Vikings' Kalil apologizes for incident with fan

Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle Matt Kalil apologized Monday for an incident with a fan and for not talking to the media after Sunday’s 24-21 loss to Green Bay at TCF Bank Stadium.
Kalil had three penalties in the game, costing his team 58 yards. Then a video appeared Monday on Deadspin.com of an incident the tackle had with a fan.
The nine-second clip shows Kalil, while talking on the phone, swatting at the head of a fan, knocking his hat off. Kalil walks away while still talking on the phone and the fan throws a program at him, which missed.
“The incident (Sunday) with the media thing and the fan, obviously a lot of frustration, losing a game like that, losing Phil (Loadholt) in the game to injury and stuff like that,” Kalil said Monday. “So obviously I was a little upset, but I hope you guys didn’t take anything personally. It was just one of those days, so I apologize for that.”
Loadholt, a tackle, suffered a torn pectoral muscle Sunday. He was ruled Monday out for the season.
“I usually shrug off that stuff,” Kalil said of the fan incident. “Fans like to talk and say some things. That was something that I could have been a bigger man and walked away from, but it was really wasn’t that big of a deal. (The fan) just caught me when I had a short fuse that day.”
An ESPN.com reporter had a Twitter exchange with the man who claims to be the fan, Rhett Wade.
The following is a combination of his tweets:
“We just watched Matt Kalil cost us the game, so when he came out I really didn’t want to see him, so I said to him “where do you want to be traded?” and he was on his phone, and when it finally registered with him what I said he turned and then he told me to “get the (expletive) outta here” and then i said “I’d rather have your brother than you on my team” and then he walked away like he didn’t hear what I said, but then he turned back around and asked me what I said again and then I repeated what I said again and then he proceeded to grab my hat off my head and throw it on the ground and mumble some stuff I didn’t hear, i then threw my program in his face.”
Before the incident with the fan, Kalil had declined to speak to reporters after Sunday’s game while he was talking on the phone.
“I’m usually pretty good at keep my composure and talking to (the media) and stuff like that,” Kalil said. “I hope I didn’t offend anyone by walking out of the locker room that day. It wasn’t my best day.”
Kalil, who missed practice last Friday after aggravating his surgically repaired knee, has had a difficult season. He blames a lack of confidence and health issues.
“It’s both,” Kalil said. “I think one thing about injuries, you can’t let that conduct how you’re going to play and you can’t let that get the best of you. You got to trust your abilities with what you can do.”
Munnerlyn: Former teammate’s accusation ‘a slap in the face’
Well, so much for the feel-good reunion story.
Captain Munnerlyn will play Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, the team that drafted him in 2009 and for whom he played five seasons before signing a free-agent deal with the Vikings in the spring.
Munnerlyn said Monday he has a lot of friends still in Carolina, including one of his best friends, linebacker Thomas Davis, with whom he still speaks “every day.” But Munnerlyn’s replacement, Josh Norman, apparently doesn’t think much of his former teammate, and it took Munnerlyn aback.
Norman told the Charlotte Observer last week that Munnerlyn was primarily worried about keeping his starting job, and accused him of trying to sabotage Norman, with whom he played for two seasons.
“He never wanted to help me out with anything,” Norman told the Observer. “That’s why I never asked him any questions. Once I got stuff wrong from asking him, I was like, ‘I’ll find my own way around.’ “
Munnerlyn defended himself in the story, and on Monday told reporters that Norman’s accusation “was a slap in the face.”
“It was a slap in the face to me when I read it,” he said. “It was a slap in the face that he would come out and say I’m the type of guy who didn’t trying to help him and all that. ... You go in that organization and ask the other cornerbacks, or anybody in that organization, they’ll tell you I’m a guy who’s willing to help and lay it on the line each and every day.
“I’m not a guy to sit back and say, ‘No, I’m not going to help you.
‘ I’ve never been that guy. I don’t care if you’re playing right behind me or you’re staring in front of me; if I know something, I’m going to let you know, because it can make the team better.”
Norman, 6-foot and 195 pounds, has started five of nine games and has 30 tackles, six passes defended and an interceptions for the Panthers (3-7-1).
“It definitely was surprising,” Munnerlyn said. “I think it’s probably deeper than what he’s saying. I really don’t know what it is, and like I told the reporter, I’m just going to go out there and play football. I don’t have to play against him; he don’t have to play against me. He has to worry about our offense; I have to worry about their offense.
“I don’t know where it came from; I’m sure I won’t say too much to him about it.”
Loadholt out for season with torn pectoral muscle
Minnesota offensive tackle Phil Loadholt has a torn pectoral muscle in his shoulder and is out for the season.
Tackle Mike Harris said he was informed of Loadholt’s injury Monday and was told he will replace him in the starting lineup for Sunday’s game against Carolina at TCF Bank Stadium.
“I’m sad for the guy,” Harris said. “He worked hard this year. He’s a great offensive tackle. He’s been in the league so long (six years) because he just plays the right way.”
Loadholt was hurt in the second half of Sunday’s loss to Green Bay at TCF Bank Stadium. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said after the game he would have an MRI and will undergo surgery. He is the second Minnesota offensive linemen lost for the season with that injury, following guard Brandon Fusco, who was hurt Sept. 21 at New Orleans.
Harris is a three-year veteran who played the past two years for San Diego. He has played in 27 career NFL games, with 12 starts.
“I’m just excited for the opportunity to play,” Harris said. “It’s a privilege to start in the NFL. ... I know my team is counting on me. I’ve just got to go out and play ball.”