{"id":41003,"date":"2017-11-24T05:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=41003"},"modified":"2017-11-24T09:57:57","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T14:57:57","slug":"vikings-defeat-lions-30-23-and-move-to-9-2-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2017\/11\/24\/vikings-defeat-lions-30-23-and-move-to-9-2-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Vikings defeat Lions 30-23 and move to 9-2 record"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It was Thanksgiving Day in Detroit, but not for the Lions as the visiting Vikings ran up a 17-point lead that Detroit chipped away at, but could never quite catch up to. Adam Thielen became the first Viking receiver since Sidney Rice to gain over 1,000 yards in a season. Everson Griffin took advantage of being in the spotlight after sacking Matthew Stafford to “announce” the birth of his third child and invite fans to suggest a name for the new baby (he’ll almost certainly face a fine from the league for putting a message on his uniform). Except for the first drive of the second half, the Vikings didn’t seem to be able to get much of a rushing attack sorted out, although Latavius Murray ended up with respectable-if-not-gaudy numbers (84 yards on 20 carries) despite seeming to get stuffed on every other attempt — Jerick McKinnon actually did<\/em> get stopped behind the line on most of his runs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The officiating crew didn’t cover themselves in glory, sometimes seeming to be tossing flags at random and at other times missing pretty blatant fouls. Late in the first half, I commented to a friend on social media that the refs were getting too deeply involved in the game. 1500ESPN<\/em>‘s Matthew Coller<\/a> commented on the game:<\/p>\n

Technically Keenum broke the rules [for taunting], which do not allow players to spike the ball on an opponent, but it was on the spirit-of-the-rule edge to say the least. Keenum did take the blame for his error.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need to give the refs a chance to call that and give our team a situation where we are backed up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer made it clear that he expected this type of day from the refs, who also nearly botched a touchdown review and called several questionable penalties such as a pass interference on Xavier Rhodes and facemask on Eric Kendricks. They also missed a blatant pass interference on a deep throw toward Stefon Diggs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe almost lost our composure a couple times,\u201d Zimmer said. \u201cWe study each crew going into the game. I told them this could be like this today. They had to play clean, smart football. I probably shouldn\u2019t say anything else.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The league may want to have words with Zimmer for even hinting that there was a problem with the refs: the officiating narrative must be maintained.<\/p>\n

Update, 24 November<\/strong>: Over at the Daily Norseman<\/em>, I guess Ted Glover had a prior commitment, so Eric Thompson<\/a> handled the Stock Market Report for the Lions game, including a wee bit of chaff about those lovely folks in the zebra costumes:<\/p>\n

The referees<\/strong>: Holy hell they were awful today. I hate being \u201cthat guy\u201d that blames the refs, but the performance of Tony Corrente and his crew today was a special kind of terrible. They were the biggest contributor of Detroit\u2019s score right before halftime and consistently kept Lions drives alive with iffy calls.<\/p>\n

And will someone tell me how on God\u2019s green Earth that this was not pass interference?<\/p>\n

\n
\n

The non-call defensive pass interference on #Lions<\/a> Tavon Wilson covering #Vikings<\/a> Stefon Diggs pic.twitter.com\/BVieU8L02u<\/a><\/p>\n

— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) November 23, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n