Everson Griffen said the Vikings will need to be wary of challenges presented by the Lions offense and quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Left tackle Greg Robinson, replacing injured starter Taylor Decker, is not one of those challenges, according to Griffen.
"Quite honestly, [he looks] kind of lazy," Griffen said Wednesday. "He's lazy. He gets beat on the inside. I think the biggest thing is he's got to compete more, but yeah he's pretty lazy. I feel like the rest of their offensive line, they do pretty well, but to me he's kind of lazy."
Griffen, one of six Vikings team captains, doubled down when asked afterward.
"It ain't nothing personal, he looks lazy," Griffen said.
That accusation certainly can't be leveled at Griffen, who is tied for fourth in the NFL and leads the Vikings with four sacks in three games. Griffen has only once previously faced Robinson, the former No. 2-overall pick out of Auburn. In that 2015 game, Griffen didn't get a sack, but he notched two QB hits and a tackle for a loss in the Vikings' overtime win against the Rams at TCF Bank Stadium.
To beat the Lions, who handed the Vikings two losses last year, they'll need Griffen to back up the talk. Detroit doesn't seem to have fallen off much without Decker, their first-round left tackle who underwent offseason shoulder surgery. The Lions rank seventh in points per game (28.3) and narrowly lost to the NFC-champion Falcons last week.
"They're a fourth-quarter team," Griffen said. "We have to compete for four quarters."
Stafford has taken only six sacks, among the fewest in the league through three weeks.
"Stafford, he's running the ball a little bit more," Griffen said. "He's putting the ball down and running a lot more, so we have to rush him the right way. We have to stop the run and make them one-dimensional. We just have to keep playing the way we play."
