Minnesota Vikings: 5 players who have disappointed so far
By Dan Zinski
Nov 7, 2013; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings guard Brandon Fusco (63) blocks against the Washington Redskins in the fourth quarter at Mall of America Field at H.H.H. Metrodome. The Vikings win 34-27. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
How much should we have really expected out of Brandon Fusco?
Is it fair that we thought the Vikings could flip Fusco over from right guard to left guard and have him immediately find the form that made him a solid player in 2013?
Was it right for us to expect Fusco to line up alongside Matt Kalil and immediately make Kalil a better player as well?
Did we in fact over-estimate Brandon Fusco?
Perhaps we did overrate Fusco just a tad, but even taking into account a certain exaggerated expectation, it’s been a disappointing first four games for Fusco.
Fusco has been flat out bad in three of the four games, and his problems haven’t only been physical.
The Vikings had problems with communication and blitz pick-up against both San Francisco and Denver and Fusco was probably the main culprit among the linemen in both games.
Fusco was supposed to slide in next to Kalil and help sort out the communication issues that plagued Kalil and Charlie Johnson last year but frankly Fusco has been as bad as Johnson if not worse.
And all the time Matt Kalil has been playing at least adequately if not spectacularly. Fusco is the one who has noticeably struggled.
I guess it’s not as easy as we thought to just flip from right to left. Hopefully Fusco will get it together because the Vikings need him to be good if they’re going to shore up their pass protection.