How To Lose a Football Game

Let me start out by saying I am a fan of Jared Allen, the defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings. But the guy has to get his head screwed on straight if he is going to help his team win some games. In the teams first game of this 2012 season, he was called for being in the neutral zone on a play he got a sack on. He lost the sack, and also lost a spot to stand up as a leader. Instead of saying something like "I need to watch the ball closer and not give the refs the option to giving me a penalty that hurts the team", he goes on to complain that it shouldn't be a penalty. Now, given, it was a VERY close call. I wasn't surprised that it was called, and I wouldn't have been surprised if it wasn't called. But if the guy is going to be the leader of our defense like he should be, he needs to say the right thing regardless of what he actually feels about the refs call.

And then there was another penalty in the Vikings 2nd game, in which Jared hit the QB after he went out of bounds. Now, again, it was kind of a close play, but Andrew Luck was obviously running out of bounds. You NEVER go after a QB like that on the sideline when he is running out of bounds. It's going to be called. And the fact that he made contact, it will always be a penalty. I don't have an issue with Jared going all out trying to make a play, that is what makes him a great player. But, that leadership thing is again the issue. Did Jared fess up and say he let the team down, like a good leader should have said? No, he didn't. Here is his quote: "I still don't think it's a penalty," Allen said. "They can say what they want ... I didn't even hit him with my shoulder pads. I hit him with my arm. This is football, I thought." Yes, Jared, you hit a QB with your arm, while he was out of bounds. That is a penalty. And that was another opportunity for you to pull up your big boy pants and be the leader this defense needs.