Man, this sucks. You simply can't do what AP did, but I have absolutely no doubt that what he did wasn't done with malicious intent. I don't have a problem with him being charged, but the media painting him as some evil person pisses me off. As for the Vikes deciding not to play him now, I think that's a bush-league decision. I realize all these sponsors were suspending their deals with the Vikings because of this, but they just look retarded by handling it the way they did. He should still be able to play while this is going on, they just caved to media pressure.
As for the effects this will have on the Vikings season, I think it will be huge. We simply don't know what it's like to not have 8 men in the box solely focused on stopping the running game. It's kind of like Moss; even when they're not having their best games statistically, they're still huge factors in making the D account for them . As good as the offense has looked and as promising as the coaching is, Cassel is going to have to deal with a lot more obstacles in the passing game now. I don't think he'll be throwing 4 picks every game, but it's not going to be very pretty.
As for the running game now, Asiata is seriously one of the least impressive players in the league. He is just way too slow and predictable. I guess he's OK in short yardage situations, but McKinnon better be able to complement that with big play ability, or the running game is going to go from the team's main strength to a complete disaster.
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