Friday, April 26, 2013

Lightning Round - 042613

Same as yesterday -- not much time today, so a few quick thoughts:
  • I have no problem with sending Byron Smith to prison, since he essentially executed the two (likely) meth-head teenagers who were in the process of burglarizing his house. But to charge him with Murder One? Really? I don't know how you can premeditate killing people who break into your house. Dude might be psycho, but he's not psychic.
  • I'll say this much -- Vikings GM Rick Spielman is aggressive. Giving up half your remaining draft picks to take a 3rd guy in the first round suggests that the Vikings think they are closer to winning big than most anyone else does. Time will tell. I do like all three guys the Vikings took, but I wonder if the price was too high.
  • I suspect that Datone Jones will be a nice addition for the Packers. He certainly looks the part and you can't have enough pass rushers, especially when you play in a division with Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler.
  • Are we really going to get involved in Syria? By talking about red lines, we almost have to. If you think Iraq was bad and Afghanistan was ill-considered, just try wading into a civil war.

7 comments:

First Ringer said...

I'd like the Vikings moves more if they had addressed their middle linebacker needs. Instead, they've mortgaged Herschel Walker-lite on a wide receiver.

They're about at the salary cap limit, so unless they're pulling a guy off the street to play MLB, I'm not sure who is suiting up at the position Week 1.

Bike Bubba said...

My take on the draft is that 18 teams got themselves a guy that could, like the Tide O-Line, blow Te'o off the line, and hence he's kinda needless. I wish the guy well, but to succeed in the NFL, he might have to see if his body will hold 260 lbs of muscle.

And the shooter? I'm thinking that the prosecutor is arguing that the extreme force used on the teens (probably oxy, not meth, but whatever) indicates that the man's violence went beyond what is explained by adrenaline.

Kinda like a guy I knew told me that a high school friend of his was in prison because she'd shot her husband seven times with a revolver. Since she'd reloaded, the prosecutors knew that it wasn't just adrenaline going on there.

3john2 said...

Sounds as if they Vikes were planning to trade up in the 2nd round anyway to get a receiver, and that would have cost some chips as well. I think there was going to be a run on receivers early in the 2nd given the way the picks were falling; they moved pre-emptively to get the guy they wanted. I believe they have 3 impact players and there was no guarantee that "quantity" was going to win out over quality. Plus, I think every draft pick from last year made the team; they have plenty of young bodies on hand.

As for Patterson, there are question marks but I think he comes in much like the Pack's R. Cobb in his rookie year; loads of raw skill and game-breaking ability but raw. Cobb caused quite a few fits for teams that year, as I recall. I don't think Ted Thompson is looking at the VIkings' first round and gloating about the Vikings "losing" all those picks.

3john2 said...

As for Syria, there's been a lot of scouting reports and mock drafts but still hard to to identify who's going to be a bust - and who's going to go "boom". I know, however, that when you're playing in the tough Mid-East Conference that features all those pistol and "run-and-shoot" offenses you need to be sure both your draft strategy and exit strategy are good. I just wish more there was more coverage on the "Entrance" strategy.

Mr. D said...

As for Patterson, there are question marks but I think he comes in much like the Pack's R. Cobb in his rookie year; loads of raw skill and game-breaking ability but raw. Cobb caused quite a few fits for teams that year, as I recall.

Cobb was a lot more polished than Patterson. To me, Patterson's a boom or bust pick. The Vikings have a history of taking risks and sometimes they've really paid off. We'll see, I guess.

I don't think Ted Thompson is looking at the VIkings' first round and gloating about the Vikings "losing" all those picks.

I don't think Ted Thompson worries much about what the Vikings do anyway -- he's thinking about his own team at this point. And I like Eddie Lacy in the 2nd round.

Bike Bubba said...

You know, now that I think about it, we did wander into civil wars (Sunni/Shia, Taliban/etc..) in Afghanistan. It's just that the ones we wandered into weren't exactly hot.

Mr. D said...

You know, now that I think about it, we did wander into civil wars (Sunni/Shia, Taliban/etc..) in Afghanistan.

Didn't wander, really. Strode right in.