Tag: Kyle Rudolph

Kyle Rudolph claims media member sold gloves he wore on winning TD against Saints

The gloves Kyle Rudolph wore when he made the catch Sunday to beat the Saints were sold by an unknown media member according to the tight end.

This will go in the file with the vanishing jersey of Tom Brady after Super Bowl LI. Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph says a media member — who he did not recognized — has sold the gloves he wore on the catch in overtime that gave the Purple a victory over the New Orleans Saints in the Superdome Sunday.

The Minnesota TE said he was aware of it and disappointed via social media.

He isn’t the only one feeling a crime, of sorts, was committed. The Saints think Rudolph should have been called for pass interference on the play that decided the Wild-Card round game in overtime.

 

 

 

Vikings’ Kyle Rudolph thought he gave his touchdown gloves to charity. They ended up on eBay.

The gloves sold for $375.50.

NFL media guidelines prohibit credentialed reporters from asking for autographs. Obviously, it’s unprofessional in a work setting, but the league also wants to avoid the exact situation that unfolded with Kyle Rudolph’s game-winning touchdown gloves this weekend.

After the Vikings tight end hauled in the game-ending catch in overtime against the Saints, an unnamed reporter evidently approached Rudolph and asked for his gloves as part of a charity benefit. Rudolph provided the person with the gloves and even autographed them.

It didn’t take a week for those gloves to end up on eBay.

A Twitter user alerted Rudolph to a listing from seller, gamegear777, that sold those game-used autographed gloves for $375.50. Upon seeing a screenshot of the listing, Rudolph tweeted that he was fooled by an unnamed reporter.

Rudolph had every right to be upset that the gloves ended up on eBay.

Rudolph was the Vikings’ 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year and takes charitable endeavors seriously. Though he didn’t publicly call out the media member in question, the league will likely be in contact with Rudolph to get more information about the incident. Rudolph added that it wasn’t a reporter he recognized.

But in the meantime, this ordeal does appear to have a happy ending in the works. A Twitter user, Jason King, claimed to be the one who purchased the gloves on eBay and offered to donate them to the charity of Rudolph’s choice.

That would be an excellent ending to a disappointing situation.

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Notre Dame Football: Tight End U Past, Present and Future – A Conversation

This conversation began moments after Cole Kmet declared for the NFL Draft.  It was entirely conducted through Twitter DM’s which may as well be the modern-day AOL Instant Messenger.

What a week to be a Notre Dame tight end, whether it be from past, present or future.

It began with Cole Kmet declaring for the 2020 NFL Draft after previously saying he’d be around for his senior season.  It’s impossible to fault the top-rated tight end in the class but still stings when you wanted to see him in blue and gold and as the ultimate weapon for Ian Book in 2020.

The week continued into the Saturday when Michael Mayer, part of Notre Dame’s latest recruiting class playing in the Adidas All-American Game.  Not only did he play but he provided one of the biggest highlights of the afternoon, going 37 yards on a touchdown reception.

Finally, perhaps one of the best to ever play tight end at Tight End U sent the Vikings to the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs as Kyle Rudolph pulled down a Kirk Cousins pass in overtime to send Minnesota to the second round and the Saints home.  We’ll leave the pass interference debate for a later date.

With that in mind, Nick Shepkowski and I had a conversation.  It includes a bunch of former tight ends at Notre Dame and discussion as to what the future of the position may hold.  I hope you enjoy a slightly different post than you’re probably used to at Fighting Irish Wire.

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Former NFL officials think Kyle Rudolph should have been called for pass interference

Not a great look for the NFL.

The New Orleans Saints’ season came to an end on a controversial pass interference no-call (sound familiar?) after the Vikings’ Kyle Rudolph hauled in an overtime touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins.

Rudolph was being defended by the Saints’ P.J. Williams as he appeared to get separation by way of a push-off before catching the game-winning score. Given that pass interference is now a reviewable play, the Saints players and fans lobbied for a review. But the officials waited little time to rule that the game was over after a hasty review that apparently did happen.

Though Saints fans were predictably upset with no-call, former NFL officials also thought that the refs missed the mark.

As more replay angles hit Twitter, former NFL referee and rules expert Terry McAulay tweeted that the play should have been offensive pass interference because Rudolph extended his arms to gain separation.

ESPN’s John Parry — who was the referee for two Super Bowls — also tweeted that the play should have been offensive pass interference.

The league’s officiating head Al Riveron told pool reporters on Sunday that the play was reviewed, but the contact did not meet the standard of an overturn for offensive pass interference.

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Al Riveron explains why there was no OPI foul in final play of Saints-Vikings

NFL officiating chief Al Riveron explained why Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph was not fouled for pass interference against the Saints.

The New Orleans Saints just wrapped up a game, so NFL officiating supervisor Al Riveron had to call in and explain what happened at the end. It seems the Saints can’t just play a game without some sort of officiating controversy clouding things.

In this case, questions surrounded a possible push-off by Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph against Saints cornerback P.J. Williams on the final play of the game, which could have constituted offensive pass interference and given the Saints defense another opportunity to get off the field. No penalty was called for it, however, and Riveron defended the decision.

“None of that contact rises to the level of a foul,” Riveron told The Athletic’s Larry Holder. As a scoring play, it was automatically reviewed by Riveron’s office in New York, and he expressed confidence in the different angles Fox provided them.

“Yes, FOX was great,” Riveron said. “They gave us every angle that they had pertaining to the play. So, we’re very comfortable with what we saw. Nothing came through afterward that we had not seen prior to making the ruling.”

It’s ridiculous that these debates about officiating keep trailing the Saints. Human errors are going to happen in every game — it’s part of the argument in favor not automating more of the officiating process — but it’s outrageous that they keep happening to the Saints in the highest-leverage moments. Wouldn’t it be great if they could just have a game and win or lose without any question of to what degree the referees got involved?

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WATCH: Vikings TE Kyle Rudolph catches game-winning TD in OT

In one-on-one coverage, Rudolph caught a four-yard touchdown to give the Vikings the walk-off win.

What a wild ending to a game.

The Vikings upset the Saints 26-20 in overtime in the wild card round on Sunday.

While Kyle Rudolph hasn’t been involved as much in the pass game as prior seasons, he came up big when the Vikings needed him most.

In one-on-one coverage, Rudolph caught a four-yard touchdown to give the Vikings the walk-off win. It’s the second time in two years the Vikings have done so against the Saints.

 

Did Rudolph push off? Maybe. But the refs have been wildly inconsistent all season on pass interference calls. For them to call this one would have been a surprise.

Rudolph finished the game with four catches for 31 yards and what will go down as a very memorable touchdown catch for both fan bases.

The Vikings will now hit the road again to take on the 49ers in the Divisional Round.

Saints fans wanted offensive pass interference on the Vikings’ game-ending touchdown

They might have a point.

Honestly, this kind of scenario felt inevitable: The New Orleans Saints’ season coming down to a now-reviewable, pass interference no-call.

It was always going to end that way.

The Minnesota Vikings defeated the Saints, 26-20, in overtime of Sunday’s NFC Wild Card matchup in New Orleans. And of course, the game-winning touchdown catch from Kyle Rudolph immediately came under scrutiny from Saints fans. It appeared that Rudolph extended his arm and pushed off on P.J. Williams as he hauled in the pass from Kirk Cousins.

There was no pass interference call on the field, and the officials opted to not even review the potential penalty.

The league made pass interference a reviewable play after the Saints-Rams debacle in the NFC Championship Game, but throughout the season, the league held an excessively high standard to overturn pass-interference calls/no-calls. It was unlikely that a review would have changed the result, but Saints fans (and other NFL fans) certainly thought that pass interference should have been called on Rudolph.

The Saints will now have an entire offseason to complain about officiating, so there’s that.

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Vikings shock Saints, advance to Divisional Round vs. 49ers

It’s the first career playoff win for Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Nobody gave the Vikings a chance against the Saints in the wild card round.

The game was in New Orleans. Kirk Cousins never wins big games. The Vikings were 7.5-point underdogs. The NFL forgot to put the Vikings in their playoff commercial.

All of that seems silly now.

The Vikings upset the Saints 26-20 in overtime on Sunday afternoon to advance to the Divisional Round of the NFC Playoffs.

Minnesota will play the 49ers next week.

Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins earned his first-career playoff win, and he deserved it. He kept the Vikings in the game, and made an unbelievable 43-yard pass to Adam Thielen to set up what would be the game-winning touchdown pass to Kyle Rudolph.

Cousins ended the game with 242 yards and a touchdown to go with turnovers.

Vikings running back Dalvin Cook was key to the team’s 20-10 third quarter lead. Cook ran for 94 yards and two touchdowns to go with three catches for 36 yards.

Defensively, the Vikings did a great job of maintaining Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Brees threw for just 208 yards and a touchdown. He did throw a costly touchdown and fumbled in the fourth quarter when the Saints were ready to score.

It’s the second time in three seasons the Vikings have eliminated the Saints in the postseason.

WATCH: Did Kyle Rudolph push off on Vikings’ game-winning TD in OT?

Kirk Cousins found Kyle Rudolph in overtime to give the Vikings a Wild-Card victory over the Saints.

The Minnesota Vikings move on to a Divisional round date Saturday with the San Francisco 49ers after surviving New Orleans and the Saints in overtime, 26-20, Sunday at the Superdome. The game was decided on the first play of the extra session when Kirk Cousins found Kyle Rudolph in the end zone.

The winning score was set up by a 43-yard pass from Cousins to Adam Thielin, who made a wonderful over-the-shoulder catch.

New Orleans players were indicating the Minnesota tight end pushed off to get separation on the play that ended the Wild-Card game. However, no review was made and the Saints were done.

New Orleans seems to have a thing with playoffs and controversy. Remember last season?

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Watch: Kyle Rudolph Sends Vikings to Second Round

the Vikings cashed in as a jump-ball was secured by Notre Dame product Kyle Rudolph, and it was the Vikings instead who marched on.

Is it just me or should the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints play in every NFL Postseason?

Favre’s interception in 2009, the Minneapolis Miracle two years back and then today, a 26-20 Vikings win in overtime that sends Minnesota to San Francisco for the Divisional Playoffs next weekend while it sends the Saints home for the year.

In a game few gave the Vikings much of a chance in it was actually the hometown Saints who had to rally just to force overtime, making a field goal with two seconds left in regulation to tie things at 20.

The Vikings won the toss in the extra period and after a long Kirk Cousins pass set Minnesota up at the Saints two, the Vikings cashed in as a jump-ball was secured by Notre Dame product Kyle Rudolph, and it was the Vikings instead who marched on.

The Vikings now advance to play the top seed in the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers next week in San Francisco.

Tight End U coming up big yet again.