The Mystery of Jerome Simpson’s Leg

Aug 30, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Jerome Simpson (81) on the sidelines against the Houston Texans in the first quarter at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-US PRESSWIRE

We’ve got a full-on mystery on our hands here. What exactly happened to Jerome Simpson’s leg that prevented him from being his explosive self Sunday against Tennessee? Is it possible Simpson injured the leg executing some silly acrobatics during pre-game intros? Or is he the victim of a puzzling random numbness in the leg?

Let’s go back through the timeline. The first indication that something might be wrong came just before the game. During warm-ups Simpson was being closely watched by pretty much the entire Vikings brain trust, including GM Rick Spielman. Never a good sign when a guy is getting that much scrutiny during a warm-up. Whatever was wrong with Simpson, it wasn’t enough to keep him out of the game. He played…but didn’t do much.

It was obvious pretty quickly that something wasn’t right. Simpson was in an out for the next couple series, apparently showing frustration on the sideline. Media reports suggested Simpson was experiencing numbness in his foot. Whatever was wrong never did get cleared up. Simpson ended the game with no catches. But it didn’t matter because the Vikings still rolled Tennessee 30-7.

Surely after the game the mystery would be resolved? Well not exactly. All Leslie Frazier would say was that Simpson tweaked his leg or ankle during pre-game warm-ups. Interesting, because Simpson himself gave a different account of events. He told the media he felt numbness in his foot the night before and couldn’t get it loose on Sunday.  “I just felt like my foot was kind of asleep, I guess,” Simpson said. “Until we know the diagnostics, I really can’t (say) if it’s a foot, a calf or what. I really don’t know right now.”

So that’s the situation. The Vikings’ supposed #1 deep threat has a bad leg and can’t explode. And no one knows what happened to the leg. According to Simpson it’s a mystery numbness. The internet of course has a different idea. Speculation is running rampant that Simpson injured the leg during his pre-game leap. If that’s the case…this guy is a total idiot.

But we’ll give everyone involved the opportunity to refute that notion, if they so desire. I’m not taking a side. My only question is, if the foot was already bothering you before the game, why are you leaping like that? Like I said, it didn’t really matter yesterday because the Vikings won the game. But it could matter later if the Vikings end up losing Simpson. They’ve made it this far with minimal contribution from him but they are going to need what he brings before this year is out.

It would suck if they lost him because of something as dumb as an acrobatic show-off move. But like I said, we don’t have all the facts yet. We’ll let it play out before we declare Jerome Simpson a total numbskull.

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