Oct 7th 2008 9:45AM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Filed under: Vikings, NFC North
Anyone who watched Reggie Bush glide into the end zone in the fourth quarter last night probably wondered why in the world the Vikings would let him touch the ball. Bush spent the second half using punt returns the way a painter uses a canvas so why wouldn’t the Vikes just put the ball out of bounds and try to stop the mistake-prone Saints offense?
According to Brad Childress, that’s what they intended to do. He laid the blame on punter Chris Kluwe.
“Both of those kicks are supposed to be out of bounds and when you say to somebody kick the ball out of bounds, that’s what you expect to happen. That’s what I expect to happen with a professional football kicker…If he can’t do that, I’ll find someone that can kick the ball out of bounds.”
If the call was to kick out of bounds then Kluwe has to put the ball out of bounds. Still, I’m not sure how wise is it for Childress to publicly rake one player over the coals. There were other guys on the field for Bush’s punt returns and when Pierre Thomas nearly broke a pair of kickoff returns which points to general issues on the special teams.
By directing blame at Kluwe, Childress may be trying to deflect some criticism from himself. His team pulled this one out but it was there for the Saints because Childress’ offensive play calling remained predicated on minimizing return on gift turnovers. But there’s no scapegoat for those issues.
(H/T )
