-Will Percy Harvin be at 100%? He amounts to their best mismatch if he is on Jason Allen. -Has Greg Camarillo learned the Vikes WCO? -Who wins the special teams battle of beginning field position? -Can the vikes huge, but slow offensive tackles handle Cam Wake and Koa Misi and Karlos Dansby? -Will the Vikes be able to expose the ILB's Dansby and Carpenter? -Will the Dolphins Oline be in sync in the noise of the Metrodome? -Who has a better day, Adrian Peterson or the R+R Express? -Will Brian Hartline rediscover his rookie season level of play? -Can the Vikes expose Chris Clemons? Match ups to watch: -Big Jake vs Jared Allen -Jerry/Berger/Incognito vs the Williams Wall -Jason Allen vs Percy Harvin -Vikes Special Teams vs Clifton Smith -Mike Nolan vs Brett Favre X Factors: -Who wins the battler of toughness? -Anthony Fasano, will he stay in to block, or will he be a factor in the passing game? -Dolphins Defensive Speed vs Mamoth Vikings Oline -Sparano Clock Mgmt vs Childress Clock Mgmt -Battle of Special Teams, especially early in the season, the Specials can win or lose a game for either team -DBess vs Vikings Cover 2 Defense Thoughts?
Dobbins will be back for this game. He will get the start. Probably sill expect to see Carpenter in some nickel defenses if they don't go to 3 safeties.
i hope they put a S on him like the saints did in the 2nd half, YB need to look on film what roman harper did to Shiancoe after the break.
I think the big match-up is the DEs vs the Ts for both sides. IMO Miami has the advantage here. Other match-ups: The interior lines - Favre is a master at stepping up when the ends get too deep. Interior pressure is what forces his mistakes. On the other side, I don't think Berger, et al can move the Williams wall, but they can shield them and make them vulnerable to the cut back. IMO both DLs have the advantage. Dolphin passing game vs. the Viking's secondary - They are depleted and I think Miami has the advantage here. AP vs. Dolphin's run D - AP is a beast but the run D has been good all preseason and in game one. I think this one will be even and if it is then I think Miami probably wins. Favre vs. Dolphin's secondary - I think the Vikes have the advantage here. Their receivers are hurting though. I think we can minimize Shianocoe's impact and Cam and Berrian don't scare me. Harvin does scare me, but he might not play. Still Favre has a tendency to make average receivers look good. I give him the advantage against our secondary, but that advantage can be neutralized by what I believe is our advantage on the DL. In the end I think (and hope) that Favre's impact will be minimal and that it will come down to how we control AP and if Henne and company can take advantage of their depleted secondary. I think Miami has a really good chance to win this. The Vikes are favored and rightfully so, but I would not feel confident if I were a Vike's fan.
My view is, Sparano handled Favre when he was a Jet, and this is the game that Nolan's Defense comes into it's own, specifically Randy Starks and the rest of the Dline. The vikes miss Chester Taylor this yr, they simply have not replaced him with anyone comparable in the third down running back role. 24 hrs until kick off..
Well, is YBell that good in coverage to begin with? I'd rather have him as a blitzer than Carpenter blitzing. And that is what makes for a good matchup for the Vikes, there are no easy solutions for covering Shiancoe. We have the same advantage with Misi and Wake, will the Vikes double team either one of them? If so which one?
Whenever we blitz, Favre will look for Shiancoe first, IMO we should have one of our best cover guys on him, when we're not doubling him.
Well, put it this way, if Favre is not slinging the ball while falling away from the throw due to pressure, it won't matter who is on Shiancoe. We have a real advantage here GM, against Robinson's blitz scheme, the Vieks kept two blockers in the backfield to protect the A Gap, with Nolan, the Vikes have no idea what we will do as Nolan blitzed less than DC Pasqualoni did in 09 vs the Bills. Most of the pressure on Edwards came from base packages, Nolan really did very little in the way of exotic blitzes..which is a Ace in the Hole for this game.
I'd actually bet we see Allen on Berrian and Davis on Harvin. Davis' tackling will help covering Harvin. Hopefully Sapp does well against Camarillo.
BTW, the miami media continues to say: "The vikings had the #1 defense against the run" Well, let's think about that one first by looking in their division: -Detroit..no Rb as Kevin Smith shredded his knee -Chicago..Matt Forte had a bad yr in 09 -Green Bay..Ryan Grant is the best Rb in the division Out of Conference schedule for 09: -Cleveland -Rams -49ers (that was the back of the endzone Lewis Hail Mary Catch for the W) -Steelers -Ravens (who shredded the Vikings in 09 in MN but missed a GW FG try) -Seattle -Bengals they did do a great job in that game -Carolina-Panthers mopped the floor with the Vikings -Giants-Mailed it in in the last game of the season 44-7 Other than the Bengals, who maybe were without Ced Benson who missed time due to injury, which dominant running attack did the Vikings "#1 Ranked Running Defense" shut down in 2009's regular season? The Saints imho exposed this team for the soft butter in a bowl outfit that they are..bring on Sunday!
They are a good team but that is a nice analysis. Facing the Jets twice spoke highly of our defensive line.
Hey guys don't forget about the Beast. He will have a big day and will score. That is something to watch as well.
Rushing yards/game they were 2nd to Green Bay. Benson played that game and had 16 rushes for 96 yards, but no one else did anything. B-More only had 81 rushing yards against them and we all know they have talented backs. They allowed 90 rushing yards against the Pack but 52 of those were by Aaron Rodgers, not the backs. And Steven Jackson only had 84 yards on 21 carries (4.0 average). They have proven over the years they have been very tough against the run, so I wouldn't question how good they really are based on one season. EDIT: They have also been #1 in stopping the run 3 of the past 4 seasons.
Wake and Misi will push the edge but like noted earlier favre will step into the pocket so we need Starks to prove he can get pressure or at least consistantly push the pocket. I think the interior of our D-line is the biggest key to the game. That and our O-line play. Do we get the production that many of us expected coming into this year? Everybody forgets, many Dolphans were calling this the best O-line in the league in the off-season. I want to see power out of our guards and for them to control the Williams' wall
Well why wouldn't they? Look at whom they play in their division 4 times a year or 25% of their schedule. Toss in the Rams who have to run the ball and that is 5 out of 16 games. That would be like us playing the Gm #1 Bills team 5 times a season, how do you suppose our Run Defense would be ranked? And THAT is why they can be had tomorrow.
Pads i think part of their success in stopping the run is from their D line, who are very good on the run and Greenway at LB. I also don't think any one in their division is nearly as good as Jake Long when they have to stop a LT run. No one from the Bears, Packers or Detroit on the left end of their Oline is anything special. Now they have to stop R&R while getting round the grader - Big Jake, if Jake can set the edge on Allen and the williams we can have a successful running attack vs them. I like you think they can be exposed. Like the saints showed in the second half last week. The key is however to have a lead at half time.
Exactly, there is this meme that "no one runs on the Vikings D!" And the plain fact is, they play crap teams for almost 1/3rd of their schedule, when they are facing the Keith Null's of the NFL what should they expect?
I think more important than getting pressure Misi, Wake and co better play disciplined gap control or AP is going to kill us. We need a big game from the secondary particullarly Davis and Allen in run support.
I think this is going to be one of the most important match-ups. I'm not as worried about Jake, but Jared Allen is a madman, so Jake better be 100%. The interior OL played well last week, imo, but this week will be a much tougher and more telling test for the interior. The OL leads to the point that we have to try to exploit the weakness they have in their secondary. We have to be able to give Henne enough time to do so, but it 'aint gonna' be easy. I think this will be huge and something that's definitely in our favor. Their OL is also dinged up. I expect Wake and Misi to be able to get good pressure, especially Wake, but Dansby may have his hands full covering and spying guys like Petersen, Harvin and Shanko.
i think we can take em. i dont think favre and the backup receivers starting will be able to hurt us. favre might but not the receivers and if its all favre we can weather that storm. we got lucky when we played them in the season. wouldnt want to play them week 10 when rice and harvin will be playing
Hey bro. Isn't it awesome that we get to see the game this week on TV? I only noticed that a couple days ago. I was so psyched! I love when that happens. Then at 4pm, we can watch the Jets lose. Good day of football. Enjoy!
If i'am the vike's I press the box, shut down the run, and make Henne beat me over the top, Mr.Marshall, this is why we paid you 50 million dollars, the oline must give Henne time, and Henne must be sharp vertically, and outside the hashes, and connect with Marshall while doing so.. we just need that space to pound people fair and square...
