Vikings @ New Orleans Gameday...

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Five keys to the Vikings


1. Slow Drew Brees

The Vikings are back where they ended the 2009 season with a heart-breaking loss in the NFC title game. The Superdome might not be as crazy as it was on Jan. 24 but it does figure to be a super-charged atmosphere as the Super Bowl champions take the field for the first time since beating the Colts in Miami last February. The Vikings biggest challenge is going to be slowing Saints quarterback Drew Brees despite the fact they are shorthanded at cornerback

2. Rush well, cover better

You think Saints coach Sean Payton and Brees aren?t licking their chops in anticipation of this matchup? The Vikings have spent the week practicing with three healthy cornerbacks. The issue is the Saints will use four wide receiver sets and also have pass-catching threats in tight end Jeremy Shockey and running back Reggie Bush. Exactly how the Vikings plan to slow the Saints passing attack remains to be seen but it won?t be surprising if safety Husain Abdullah is worked into the mix. It will be imperative the Vikings front four stays in Brees? face throughout the evening. If Brees is able to get comfortable, watch out.

3. Eat up the clock

One way to make sure the Saints can?t move the football is to not let them have it. The Vikings can do that by running the ball and chewing away at the clock. Adrian Peterson?s two fumbles in last season?s NFC title game overshadowed the fact the Pro Bowl running back rushed for 122 yards with three touchdowns on 25 carries. Brett Favre has said time and time again that Peterson is the key to the Vikings offense and tonight that should be the case.

4. Watch Brett?s back

There has been plenty made about the numerous hits (some late) that Favre took in the conference championship game. But that wasn?t because he received no protection. The offensive line didn?t give up a sack in the game and Favre passed for 310 yards in part because defensive coordinator Gregg Williams? blitzes created some favorable matchups for the Vikings. Favre expects to see plenty of blitzes again and about the only thing the Vikings can do is make sure the officiating crew is watching closely to try to dissuade any cheap shots.

5. Win the opener

The Vikings? record in their opening game since beginning play in 1961 is 28-20-1. The Vikings are 1-1 in openers against the Saints, having won 40-9 in 1976 and lost 31-24 two years later. Both games were in New Orleans.

 

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Healthy Henderson makes a difference


The Vikings middle linebacker missed the NFC Championship Game against the Saints because of a broken left leg.


Leslie Frazier said he believes his Vikings defense will have an edge against New Orleans tonight because of the presence of E.J. Henderson, one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL.

Henderson missed last year's NFC Championship Game with the Saints because of a broken leg, the second consecutive season he has been injured.

But when he's healthy, he plays as well as anyone in the league.

"It's big for our football team and for our defense," said Frazier, the team's defensive coordinator. "His leadership, his awareness, his presence is big for our defense.

"We're excited about the fact that he's back on the field."

The overtime loss to the Saints last year cost the Vikings a trip to the Super Bowl, and Henderson would have made a big difference in that game.

"It was hard, it was hard. I rely on him so much, like our other players do, and to not have him out there was like a void on the football team," Frazier said. "I think he'll make a big difference, he has in the past. It's his first game back, he's excited, he's champing at the bit, and he's ready to go.

"He'll make a difference, for sure."

Frazier said he believes the defense is in good shape. Cornerback Cedric Griffin tore knee ligaments during the overtime kickoff in the NFC Championship Game, but has made an amazing recovery and might play tonight. The team is a bit short on cornerbacks, since rookie Chris Cook is out because of an injured knee.
'Ready to rock'

Henderson suffered a broken femur in his left leg on Dec. 6 against Arizona. It was a gruesome injury, one of the worst I've seen, but he has spent countless hours working out and said he is 100 percent ready.

"I'll be ready to rock," said Henderson, who would have made the Pro Bowl easily if he had been healthy all season. "I feel like I'm back to the player I was."
Henderson, 30, calls all the defensive signals and leads the team by example with his aggressive style of play. He said the only thing he needs to get back is "maybe a little bit of explosion, I think that will come with repetitions and games, but I'm ready to go. I feel as good as ever."

Frazier has coached in the NFL since 1999 with Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and the Vikings. He called Henderson the best linebacker he has coached.

"That's a big compliment, coming from him," Henderson said. "He's played with a lot of people, coached a lot of people, so I'm just going to try to come out and live up to that."

Henderson's rehabilitation was very difficult, considering how bad the break was.

"It was tough," said the eight-year veteran. "It was a tough seven-month process, but we're here now. It's a journey.

"I never wondered if I could play again. From Day 1, the doctors told me it was a straight fracture, no knee problems, once the bone healed I'd be ready to rock. So I've never had a question if I could play or not."
A tough task

After viewing films of the Saints, Henderson described them as a very explosive offense.

"They have big guys up front, very good offensive line, especially the interior three," he said. "They can run the ball, good screen team, excellent quarterback, Super Bowl MVP, in Drew Brees; we've got our work cut out for us.

"I've never played them in New Orleans -- missed them three times due to injuries --so I'm real excited."

With Henderson back, joined by outside linebackers Chad Greenway and Ben Leber, Brees will have a lot less time to throw the ball than he did last January.
Just another game

Defensive tackle Kevin Williams, a superstar in the league, isn't overhyping the Saints game.

"Of course we're going to go out and win this game and try to do our best to win, but at the end of the day you've got 15 more after this," he said. "We'll be fine. We've got a lot of great talent on the team, and they'll show up Thursday.

"The guys that step up in a new role, they'll just have to show how good they can play."

Williams sang the praises of Brees.

"He's tough on the defense; he gets the ball off in a timely manner," Williams said. "He does everything that you ask of a quarterback and keeps the people off of him.
"He's going to be a great test for us, but we've played him before. Without a doubt, he's the Super Bowl MVP, that shows you how good he is. It's going to be a tough test."

Said defensive end Jared Allen: "The stakes aren't as high as last year. This year it's the first one out of 16, and we take it as that."
Jottings

The Vikings are 4 1/2-point underdogs against the Saints. Over the past 10 seasons, the defending Super Bowl champion is 9-1 in openers. The last team to lose was Denver in 1999.

The Vikings lost the Super Bowl following the 1969 NFL season to Kansas City 23-7. In that game, Chiefs coach Hank Stram was wired for sound and took some real shots at the Vikings. The following season, Vikings coach Bud Grant did something he seldom did by showing the film of that loss to his team, which was getting ready to play the Chiefs in the opener. The Vikings were fired up and dominated the game, beating Kansas City 27-10 on their way to a 12-2 regular season.

Oto Osenieks, the 6-8 native of Latvia who signed a tender with the Gophers basketball team, will be allowed to practice this year but not play because he didn't pass the standards of the NCAA Clearinghouse. Osenieks played for Brehm Prep in Carbondale, Ill., last season.

Two former Gophers -- safeties Shane Potter and Jimmy Thompson -- transferred to South Dakota and started for the Coyotes, who will play the Gophers on Saturday. Potter had 16 tackles against Central Florida; Thompson will miss the game after having surgery on his collarbone.

The Gophers didn't raise ticket prices for hockey but did raise basketball from $31 to $35. It's interesting, because usually hockey tickets are more in demand.

The Gophers football team got its 14th commitment for next season. Russell Haughton-James, a 6-5, 280-pound tackle from American Heritage School in Plantation, Fla., committed this week.

The Wall Street Journal reports that scalpers are getting an average of $372 for Vikings-Saints tickets this week.

 

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Saints have injury issues at linebacker



We have spent the week writing about the fact the Vikings are shorthanded at cornerback and wondering how they are going to handle that situation. The Vikings, though, aren't the only team entering Thursday night's regular-season opener with some question marks on defense.

The Saints have yet to announce who will start at strong-side linebacker and it sounds as if it could be veteran Danny Clark, who signed this week after being let go by the New York Giants. Clark spent time with the Saints in 2006 as a backup but has starting experience. Here is a good breakdown on what the Saints have been going through.

The issue is that New Orleans has been unable to stay healthy at this position. The Saints signed former Jacksonville Jaguar Clint Ingram but he ended up on the physically unable to perform list because of a knee issue. Next up was Jonathan Casillas, who impressed enough that he played the weak-side spot and Scott Shanle went to the strong side.

That set up a trio of Casillas, Jonathan Vilma and Shanle. In the Saints' preseason finale, Casillas suffered a season-ending foot injury. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams could go with Jo-Lonn Dunbar at the strong-side linebacker but Clark also appears to be in the mix

Vilma, the starting middle linebacker, was limited in practice Monday and Tuesday because of a groin injury.

Linebacker isn't the only position at which the Saints have possible concerns on defense. Defensive tackle Anthony Hargrove did not practice Tuesday because of a knee injury. What was surprising is that Hargrove was not listed on the report on Monday.

There also is some question about cornerback Tracy Porter who has been limited this week by a knee injury.

 

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In 2004, the NFL transformed the Thursday night opener into a belated coronation of the defending Super Bowl champion. And in each of the five years since then (Patriots, Patriots, Steelers, Colts, Giants, Steelers), the defending Super Bowl champion didn't spoil the banner-raising party by losing the game straight-up.

 

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Five questions about the /New Orleans Saints match-up...fighting words?


A rematch of last year's NFC Championship Game will see the Minnesota Vikings come into town to face the Saints on the night when the Super Bowl banner will be unveiled in the Superdome. Memories of the Tracy Porter interception, the Adrian Peterson fumbles, and the winning kick sailing through the uprights off of the foot of Garrett Hartley will all come flooding back. Still, this is a new season and a new game that needs to be won.

A lot will be the same, including the Vikings' quarterback, but things are going to start on an even playing field and at 0-0.

Minnesota Vikings Examiner Joe Oberle and myself traded questions with one another so that we can give our opinions on things to come for the big game and throughout the season. Below you will see his answers to my questions and you can check out my answers to his by clicking on the links in this article.

You can check out my answers to his questions here in Speaking With The Enemy.

In case you hadn't guessed, I don't think that Joe is really caught up in the fact that the Saints are Super Bowl champions, but that they are just another team ready to get sucked in by the Super Bowl winner hangover we have seen in past years. Make sure you visit his page and let him know what the Who Dat Nation has to say, but first let's check out what he has to say.

Danny Cox: Do you believe that the hits made by Gregg Williams' instructed defense on Brett Favre were "dirty" and intended to injure the quarterback?

Joe Oberle: Hmmmm, the most talked about subject since the NFC Championship game (NFCCG). Dirty? What's dirty in a game where at the bottom of a pile scrambling for a loose ball, players often grab a few but don't necessarily come up with the football.

Here's what I believe:

The Saints defense was instructed by their coach to get to the quarterback and hit him as hard as they can. If they take a penalty, so be it. It will make the quarterback think twice about hanging onto the ball next time. That's football (as Favre has stated). I am sure it happens in every locker room.

If they can knock him out of the game, all the better, the Saints figured, because they knew Favre was the Vikings offense's greatest asset. Now to get someone out of the game you usually have to injure them. And to get Favre out of a game, you generally have to knock him unconscious, because he is a gamer. Was there intent to injure? It was pretty brutal. But only the Saints know for sure.

That said, there is a line that can be crossed. And if the line is crossed, the referees are there to penalize it--no matter how many times it occurs. But the refs dropped the ball in the NFCCG. They penalized the Saints twice for late hits (and fined them $25,000), but Favre was hit 16 times, and others were illegal--particularly on the play when Favre threw his first interception (the Vikings were marching and that was a game changer).

Ultimately, I think if you do it within the rules, hit him as often as you want. It's part of the game. If it is illegal, call the penalty. If you don't like it, than stop the other team from doing it--there's no mercy rule in the NFL.

And if it is in your game plan to take the other team's best player out, and your defensive coach announces it to the world and it appears to some that you may have gotten away with some questionable shots, than accept the reputation and ridicule that goes along with that. The team has earned it.

DC: The defense of the Vikings was a huge factor in their success last year, do you think they have improved at all this season or can at least hold up as they did last season?

JO: I do think they are improved and it mostly has to do with health. Hard hitting cornerback Antoine Winfield is back and healthy after playing only a handful of games early last season without injury; E.J. Henderson returns (remarkably) after breaking his femur late in the season, while his replacement Jasper Brinkley adds depth at linebacker; the Vikings have added rookie corner Chris Cook, who was going to start until he tore the meniscus in his knee during the preseason--when he returns in a couple weeks, the pass defense improves; and a very deep defensive line remains intact to once again stifle the run and wreak havoc in opponents' backfields.

Can they hold up? Certainly. Age is a concern with 39-year-old Pat Williams on the defensive line, but there are players considered good enough to start on other teams waiting to spell him. Cedric Griffin is coming back from a torn ACL in the NFCCG and it remains to be seen if he will get on the field Thursday night, and who knows if Henderson's leg will hold up--some thought the injury was career threatening. But then that is the question each team faces every season--will their starters stay healthy? Outside of cornerback, which is a little thin until Cook and Griffin return, the Vikings defense is deep enough for the long run.

DC: Adrian Peterson is quite possibly one of the top two running backs in the league, but he has the fumbling issue. Has that been corrected for this season?

JO: I think the phrase you were looking for is "quite possibly the top running back in the league"--as far as being one of the top two, there is no doubt. His numbers bear that out. (I think he regains number one status when Chris Johnson gets a season of defenses keying on him as the top threat in the Tennessee offense.)

The Vikings have to go back to more reliance on AP this season. If not only to take pressure off the old man's arm, but also to keep him from taking so many hits. They need AP to be able to protect Favre on third down and to catch more passes out of the backfield. And they also need him to protect the ball in his own hands.

Peterson has studied film on the fumbling issue and made it an offseason priority. He has vowed to do better, but unfortunately he is a marked man, and the clawing and tackling of the ball in his hands will only increase. But he is strong, aware of the situation and has worked to eliminate the problem. AP is a very determined and hard working individual--I think you will see improvement in this area for him this season.

DC: Is there any way that Brett Favre and Brad Childress can actually co-exist for another season?

JO: Absolutely. They have already done it for one season and made the choice to team up again for another one. It was Childress who first made all the entreaties to Favre to come back and he took the trips to Hattiesburg to take Favre's temperature. And it was Childress who sent his three captains to Mississippi to bring him back.

Childress knows the value of Favre to his team. He knows what it's like to coach him, and he knows how great a field general Favre remains. Were there disagreements last season on what plays to call? Absolutely. Will there be more this season? As the pressure mounts, and the stakes increase, it will definitely happen again. Is it a bad problem to have? No.

When two people (three if you include offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell) work that hard and know that much about the game and their opponents, ultimately, you find the right way to do things. Another season together can only help them understand each other more and get on the same page together. It couldn't have been too bad for them last season, or it would have been Favre getting shipped back to New York instead of Sage Rosenfels.

DC: Thursday's season opener is one of the most anticipated games in recent memory...how do you feel the tempo of the game will be and what is your ultimate prediction?

JO: I see the two teams picking up right where they left off last January. The pace will be quick, the ball will be flying and the teams will be racing up and down the field like a video game. It's great that the two teams meet now rather than midseason. Although I would prefer the Vikings, after the uneven preseason they've had, to be afforded more time to get their legs under them, I like the marquee nature of this matchup. This is a great way to kick off the season with how that game ended up last year.

The Vikings will be pumped up, but if they come out slow offensively like they did against Cleveland last season, it will be a long, loud game in the Superdome for the Purple. Emotion will carry the Vikings a long way, but they have to execute against a very good team eager to defend their title and prove to all doubters that the better team won last season.

That said, I believe the Vikings defense is ready. They are improved and have something to prove themselves. They will keep the Vikings in the game (as they will do all season long) and if the Vikings offensive line can protect Favre and open some holes for Peterson, they will do enough to beat the Saints this time.

If history is any indicator, every time the Vikings lost a Super Bowl and then played a rematch against that team the following season, they won the game. The NFC Championship game was their Super Bowl last season, so they will enact some revenge on Thursday night in New Orleans.

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Well then, will revenge be exacted or will Brett Favre regret coming back to seek out a victory against the team that took away his Super Bowl chance? It's going to be a battle. A loud, rambunctious, hard-fought, blood-thirsty, and talent-riddled battle for NFC supremacy...and that's only in the first game of the season.