It looked like the Detroit Lions were going to move to 2-1 on the season, but unfortunately, for Lions center Frank Ragnow and his teammates, the Minnesota Vikings refused to just go quietly into the night and they stormed back for a 28-24 win.
Though there is plenty of blame to go around for Sunday’s loss, many are pointing their finger at Lions head coach Dan Campbell for making a head-scratching decision late in the game.
That decision came late in the fourth quarter when the Lions had the ball fourth-and-4 on the Vikings’ 36-yard line. Rather than either punting or going for what would have been the game-winning first down, Campbell elected to attempt a 54-yard field goal with a kicker who struggles to kick long field goals.
As we now know, the field goal was missed (by a mile) and the Vikings took over on their own 44-yard line and proceeded to march down the field for the game-winning touchdown.
Frank Ragnow says the Lions should not have put Dan Campbell in tough position
On Monday, Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow spoke to reporters and he said that he and his teammates should never have put Dan Campbell in a tough position.
“(It was) definitely frustrating,” the fifth-year pro told reporters Monday. “Definitely tough to sleep. Definitely hard to stay asleep. I woke up pretty dang early this morning (Monday). Just wish we could’ve closed it out.”
“I kind of just try to stay in my lane, kind of just try to execute my job,” Ragnow said. “Yeah, you’d love to go for it. But, hindsight’s everything.
“To be honest, us as players, us as an offensive line really, at the end of the game, we shouldn’t have even been put into that position. We should’ve been way more clean up front, a lot better execution all around, me especially. So, I think we shouldn’t have even put coach in that position. We should’ve closed out the game before that play.”
Nation, do you agree with Frank Ragnow? Where do you place the blame?