Minnesota Vikings

[Eskimo]

Anyone think they are the 2nd most talented team in the NFC behind us?

This team scares me more than the Saints or the 2 other wildcard teams.

If we beat this group than we are on our way.

I would agree on the talent level front.

I do think the team that I would least like to play again is the Saints because they can just be so explosive and Will Smith was just abusing Flo and that could lead to some turnovers.

The next team that I don't want to play is the Packers. They were just all over us in the last game. I don't trust RW's ability to beat tight coverage against them and they have Woodson to shadow Austin. Their run defense is also pretty good.

I think we match up really well against the Vikings. I am sure we beat them at Dallas but they are tough at home: 8-0 this year. I still think we beat them. Besides, Favre is terrified of us.

I wouldn't mind playing the Cards - they don't scare me too much. Just double Fitzgerald and we should win.

 

[Eskimo]

We can exploit their secondary.

This is their Achilles heel. They are just terrible. Winfield is their best player but he isn't that great in coverage - just tackles really, really well. RW better hold on tight when he goes up against him or he'll make Roy cough one up. The same goes for Crayton. Miles seems to secure the ball pretty good.

 

[Slashar00]

Packers are the scariest team in the NFC for us, but thankfully we won't have to play in Lambeau.

I think the Vikes are a close second, but sometimes the Vikes just aren't very good. I can definitely see us getting ahead on them early which would cut down on AP's carries, and then the pressure is on Favre to carry this team. And sometimes he'll get frustrated and start making errant throws.

But here's the cool thing: EVERYONE IN THE NFC IS AFRAID OF THE COWBOYS!!! Trust me, I bet the Vikes were very sad to see the Cowboys win today.

 

[Eskimo]

MN is unbeaten at home and the key to the game is not stopping the run although that's always true. The key is to pressure Favre into making mistakes and not sitting back there destroying any team.

I hope we have some creative blitzes in mind if the front five doesn't pressure enough.

And our bread and butter draws will likely not be effective against the interior of that line. My guess is we attack the outside more than inside. Allen needs to be accounted for.

I don't even know that we need to blitz them all that much. I don't think their tackles are all that good so Ware and Spencer should have big games. I also think Favre gets the yips playing us - not much history of success.

I disagree that we shouldn't focus on AP. He has struggled down the stretch. I would be happy to have some 10-15 yard runs but we need to tackle him hard to try and separate him from the ball.

We do need to worry about their WRs but Philly, NO and NYG are better so we are used to it by now.

I really don't see the Vikings beating us. They are almost like an inferior version of us. I would only give them an edge in the RB dept and DT.

 

[MinnesotaCowboy]

Not one team in the NFL scares me.

Exactly my comments.............I am a transplanted Texan who has lived in Minnesota for 32 years. Have seen the Cowboys play many games in the metrodome. Before I retired I had a close friend who worked for a company in Mpls. and they had a box on the 50 yd line..........I got to sit in that box for many cowboy-viking games (like dying and going to heaven). One game I remember very vividly, the Jones family sat in the box next to ours and Jerry was in hog heaven (a little play on words) as he signed hundreds of autographs. One thing I did notice was that his wife was a real beauty. The Vikings are very beatable in the dome regardless of their clean record at home!

 

[windward]

This is their Achilles heel. They are just terrible. Winfield is their best player but he isn't that great in coverage - just tackles really, really well. RW better hold on tight when he goes up against him or he'll make Roy cough one up. The same goes for Crayton. Miles seems to secure the ball pretty good.

I also like Witten vs their lbs.

 

[mldardy]

Exactly my comments.............I am a transplanted Texan who has lived in Minnesota for 32 years. Have seen the Cowboys play many games in the metrodome. Before I retired I had a close friend who worked for a company in Mpls. and they had a box on the 50 yd line..........I got to sit in that box for many cowboy-viking games (like dying and going to heaven). One game I remember very vividly, the Jones family sat in the box next to ours and Jerry was in hog heaven (a little play on words) as he signed hundreds of autographs. One thing I did notice was that his wife was a real beauty. The Vikings are very beatable in the dome regardless of their clean record at home!

I think it was Carolina last year that was undefeated at home and then lost at home to the Cardinals in the divisional round of the playoffs.

 

[JD_KaPow]

Their other losses were to good teams (GB, Pittsburgh, I forget the last)

actually I think they lost to Green Bay twice this year.

? The Vikings beat GB twice this year. They lost to PIT, ARI, CHI and CAR.

 

[Monster Heel]

One thing I really like about this matchup is Ware vs McKinnie. McKinnie has been horrible at this times this season and Ware stands a chance to whip him badly and/or force the Vikings to give him a lot of help. I like Anthony Spencer against Phil Loadholt in a scenario where he's pretty much on an island.

 

[BourbonBalz]

I'd rather play the Vikings than the Saints (again at their place) or the Packers right now. The Vikings don't scare me. If we pass protect well, we can really exploit their secondary. I think we can score against them. On defense, I think we can get a LOT of pressure on Farve and no one has run against us for quite some time. I think we match up against the Vikings very, very well. As long as we don't turn the ball over and pass protect fairly well, we win.

One thing does worry me. I don't think it will happen with this team, but I sure hope they don't relax after finally getting the playoff monkey off their back. I hope they continue to play with as much intensity as they have the past month. I think they will, but human nature sometimes rears its ugly head. I just hope we don't think we're arrived by beating up on the Buzzards two weeks in a row. It should give us even more confidence, but I sure hope the hunger remains. That, IMO is the only thing that could beat us next weekend.

 

[BourbonBalz]

? The Vikings beat GB twice this year. They lost to PIT, ARI, CHI and CAR.

Yea, and Arizona and Carolina beat them badly. We can do the same thing.

 

[Idgit]

The Vikes aren't the same team they were 6 weeks ago. As others have noted, the Packers are the bigger threat to us right now. The combination of a passing game and a defense is what I worry about, and MIN's is pretty good. Ours is better, though.

 

[BourbonBalz]

True. Teams change throughout a season. The Vikings aren't as good as they were 6 weeks ago, and we're MUCH better than we were 6 weeks ago. Night and day.

 

[wxcpo]

Philly actually scared me more than the Vikings do. I know I'm biased, but I truly feel the Cowboys have been playing the best football in the NFL over the last 4 weeks. At this point the only team left in the playoffs who actually scare me are the Chargers. Other than that I think we can hang with and beat anyone left.