This week the Saints travel to the Metrodome to face the 2-11 Minnesota Vikings. I had to go back to look at the standings just to make sure that the Vikings have really lost eleven games. To say it has been a down year for the Vikings would be an understatement as they have played some bad football. This game has the makings of a trap game as nobody expects the Vikings to come out with a win but the Saints Nation knows all too well how that game with St. Louis went with the Rams winning a game nobody gave them a chance to win. I expect the Saints will play their best game especially with that first round bye still in their sights .
Special Teams/Defense
This week the Saints have to prepare for a guy who can return it back for touchdowns in Percy Harvin.
He has returned four for touchdowns in his three year career and at any moment he could add to that total. The Vikings have Chris Kluwe as their punter and Ryan Longwell at the kicker position, and these two have been with the team six plus years. It’s defense has some pieces to be a good but injuries and inconsistent play have plagued this unit this year. They are led by their standout defensive end Jared Allen who currently leads the league with seventeen and half sacks. In previous seasons the defensive line was looked like one of the league’s best but retirements and free agency have decimated the unit this year. The linebackers for the Vikings are Chad Greenwa, E.J Henderson and Erin Henderson, not a great unit but they get the job done. Greenway leads the team in tackles with 118 as he is the team’s best linebacker. It seems like I beat a dead horse every week when I talk about the other team’s secondary as yet again the Vikings secondary is the unit that is the achilles heel of the defense. It is bad when the secondary is ranked 26th and you have the best passing team in the NFL coming to your place… doesn’t bode will for the Vikings’ pass defense.
How to take advantage?
It is rather simple: don’t kick to Harvin, that takes care of that problem. The Saints offensive line has been doing a good job the last couple of weeks protecting Drew and this week they will have their work cut out for them. I think keeping Gilmore in to help the tackles block Jared Allen would be a solution and I would also run some screens his way to offset his aggressive style. It should be an easy gameplan for the Saints, just do what they do best and the game should be over heading into the fourth quarter or sooner.
Offense
The Vikings drafted their franchise quarterback in the draft this past season in Christian Ponder. He started this season on the bench behind Donovan McNabb but as the losses mounted the Vikings went with the rookie as the season was lost. The jury is still out on whether or not Ponder will be the franchise quarterback and last week was a low point for the young quarterback. Ponder had four turnovers last week and was benched for Joe Webb who came close to bringing the Vikings back to a victory but ended up losing to the Lions. Coach Frazier has said that Ponder is still the quarterback for this week’s game but you would have to think that he will have a short leash this week. The Vikings welcome back all-pro Adrian Peterson this week as he has been out the last couple of weeks with an injury. He will look to take the pressure off of the young quarterback by getting those tough yards. The receiver unit is lead by Percy Harvin who is having a career year. He is a matchup nightmare as he can get down the field in a hurry which also opens up the passing game for Michael Jenkins, Visanthe Shiancoe and Devin Aromashodu. Patchwork is the word I would use to describe the Vikings’ offensive line. They have one all-pro lineman in Steve Hutchinson and a bunch of other team castoffs to form their line.
How to take advantage?
What ever they did last week to slow down Chris Johnson they need to carry it over this week and apply it to stopping Adrian Peterson. The fact that Ponder has struggled the last couple of weeks I would start there by applying pressure and mixing up coverage . The Saints should be able to get some kind of pressure against this offensive line, if not it could be a short playoff stint this year. I also think that the Saints offense could help by scoring some quick touchdowns thus taking Adrian out of the game as the Vikings will have to rely on the passing game. If I was Coach Williams I would use this game to work on getting better at getting after the quarterback and creating turnovers as these are two things that has to pick up going forward.
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