Thread: Matt Birk

AFC Wild Card Game Pats vs Ravens

On the first play from scrimmage, Matt Birk makes the snap and stands up the defensive nosetackle. Ray Rice blasts through the hole into the second level and on to an 83 yard run and a touchdown.

Compare this to Sullivan, his replacement for the Vikings, who often doesn't stand up the nose of the 3-4, and Peterson is left with no hole.

No doubt Birk is a good player, but we had to move on eventually.
Sully is not as good as Birk yet, but its not a huge drop off.

IMO the games where the OL has struggled in the running game Herrera has been the been the biggest culprit.

There is no doubt we miss Birk no matter what some guy on this site tries to say.

marstc09 wrote:

There is no doubt we miss Birk no matter what some guy on this site tries to say.

Yes we miss him no one is doubting that. Obviously some growing pains with a young guy in there.

Go back and look at the games where the O-line has struggled opening holes and the biggest culprit has been Hererra not Sullivan so while Sully is not as good as Birk its not like he is killing us he has filled in admirally.

vikings_fan66 wrote:

marstc09 wrote:

There is no doubt we miss Birk no matter what some guy on this site tries to say.

Yes we miss him no one is doubting that. Obviously some growing pains with a young guy in there.

Go back and look at the games where the O-line has struggled opening holes and the biggest culprit has been Hererra not Sullivan so while Sully is not as good as Birk its not like he is killing us he has filled in admirally.

It is more than just Anthony. Load is a rookie and has made some mistakes. Hutch has been hurting all year with that back and shoulder. McKinnie has had his head in his ass at times. This line as a whole needs to step up or we will lose.

Matt Birk needed a new challenge to revive his career, his play after his injury and surgery a few years back had been declining, i can't blame the Vikings, nor can i blame Birk for splitting up.. It was the right thing to do..

Birk is a class act and a good football player which i will always respect..

Minniman wrote:

AFC Wild Card Game Pats vs Ravens

On the first play from scrimmage, Matt Birk makes the snap and stands up the defensive nosetackle. Ray Rice blasts through the hole into the second level and on to an 83 yard run and a touchdown.

Compare this to Sullivan, his replacement for the Vikings, who often doesn't stand up the nose of the 3-4, and Peterson is left with no hole.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA,

All by himself huh? Did you watch how many times they gave ole Matty B help.

How about the play he missed his assignment and fell flat on his ass? Or the 3 when he got blew up and wound up on his ass in the backfield?

I for one love that we can now run screens.

Comeon my friend, you gotta do better than that if you want to prove that Sully isn't gonna be just another great in a long line of Vikings Centers.

marstc09 wrote:

There is no doubt we miss Birk no matter what some guy on this site tries to say.

Gotta agree. Our current Center plays like shit.

I sure do miss all the delayed blitzes up the middle that we got used to over the last couple of years though.

And screens. I hate that we now have a Center that can actually pull to the outside. I missed all those "Center of the field" screens we used to run that didn't work.

skum wrote:

Matt Birk needed a new challenge to revive his career, his play after his injury and surgery a few years back had been declining, i can't blame the Vikings, nor can i blame Birk for splitting up.. It was the right thing to do..

Birk is a class act and a good football player which i will always respect..

All kidding aside. Love your last line.

Marrdro wrote:

Minniman wrote:

AFC Wild Card Game Pats vs Ravens

On the first play from scrimmage, Matt Birk makes the snap and stands up the defensive nosetackle. Ray Rice blasts through the hole into the second level and on to an 83 yard run and a touchdown.

Compare this to Sullivan, his replacement for the Vikings, who often doesn't stand up the nose of the 3-4, and Peterson is left with no hole.

All by himself huh? Did you watch how many times they gave ole Matty B help.

Not all by himself, but interior line play often has combination blocks, so that is par for the course.

How about the play he missed his assignment and fell flat on his ass? Or the 3 when he got blew up and wound up on his ass in the backfield?

Since I posted after the first play of the game to make a point about that play as it contrasts to the Vikings line play, no.

I agree with many Vikings fans that Birk did not play well for the Vikings after his injury. He would make a good block and then just get blown out on the next play. Of course, on some plays he was asked to pull and the back didn't come in and protect that hole. That was not Birk's fault even though the guy across from him at the snap made the play.

Come on my friend, you gotta do better than that if you want to prove that Sully isn't gonna be just another great in a long line of Vikings Centers.

I do not know how good Sullivan will be. I do not see him standing up the nose as often as I would like, and daylight at the 1&2 holes have been almost nonexistent at times this season.

There have been problems at right guard, and linemen have been playing injured, but sometimes it is just the ability to get under the pads and taking the defender out of the play.

On another board, I broke down a left sweep play in which Sullivan was supposed to pull and could not get to the point of attack. I wanted to see if Sullivan and Loadholt were the problem as newbies to the line. If someone who did not know line play was looking at the play, they would see that Sullivan did not complete his assignment, but it was McKinnie getting blown of the line on a running play that caused the breakdown. McKinnie and the defender actually blocked Sullivan off from the play. Rice and Sauce also had poor downfield blocks. On that play, there were three breakdowns and none of them were Sullivan or Loadholt. On the play, Peterson was hit for a loss of two yards and a fumble.

I will say that Sullivan had a good seal block on Peterson's 23 yard quick snap run at the end of the first quarter against the Giants. I would like to see more of that.