On Sunday, A Young Viking Suffered Another Twist of the Knife
Somehow, Dallas Turner continues to see things go poorly in 2025.
At various points, I have been critical of the young Viking. The argument is straightforward and easy to understand. Chosen at No. 17, Turner hasn’t distinguished himself on the field, too often getting stonewalled while rushing the passer and ceding ground while defending the run. Yes, the 22-year-old needs more time, but expectations are high since the trade up was incredibly costly. On Sunday, Turner made a great play, but it was wiped off the board by a poor NFL rule.
The Young Viking Got Dinged After Great Play
Start off by reconsidering the sack that wasn’t:
Now, a word in defense of constraining the defense.
The NFL demonstrates ample wisdom — and basic morality — when limiting the way that players can tackle the quarterback. In particular, there’s great need to continue eliminating head shots. Any tackles that target the head area need to be penalized (and potentially involve a fine, suspension, and so on). There’s no world where a player’s head, neck, and spine isn’t of the utmost importance.
Consider, as well, that the NFL also prohibits pass rushers from going too low on quarterbacks. If Turner had launched himself at Lamar Jackson‘s knees, the flags would have justifiably been flying.
Quarterbacks are quite vulnerable, all things considered. Massive defenders are chasing them down, oftentimes with great momentum. Keeping these defenders from participating in the kind of hits that could end a passer’s season with a knee injury is the correct move.
Again, player safety — even in a sport as violent as football — needs to be at the very top of league priorities.
The end result of these restrictions is that a defender has a narrow area to land a tackle. Not too high, not too low, but a Goldilocks just right. Essentially, make contact from the thighs up to somewhere below the shoulder pads. Or, to be more succinct, hit a quarterback in the midsection.
Dallas Turner does so in the sack penalized hit on Jackson. The issue is that he lands on top of the quarterback, a sin that wiped off a negative play for the Ravens while giving Baltimore some added yardage, too.
Alec Lewis of The Athletic chimed in: “That’s twice in 3 weeks Dallas Turner has been flagged on hits on the QB. Is it a dumb rule? Sure. Was that the definition of the rule? Yes.” Therein lies the issue. The rule, as I understand it and as Lewis suggests, was correctly applied.
As things stand, the NFL is mandating that defenders avoid hitting quarterbacks in the head or knees. Good. The NFL needs to have these rules in place. But then when a defender cleanly hits a quarterback in the midsection, there can be an issue when the defender lands on top of the quarterback. Not even Goldilocks had so much trouble arriving at a nice middle ground.
At some point, a defender needs to be allowed to do his job. Nobody should ever cheer for an injury. One nevertheless wonders about an over-correction that was made evident in Dallas Turner’s excellent play that got wiped off the board.
In nine games, Turner has played 366 snaps for the Brian Flores defense. His statistics are modest, totalling 31 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 4 QB hits, and 1 pass defended.
Collectively, the Vikings committed 13 penalties for 102 yards versus Baltimore. Dallas Turner’s infraction shouldn’t have been among them.
