I can't believe no one has started this yet!(If they have I am sorry and I haven't seen it) Did anyone see this? The last play of the game Darren Sharper Intercepted it and the game was over. Instead of falling though, he tried to score. DURING THE PLAY, Kleinsasser (#40) and some others came out on the field and hit a packer invovled with the play. There was a fight too. The league has got to do something. Kleinsasser and the others need to be suspended for the rest of the year. What if the guy woulda got hurt? What would have happened?
As soon as Sharper started trying to return that INT, I knew a fight would break out. I'm sure the Vikings thought he was trying to run up the score. If I'm Mike Sherman, I'm pissed. Sharper risked a potential football for the glorification of his own name and to boost his statistics. Unacceptable behavior. I don't blame the Vikings for being pissed.
At first I thought the running was a "victory lap" and that he would only run 20 yds or so. As he kept going I started thinking that should he go all the way there would be a fight. What he did was borderline uncalled for, if he would have tried to pitch the ball or should he have scored I would have thought it was too much, but he did just fall down at the end. I can see where the Vikes were a little pissed, but I did not think it was worthy of the near riot that ensued.
Correct. Hell, the Packers got the whole argument about the Sapp hit that it happened during a play and it was clean, well, this is the same thing. You don't stop competeting until the whistle blows. Actually, I disagree with that, and thought it was pretty ****ty (this coming from a huge Packer fan), but not worth the **** that went on afterwards.
If he had a clear path to the endzone than maybe I'd understand why he did it but he simply picked off a hail mary. And tried to take the distance. I think it was uncalled for I've seen that same situation many times and thats the first that I've seen when the guy actually tries to take it all the way. What did sherman have to say about this??? I think what Sapp did was not nearly as bad as what Green Bay pulled last night. But whats with Hovan barking at Farve again??? I dont get it I think he wants the same rivalarly that farve has with sapp i guess
What Sapp did isn't nearly comparable. Sapp did something, that while I object to it, is understandable. He didn't try to purposefully hurt Clinton. Sharper, on the other hand, tried to rub the nose of the Vikings in the loss. He broke the rules of etiquette and the "unstated rules" of football, and sports in general.
You have to remember that Minnesota beat GB a few weeks back and I am sure they rubbed their nose in it... It is payback.
Perhaps, but not on national TV in front of the whole country to see. I don't know if Minnesota players did do anything, but if they did, I doubt it was on such a grand scale. Too bad, b/c it took away from an outstanding game and a great final drive by Favre.
Hovan said after the game that he went to go shake hands with Favre, but Favre just started jawing him while standing in the middle of the coaches, hence Hovan starts barking back. Can't wait til Vikes v Pack next year
Kleinsasser pushed one guy with two hands in the chest and then there was alot of bumping, not sure what you guys call fights but it was a push and shove that's it!!!
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=221208009 "Packers receiver Javon Walker, who was deep on defense on the final play, was clipped from behind and then stomped on." How sweet.
seems like there was alot of dodgyness from both teams http://www.startribune.com/stories/510/3521623.html The more film the Vikings watched Monday, the angrier they got. Back and forth went the tape, each instance revealing a new twist to their postgame brawl Sunday night with the Green Bay Packers. They saw Vikings teammates Matt Birk and Randy Moss walloped during Darren Sharper's 66-yard interception return on the game's final play, Birk by defensive lineman Steve Warren and Moss by linebacker Nate Wayne. They saw Packers safety Marques Anderson diving into the legs of receiver Chris Walsh, who earlier had slammed Anderson with a hit of his own, and tight end Jim Kleinsasser admittedly leaving the bench to retaliate. Most of all, they saw the frustrations of a 26-22 loss explode into a nationally televised fracas, one that almost certainly will result in fines and possibly suspensions later this week. The NFL's supervisor of officials said Monday that the play that started it all should have been whistled dead, an admission met with little consolation at Winter Park. Instead, many expressed sentiments similar to Kleinsasser, who is among those who faces punishment. "The whole thing was to protect my teammate and friend," he said. "You let somebody do that right in front of you, to someone you care about, you're not much of a man, I don't think." Vikings coach Mike Tice spoke Monday morning with Packers coach Mike Sherman, with each agreeing to address the situation with his own team. Tice said, "I don't condone that type of thing, although I'm not a guy to back down from any challenge and I don't want my players to back down from any challenge." A number of Vikings players lashed out Monday against a Packers team they said taunted and jeered at them as the game concluded. "This rivalry just got turned up about 10 or 12 notches," defensive tackle Chris Hovan said. "It was on them. It wasn't even on us. You see what kind of team they are. You saw what they were doing. They were taunting our bench. "What, were they trying to make a statement on us? That's not going to happen. You're not going to make a statement on the Minnesota Vikings. I don't care who you are. Green Bay Packers? Shoot. We don't care. You're not going to make a statement on us. You're going to pick a fight? Somebody's going to get knocked out." Television cameras caught Packers quarterback Brett Favre making a lewd gesture toward Hovan during their postgame argument, while Hovan denied returning the favor. "I was pointing my index finger," he said. Of the fans who threw garbage at him on the field, he added: "Really good people in Wisconsin, let me tell you. Classy people, man." Tensions reached a boiling point after Walsh caught a 17-yard pass and then kneeled with one second remaining in the game. Earlier this season, Tice sought clarification to NFL Rule 7, Section 4, Article 1(a), and league officials said that by kneeling, a player could render the play dead and allow his team to call a timeout. Walsh did so, but because the whistle was not blown, Green Bay safety Antuan Edwards slammed into him. "Until the play is over," Sherman said, "[Walsh] had the football. He's a viable threat with the football, so I don't see how [Edwards] could have done it any other way." Jim Daopoulos, the league's supervisor of officials, told the Associated Press the whistle should have been blown immediately after Walsh kneeled. "Yes, we missed that one," he said. Edwards' hit enraged the Vikings' sideline. "You don't lay licks like that," Hovan said. "That just infuriated everybody." On the following play, Sharper intercepted Daunte Culpepper's desperation pass and started running towards the Vikings end zone. The return was admonished by Sherman, as Green Bay would have won as soon as Sharper went down. Walsh, who declined to comment, exacted revenge during Sharper's runback, tackling Anderson. That move brought Packers defensive lineman Cletidus Hunt off his team's bench, and Hunt sprinted all the way across the field while the play was still live, observed but unstopped by an official he ran past. Birk was tussling with Warren at the time, and said he noticed Hunt approaching him from the corner of his eye. "He's coming to light me up," Birk said. "I saw him and . . . he stopped. He said, 'I want to shake your hand.' Yeah, right." The Packers were outraged when Tampa Bay's Warren Sapp ended left tackle Chad Clifton's season with a vicious hit during an interception return in Green Bay's loss to the Buccaneers Nov. 24. "That's real classy," Birk said. "During [Sharper's return], they basically tried to do to me and five other guys what Warren Sapp did to their guy." According to Kleinsasser, meanwhile, Anderson dove at the back of Walsh's legs after Walsh rose from the ground. Kleinsasser stepped onto the field -- after the play was over, he said -- and shoved Anderson to the ground. Anderson told the Wisconsin State Journal: "I pushed [Walsh] off of me, and then all of a sudden, everyone from their bench started coming in. But that's Minnesota for you. They're sore losers." The 2003 season is only nine months away.
Maybe he knew someone who was betting on the game (or he was betting on the game, tsk tsk). If he had run that back for a TD then GB would have covered the spread.
sonny - nice call as a Vikes fan, i can't wait for next year, mostly to see if we can win a close game, but secondly to see hovan v favrer. (and also to see if we can screw another draft) as a Australian, i feel ashamed people have labelled that a fight, that was bravado pigeon chested push and shove at best, you see better fights here in the pub on friday night between two women, let only in aussie rules footy.
Hey Mike Sherman... Thanks for making me look like a complete fool in defending your actions against Warren Sapp! What a freakin' hypocritical oaf.
Last I checked, Clifton didn't have the football in that play. It's not like Edwards hit Walsh 15 yards from the play when he didn't have anything to do with it.
