Luke Braun's Film Room: I'm So Sorry To Tell You This, But Lewis Cine Wasn't That Good

Lewis Cine had a roster-spot saving preseason game against the Browns, right? Wrong, argues Luke Braun, who delves into the film to explain why the stats are deceiving for the first-round no-show.

Photo by Bailey Hillesheim/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

He who binds to himself a joy

Does the winged life destroy

He who kisses the joy as it flies

Lives in eternity's sunrise

~Eternity by William Blake

Your opinion of Lewis Cine probably entered Saturday’s game at its lowest point. He’s a first-round player who has yet to take a meaningful snap from scrimmage entering his third year. You’re right to be frustrated with that, and it’s fair to hold him up against the light emanating from Kyle Hamilton in Baltimore.

I can completely understand why you would be desperate to see a sign of positivity out of the 24-year-old safety. Something that could possibly argue that all is not lost — that Kwesi Adofo Mensah’s first draft pick as Vikings GM wasn’t an abject catastrophe. I come to you compassionately.

Preseason games have a tendency to lie to us. We can see exaggerated results by players who ultimately don’t make the team, and small sample sizes make statistics difficult to analyze. There are classic caveats that one can apply to any preseason game. These teams are playing in vanilla schemes against lessened competition, often saturated with players who will not even make their team.

So when Cine racked up ten tackles on Saturday against the Cleveland Browns, including a sack and an interception, it would be responsible to temper the excitement a bit. After all, it’s only preseason, right?

That’s not the point I’m going to make here.

While it’s probably smart to be reserved about our preseason takeaways, that doesn’t mean we have to shrug our shoulders and write it off as meaningless. We just have to be a little more careful about what we allow to sway our opinion. We have to ask questions about Cine’s most prominent habits and traits. And when we do that, you may not like the answers.

If you don’t have that in you, I understand. If you’d rather spend a week clinging to the bliss of hope, I won’t take that away from you. You have to choose whether you are willing to once again have your worst fears confirmed about a Vikings player. It’s happened enough. I’m so sorry that I have to do this to you again.

I wish I could lie.

No Room For Hesitation

Have you guess'd you yourself would not continue?

Have you dreaded these earth-beetles?

Have you fear'd the future would be nothing to you?

~To Think of Time by Walt Whitman