The Sports Ramble is the weekly sports blog of Erik Ritland. The St. Paul, Minnesota journalist and musician is the founder of Rambling On. Learn more about us on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or our website.
In today’s Sports Ramble the Vikings recover and the ever controversial Ndomukong Suh.
Let’s play!
Unlike last week against the 49ers the Vikings actually came to play. The beleaguered Lions team that they defeated look less and less likely to make the playoffs (as only I predicted) every week.
Impressively, the Vikings won the game by clearly playing like the better team. Sure, the Lions made some crucial mistakes that cost them, but there were no weak spots on the Vikings. Their defensive line and linebackers assaulted Matthew Stafford and stopped the run, their defensive backs played to their expectations, Teddy was cool and in control, Adrian was Adrian, and the offensive line even looked okay.
They’ll still only win 7 or 8 games this year, but glimmers of hope like Sunday are a good indication that they’re on the right track.
Why is everybody always picking on me?
Ndomukong Suh always seems to get himself into trouble. In week one he was accused of kicking off Redskins running back Alfred Morris’ helmet (although slowed down you can see that he’s trying to step over it). Now this week he’s in trouble for ignoring play calls and just doing his own thing, causing confusion and chaos for the Dolphins defensive line.
With these troubles and numbers that are abysmal, I wonder if Miami is regretting signing the controversy prone Suh to such a large contract. I’m sure his play will rebound but the headaches he cause may just not be worth it. Call it the Dolphins curse or something. They always seem to have locker room issues.
Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.