Jared Allen: 'I Don't Like Anybody From Detroit'

Following Sunday's game, Vikings defensive end Jared Allen sounded off on the Lions and the fight (I guess that's what we'll call it) that broke out in the third quarter (comments via Dave Birkett):

Allen: "I don't like anybody from Detroit." ... Said Hill "was trying to get up throwing elbows and then hell broke loose."

And: "There was a little pushing and shoving and then someone wanted to jump in and spear me. It's big boys doing big-boy things."

More Allen: "I don't like Detroit. I don't think I've ever pulled punches about that."

First things first, the feeling is mutual, Jared. Nobody from Detroit likes you. While opposing players may respect your game, it's pretty obvious at this point that Gosder Cherilus isn't the only one that dislikes you as a person. That was evident a year ago and it was even more evident after the fight that broke out on Sunday.

And speaking of that fight, Allen has quite the selective memory when it comes to what happened. (You can watch the fight here; it starts at the 2:40 mark.) For starters, things began to get ugly when Allen shoved Rob Sims onto the pile after Shaun Hill was brought down for a sack. Hill tried to get up, but he was put back onto the ground by Allen. That is not what started the brawl, however. Things were set off when Ray Edwards shoved Sims to the ground for no reason whatsoever. Sims was simply trying to get up, and Edwards must have thought he was involved in the thing with Hill and Allen, because Edwards put him on the ground, which set everyone off.

The fight/brawl/scrum/whatever broke off into two parts at this point. Sims proceeded to take Edwards down as payback for what Edwards did. Separately, Hill and Allen started shoving each other and Hill was thrown to the ground after the two got up. I'm not sure what Allen was talking about when he mentioned that someone jumped in and speared him, because only Jeff Backus touched him as he was getting up, and that was to pull him off Hill. Dominic Raiola and Gosder Cherilus shoved him a bit after Hill was thrown to the ground again, and then Hill came back and shoved Allen. There was no spearing as far as I could see.

Raiola's take on the incident cut right to the chase:

Dominic Raiola on the scuffle: "It starts getting physical out there and frustrations get going and the jackass is on our quarterback."

The comments from Raiola and the comments from Allen should come as no surprise given Allen's history with the Lions and the fact that Minnesota and Detroit are division rivals. Even so, I found Allen's comments on the brawl amusing, because his account was quite different from what I saw in the video. I guess you can form your own opinions, but the blame should be put squarely on Ray Edwards for igniting things, as he didn't need to shove Rob Sims after the play. Jared Allen also didn't make things better by taking Hill back to the ground after falling onto the pile, as that set off Hill, who literally tried fighting for himself and his teammates. That I can respect.

At the end of the day, this was just a case of boys being boys and it won't mean much in retrospect. That said, I'm sure a few players from both the Lions and Vikings will be hearing from the NFL about fines for their roles in the altercation, and I'm also sure the players involved won't forget what happened the next time these two teams play later this season.