On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings unveiled their new state-of-the-art U.S. Bank Stadium, for their first regular season game against the Green Bay Packers.
It was a good, close game. The Vikings would ultimately win 17-14, but obviously there was a lot to be excited about. And the crowd was loud. Really loud.
But they may have been too loud. The Vikings had four false start penalties during the game. And Vikings guard Alex Boone not only kind of placed some of the blame on the crowd noise, but asked — demanded, actually — that fans pipe down when they are on offense.
“There’s a lot of times where we can’t hear the center,” Boone told ESPN’s Ben Goessling. “We could barely hear the snap count today a couple times — a couple false starts, because guys wouldn’t know when the snap was going. I’m not saying it’s the fans’ fault, but I’m just saying, it would be nice if they would shut the f—- up a little bit.”
For what it’s worth, the had of the NFL was really impressed with Minnesota’s new atmosphere.
“It exceeded my expectations,” Commissioner Roger Goodall said. “And you know where you are. You’re in a Vikings stadium. And this is part of the Minnesota community. You can see how it fits into the community walking around the outside. The way they brought the tradition and the history of the team in, I think it’s really incredibly well done.”
So, Minnesota, continue to be loud. But just don’t be that loud when you have the ball.
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