Tag: Chandon Sullivan

Referee Tra Blake explains 2 Chandon Sullivan TDs called back

The explanations make sense, but they don’t answer the root of the issue

There was some frustrating officiating on Saturday afternoon, especially if you are a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. Not only were there some poor calls, but most importantly, the Vikings had two touchdowns on fumble recoveries by Chandon Sullivan that were arguably unfair calls.

One of those was Michael Pittman Jr. who was deemed to have stopped forward progress and the other was late in the fourth quarter when Deon Jackson fumbled it while standing up in traffic and the whistle was blown dead.

The PWFA pool report came out where they interviewed referee Tra Blake and the NFL’s SVP of Officiating Walt Anderson and they walked through what happened, and it all made complete sense. Pittman Jr. was deemed to have stopped moving forward and they thought Jackson was down (when it was clear he wasn’t).

Surprisingly though, nobody asked why.

Why was the whistle blown so quickly on both? That’s the issue here but the question wasn’t asked and quite frankly, it’s disappointing that it wasn’t. That’s what everyone wants to know.

In the end, it didn’t make a difference as the Vikings still scored enough points to win the football game.

Vikings cheated out of crucial touchdown by horrid officiating

The Vikings were on their way to the biggest comeback in NFL history. Then, bad officiating happened.

With 3:28 left in Saturday’s game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Indianapolis Colts, Indy running back Deon Jackson clearly fumbled at his own 38-yard line. Vikings cornerback Chandon Sullivan picked the ball up, and appeared to score a return touchdown. As the score was 36-28 Colts, that touchdown would have given the Vikings a decent chance at the largest comeback in NFL history, as they were once down 33-0 late in the first half.

However, the officiating crew, led by referee Tra Blake, made a major mistake in whistling the play dead early. The original ruling was that the ball was down by contact, which it obviously wasn’t. The Vikings got the ball upon review, but they were cheated out of the touchdown.

We’ll see how things play out as a result of that call.

Studs and Duds from Vikings 28-24 week 3 win over Lions

Check out the studs and duds from Sunday’s game against the Lions

The Minnesota Vikings figured out how to win a game in which they didn’t play very well. The final score was 28-24 over the Detroit Lions and coming out of the game, it feels like the Vikings stole it from the Lions.

Throughout the game, there were players on both sides that played both well and poorly. Take a look at our studs and duds from Sunday’s clash with the Lions

Vikings 2022 season preview: Cornerback

We continue our season preview series with the cornerbacks

In a similar vein to how fans felt when Mike Zimmer took over for Leslie Frazier, the excitement is palpable for the beginning of the Kevin O’Connell era.

While the team prepares for the season, we are doing the same at the Vikings Wire. We will be producing previews breaking down both each position and the team as a whole.

Today, we continue with our preview series by talking about the defensive line.

Quarterback Preview
Running Back Preview
Wide Receiver preview
Tight End Preview
Offensive Tackle Preview
Defensive Line Preview
Outside Linebacker/Edge Preview
Middle Linebacker Preview

2 former Green Bay Packers excited for first game against them

Both Smith and Sullivan are ready to play their former team

The Minnesota Vikings have made a habit of bringing in former Green Bay Packers and this team is no different.

The Minnesota Vikings have had some high-profile signings in the past. While Brett Favre is obviously the biggest of them all, the Vikings have also signed Greg Jennings and Ryan Longwell who both played major roles on the Vikings during their time with the franchise.

This offseason, the Vikings added two more players from their biggest rival and both of them are on the defensive side of the football.

Chandon Sullivan and Za’Darius Smith were both important parts of the Packers defense and will play their first game against their former team on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Sullivan told reporters that he will be “full of emotions” when playing his former team. The fifth-year player spent the last three seasons with the Packers where he played in all 49 regular season games with 20 starts.

The focus is on Smith, as the Packers released him despite being one of the NFL’s best sack artists. The game has him excited.

“Very excited, man,” Smith said. “I can’t wait. I’ve been preparing for this time to come for a while now, so it’s finally come, and now I’m ready. They did (release me), and I came to the other side. But you know at the end of the day, it’s a game and we all get to play and do something that we love, and I just can’t wait to go against my old team.’’

The game will be full of emotions as it is a major rivalry in the NFL but for these two, it will mean just a bit more.

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Vikings players currently slated for free agency in 2023

Multiple key starters are set to become unrestricted free agents in 2023

The Minnesota Vikings are juggling multiple one-year contracts in an effort to potentially compete for a Super Bowl in 2022. They’ve essentially kicked the can on future headaches in hopes of reaping a present-day reward.

But out of sight doesn’t necessarily mean out of mind.

This is the time of the year where general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah will start to fade more into the background making roster adjustments with both the present and future in mind. The Vikings are going to have some seriously tough decisions ahead that includes multiple starters.

Keep in mind, they’ll have to work within the confines of potentially extending Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson to massive deals at some point, assuming they plan on going in that direction.

In his first year as general manager, Adofo-Mensah managed to keep the core of the team intact for the most part. But that certainly won’t be the case after this season.

Here are the current contracts set to expire in 2023.

Chandon Sullivan putting doubters on notice ahead of Packers matchup

Sullivan has big plans for 2022.

Minnesota Vikings cornerback Chandon Sullivan spent the last three years living in the shadows with the Green Bay Packers. It’s a quarterback-driven league, and most of the attention was on the Hall of Fame combination of quarterback Aaron Rodgers and receiver Davante Adams.

But for a player like Sullivan, it goes even deeper than that.

He was in the shadow of the shadows as a slot corner playing on the same field as Packers standout defensive back Jaire Alexander. The NFL is all about matchups, and the vast majority of the marquee matchups occur on the outside.

Sullivan has been a solid contributor at the slot cornerback position for years, and most non-Packers fans haven’t even heard of him. And even if they have heard of him, most haven’t given him the credit he deserves as one of the key cogs in the wheel defensively for previous teams.

Granted, he knows all about being overlooked considering he went undrafted in 2018. He’s had to scratch and claw his way into a position to even be on an NFL football field.

Nothing came easy.

So there’s a different mindset at play here when he talks about not getting the respect he deserves. It would be wise to heed his words.

Sullivan ranked 10th among 41 slot corners in 2021 in yards allowed per snap, per Pro Football Focus. So his talent and abilities have clearly been underestimated.

Of course, he’ll have an opportunity to prove it when facing his former team in Week 1 of the 2022 regular season. The Vikings are slated to host Rodgers and the Packers right out of the gates.

After the schedule was released on Thursday, Sullivan put out this tweet.

If there was ever a game for a defensive player to make a statement, it would definitely be that one.

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Luke Kuechly believes Vikings will have NFL’s best secondary in 2022

What a dramatic turnaround this would be.

Minnesota Vikings fans are crossing their fingers and hoping the defensive secondary is merely good after watching them get carved like salami last season.

And then there are those like future Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly, who believes the team has done enough to have the NFL’s best secondary in 2022.

“I’m going to go with the Vikings,” Kuechly said, when asked who has the NFL’s best secondary during an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter. “Harrison Smith, Patrick Peterson, two young rookies—Lewis Cine out of Georgia, and they drafted [Andrew] Booth out of Clemson.

“I think when you talk about young guys coming into the league, I think the one important thing is where do they learn from and who do they learn from. You learn from two guys that have played at All-Pro levels for such a long time.”

Even at 33 years old, Smith is coming off a Pro Bowl season with the Vikings. He’s a highly-intelligent player in the defensive backfield, who has yet to grow out of the willingness to lower his helmet and lay the boom on ball-carriers.

So he’s clearly still capable of playing at an elite level.

And while there has been some noticeable slippage in Peterson’s game, he’s still a solid starting cornerback in the league with a treasure trove of experience and knowledge in his brain. When it comes to mentors, it doesn’t get any better than a guy that is likely Canton-bound at the end of his football career.

No one can argue the fact that the Vikings secondary will look completely different in 2022. Cine is a violent playmaker on the backend that should fit like a glove next to Smith, while Booth has the footwork and ball-tracking abilities to hit the ground running at the next level across from Peterson.

“I’m excited to see young with some old. Patrick Peterson, great ball production, and Harrison Smith, kind of a two-way player—can play in the run game and also has great ball production in his career with interceptions and forced fumbles,” said Kuechly.

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Resetting Vikings’ depth chart at cornerback after 2022 NFL draft

Andrew Booth Jr. will play a big role immediately.

The Minnesota Vikings doubled down on their efforts to boost the defensive backfield by kicking off the last two days of the 2022 NFL draft with selections at cornerback.

Granted, the team made some noteworthy moves in free agency, including re-signing Patrick Peterson and agreeing to a deal with slot corner Chandon Sullivan. But those two moves alone were never going to be good enough to stop opposing quarterbacks from torching the backend of their defense.

The ability to formulate some sort of resistance in the secondary is the key to unlocking the entire defense for the Vikings in 2022. If defensive backs can consistently hold up in coverage, it’ll give more time for Ed Donatell’s pass-rushing hounds to unleash pain and misery on opposing offenses up front.

The injection of youth wasn’t just needed at safety, where the team now has Harrison Smith, Lewis Cine and Camryn Bynum surveying the backfield. It was much-needed at cornerback as well.

Vikings 2022 NFL draft preview: Where does Minnesota stand at CB?

The Vikings should be aggressive at cornerback

There’s no need in beating around the bush when it comes to this year’s 2022 NFL draft preview. We’re getting right to the main event, and for the Minnesota Vikings, it all starts with the cornerback position.

It’s no surprise that everyone from mock draft experts to couch analysts still have the team taking a corner with the No. 12 overall pick.

The secondary was burnt toast on a weekly basis last season, and yet, instead of throwing the toast away entirely, general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has opted to just scrape off some of the charred crust and put it right back on the plate.

There’s still work to do in the draft, and fans are hopeful the first-year GM adds another playmaker to the defensive backfield sooner rather than later.