and we dont want our star of the future becoming a skittish QB with post-traumatic stress syndrome........

My issue with Kalil is that he has struggled that past two seasons, and has not had the positive effect he had as a rookie. He is NOT a bum, but he is also not an elite LT, which is what I expected him to become. I think he can be, but I have doubts about the coaching (which have been longstanding with me) and doubts about whether he can overcome whatever psychological blocks have been thrown up in his way. If he does, then the sky's the limit. We'll see.

[DK Sweets]

When you break down every play, you can see that he's a good player. I've said this before, but he's faced some of the best rushers in the league. It took about 5 years before Loadholt gained consistency (watch him on those plays and you'll be impressed). I think a lot of people are so worried about the sky falling that every bad play is amplified.

[PurpleKoolaid]

Excellent stuff. The question is, do people have the patience and discipline to look at every GFY and analyze the plays for themselves before forming their opinions about Kalil's actual performance instead of just joining in on the "Kalil sucks" groupthink pile-on?

LEAFMAN THE PURPLE FAN

What other word would you describe Kalil's play the past 2 years? Sucks may be a way to describe it, him being a bum may be another. Good isnt one of them. Average might be, but that's kin of hard to stomach with a 4th overall pick.

[DK Sweets]

What other word would you describe Kalil's play the past 2 years? Sucks may be a way to describe it, him being a bum may be another. Good is one of them. Average might be, but that's kin of hard to stomach with a 4th overall pick.

Here's your answer, Leafman.

[BGM]

Here's your answer, Leafman.

I find that patently unfair. Kalil has played less than stellar and seems to have regressed since his rookie season. I don't think there is anyone here who could disagree with that. Word choice notwithstanding Kalil has definitely underperformed the last two seasons. It isn't groupthink, it isn't unfair, it is a serious critique of an NFL player who was chosen 4th overall in the NFL draft, and it does not seem out of line to say that his play has sucked a bit these past two seasons. At the very least, it has definitely not met expectations. Unless you believe what he has done on the field is All Pro caliber. I don't.

If you want to discuss whether he is struggling with the schemes, the assignments, his technique, his psychology - those lead to possibly fruitful discussions. But I tire of the marginalization of those with whom we do not agree.

[DK Sweets]

I find that patently unfair. Kalil has played less than stellar and seems to have regressed since his rookie season. I don't think there is anyone here who could disagree with that. Word choice notwithstanding Kalil has definitely underperformed the last two seasons. It isn't groupthink, it isn't unfair, it is a serious critique of an NFL player who was chosen 4th overall in the NFL draft, and it does not seem out of line to say that his play has sucked a bit these past two seasons. At the very least, it has definitely not met expectations. Unless you believe what he has done on the field is All Pro caliber. I don't.

If you want to discuss whether he is struggling with the schemes, the assignments, his technique, his psychology - those lead to possibly fruitful discussions. But I tire of the marginalization of those with whom we do not agree.

What's unfair is saying that the player sucks or that he's a bum. If you look at those plays, he has more good plays than bad plays, and a lot of average plays. He might not be the once-in-a-decade player we had hoped for, but when you look at the players drafted around him, (RG3, Trent Richardson, Justin Blackmon, Morris Claiborne, Mark Barron, Stephen Gilmore) only two players are performing better: Luck and Kuechly. But I'm sure EVERYBODY knew Kuechly was going to be this good, right?

Kalil played well as a rookie (people talk about how bad PFF has him ranked right now - he was 6th in those same ranking his rookie year), and regressed last year with an injury and pneumonia. This year he's playing in a new system against elite competition. Can we at least give the guy 3 full seasons and before we say he's average at best?

As for the comment on it not being groupthink: I guarantee you most of the people that are so worried about Kalil have no idea what he's doing on 95% of the snaps. A bad play flashes, and he's had too many, but he's not as bad as people are making him out to be. You realize that when you look at the combination of Robert Quinn, Chandler Jones, Cam Jordan, and Junior Galette, every one of those guys had 11.5 sacks or more? Thats 4 of last year's top 10 in sack totals and people want to talk about how he's a "bum" because he's allowed 3 sacks and 10 hurries? Well, guess what? These guys make a lot of tackles look bad.

As I said earlier, it takes time to build consistency. He hasn't reached his ceiling and has shown too many flashes of brilliance for people to be riding him this hard. I tire of the marginalization of a player who doesn't deserve it.

[Mothman]

Words like "sucks" and "bum" paint a more extreme picture and consequently, end up being divisive, as does a phrase like '"Kalil sucks" groupthink pile-on". If we keep going down that road, we'll end up right where the board was with Ponder a year ago. I don't think anybody wants that.

Brian has a point about marginalizing individuals with different opinions and DKSweets has a point about marginalizing a player whose performance is frustratingly inconsistent but certainly not awful. If we try to avoid lumping each other into groups, keep our focus on football and try to acknowledge that extreme descriptions of a player's performance are rarely the best fit, we'll probably all end up having more productive discussions and we'll enjoy this place more.

That's my take anyway.

[fiestavike]

Words like "sucks" and "bum" paint a more extreme picture and consequently, end up being divisive, as does a phrase like '"Kalil sucks" groupthink pile-on". If we keep going down that road, we'll end up right where the board was with Ponder a year ago. I don't think anybody wants that.

Brian has a point about marginalizing individuals with different opinions and DKSweets has a point about marginalizing a player whose performance is frustratingly inconsistent but certainly not awful. If we try to avoid lumping each other into groups, keep our focus on football and try to acknowledge that extreme descriptions of a player's performance are rarely the best fit, we'll probably all end up having more productive discussions and we'll enjoy this place more.

That's my take anyway.

Good call. I am going to try to be more mindful in my criticism of players that I don't use that kind of terminology.

[Leafman]

I'm looking forward to this week's gifs ... from what I could see on TV, Kalil played very well on nearly every down today.

LEAFMAN THE PURPLE FAN