Blame Zimmer For Kicking Woes? Former Vikings QB Tommy Kramer Has Thoughts…

Eagan MN

21 December, 2020

4:37 AM

Description

Press release from purplePTSD: December 18, 2020 If there has been two consistencies during the Mike Zimmer era that have been, let's say, not great it has been the play of the offensive line and the revolving door at the kicking position. Some people have placed blame on Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer, as it seems odd that once good kickers like Dan Bailey (who was the second most accurate kicker in league history before joining the Vikes) suddenly forget that they have a big toe when they put on a purple jersey. Better yet? Kickers like Daniel Carlson struggled mightily here, but went to Oakland and has made a totally pedestrian 93.3% of his field goals in 2020. I had the pleasure of chatting with someone in Bailey's inner-circle back in 2018, as they emailed me after taking issue with an article we had run about him. That person blamed the then rotating holders the Vikings were trying out at the time, which gives some insight into Bailey's struggles in 2020. The Vikings replaced their long snapper before the Jacksonville Jaguars game and since Bailey has been terrible. But is that really on Zimmer? The Vikings clearly had to make a change, and Bailey should be able to adapt to change. One person that really doesn't think we should blame Zimmer is former Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer, who Tweeted the following: Bailey has one job to do, kick the ball. For anyone to blame Zimmer, Spielman, is nuts. Anyone that says they should be nice and encouraging him, BS, that's what's wrong with the world today, do your job! — Tommy Kramer (@Kramer9Tommy) December 14, 2020 I get what Kramer is saying. His generation loathes the participation trophy culture that some of us were raised in, and clearly he believes in the old school coaching method of … you know… making people do their jobs without worrying about their feelings. That's something Zimmer touched on after the Buccaneers game, as he said the time for caring about people's feelings (or worrying about hurting feelings) was over. That's why I never understood the sheer amount of literal death threats I received in 2015 for … Gasp… saying that Blair Walsh needed to make that 27-yard kick. I didn't say we should cut him, or that he was a bad person. I just said that a guy that gets paid what he does NEEDS to make that kick (which is exactly what Zimmer said). What was additionally confusing is that those people who wanted to protect Walsh's feelings were trying their best to hurt my feelings to the point that they wanted me to kill myself? It was on the level of "Stop swearing you &$?!" Logic. Regardless of the why, I can't blame Zimmer for this. He has to be so over these kickers failing so spectacularly, and if you really want to blame anyone? Figure out who angered God in 1961 and thus created this curse that makes donning a purple jersey the equivalent to wrapping Super Man in purple kryptonite. Because this is on the cosmos, and the last I checked even though Zimmer resembles Odin, he has no control over space and time. Yet. This press release was produced by purplePTSD. The views expressed here are the author's own.