Duel in The Desert: The Juggernaut Rolls Westward

At 10-1 the Minnesota Vikings are heading out west to play the 7-4 Arizona Cardinals.  The Cardinals are coming off a heartbreaking loss at Tennessee as Vince Young went all 2006 Rose Bowl against Matt Leinart again.  The Vikings are coming off an impressive three game home stand in which they outscored their three opponents 98-29.

Granted, those opponents were the Lions, Seahawks, and Bears (oh my!) we looked good in all phases of the game against the three.  Especially in the second half where we have really put our foot down and crushed the opposition's will.  This week could be different, or not, I can't really tell how to gauge this game.  The Cardinals are a mixed bag.  Some weeks they look mediocre, other weeks they look like world beaters.  Their starting quarterback Kurt Warner sat out last week with a concussion.  In all likely hood he will be back this week but who knows?  Even if he is back this week will he be effective?

Last year we dismantled the Cardinals with Tarvaris Jackson at the helm.  This year we roll into University of (I'm a) Phoneix Stadium with Brett Favre at the helm.  This year it's also a primetime affair on Sunday Night Football.  Last year we were clinging to a slim division lead over the Bears.  This year we are a top three team in the league with a mortal lock on our divison, fighting for homefield advantage.

The key on defense will be an effective pass rush.  With the idea in mind that Warner will be back we can't let the Cardinals have all day to throw.  They have one of the most explosive offenses in the league and their wide receiver tandem of Fitzgerald and Boldin is the best we have seen all year.  Warner isn't exactly elusive so if we can get to him we should take him down.  (By the way is there anything more annoying than an elusive quarterback?  Just when you're about to do the Jared Allen sack dance you see Rodgers running away.  With that mustache and bad haircut combo he sometimes employs in that green uniform he looks like the second coming of Luigi from the Supermario Brothers.  If Mike McCarthy would just don a red uniform he could play the part of Mario.  Say it with me now, Here we go!  But I digress.)

Antoine Winfield by all accounts should be back, then again I have been saying that for a month now and he's been on the sideline everytime.  Thankfully the pass defense has stepped it up a notch.  Though with Fitz it doesn't really matter.  If you get that ball within 5 yards of him he's flying out of nowhere with his dreads flowing behind him like a cape to snatch that ball out of the air.  I can't count how many times I've watched a Cardinals game and seen Warner throw one of his ugly dead duck looking passes (seriously I don't think I've ever seen a tight spiral come out of his hand, not once.  He's the anti-Favre) and thought, "oh wow, what a bad pass...oh my I didn't even see Fitzgerald in the picture.  Where did he come from?"

On offense it'd be nice to Adrian Peterson take this game over so I can stop hearing about how "bad" he's doing and how everyone is "shutting him down."  Seriously the man is averaging 100 yards and a touchdown every game.  He's not getting "shut down" we just don't have to rely on him to be our whole offense anymore.  He's not getting 25-30 carries anymore because hello, we have a pass game this year!  Teams are still stacking the box to stop AP.  Look at the Bears game, they had eight or nine men in the box the whole game.  Also our line is better at pass protection than run blocking.  Look at Chris Johnson's line.  Everytime I see a big highlight of his, his line had gotten a great push like five yards downfield.  He's already in the second level before he has to make a move.  Then he makes one move and boom, 85 yards of daylight.  Watch Peterson. He has to make a move aka run over somebody about a half yard downfield.

On top of the shutting the haters up angle, it'd be nice to completely control the clock.  The less we have to see the Cardinals on offense the better.  I'd also prefer to never have to see 48 pass attempts by a 40 year old Favre again.  However, should we have to go to the air we are not lacking in that department.

We have Larry Fitzgerald's clone in Sidney Rice, and our most dynamic playmaker Percy Harvin.  Allow me to throw out some man love to Percy.  That guy is incredible.  I wanted him in the draft but I never thought he'd be instant impact like he is now.  The guy can't be over six feet but he plays like he's six eight.  He jumps over triple coverage to make amazing catches.  Then he'll land and run over a guy and break a tackle.  He's also taken some big shots but he never quits.  He never gets too scared to go across the middle even though he's risking getting crushed again.  Harvin can go deep, he can go across the middle, run a slant, take snaps in the wildcat, take hand offs, run reverses, the kid can do everything.  On top of that he comes from the Adrian Peterson school of firey competitor who makes jaw dropping plays but is super humble and never talks trash.  Harvin may be my favorite Viking.  But, I digress.

We still have Bernard Berrian who one day will actually have a big game.  And Shiancoe who has eight touchdown catches.  Never forget Chester Taylor.  We haven't used him all that much this year so he's fresh and he's effective.  We're not lacking in playmakers.  Favre is having a career best year.  He's a man on fire, he's on a mission.  His mission is to take this team to Miami.

Am I afraid of a late season breakdown everyone talks about ( some people hope for) all the time?  Slightly.  But I have watched Brett Favre for a long time.  I have never seen him like this.  Last year he was depressed because he was in New York, never really gelled with his team and got hurt.  His last few years in Green Bay he had to do too much.  This year he knows he doesn't have to do too much, he stays in his lane.  He's content, heck overjoyed to be just a piece to the puzzle, not the franchise guy who must carry the weight of a team on his back.  He's also where he wanted to be all along.  Sure he's beaten Ted Thompso...err Green Bay twice already but really what better way to really beat Green Bay than to carry their hated rival to a Super Bowl victory?  He's happy with his pitch count, he seems to like Chilly, loves his team mates and we know he loves Bevell our offensive coordinator.  Not to mention the road to the Super Bowl is paved with indoor stadiums.

Last year going into the Cardinals game I was in cold sweats thinking about Warner just torching our defense.  This year I am confident.  We have Favre, we have more playmakers than the Cardinals.  From top to bottom we have the most complete team in the NFL.  We can, and should beat Arizona.  We are better than they are both on offense and on defense.  Could we lose this game?  Well yeah, things happen.  The better team doesn't always win.  I know though that we are ready for Arizona.  Chilly and Favre have this team focused.  We are on a mission.  This isn't your father's Viking team that would come into a game like this unprepared and unmotivated.  This team has playoff experience and plenty of veterans.  Favre brings the Super Bowl experience.  We also have a nice group of young dynamic playmakers in AP, Harvin, and Sidney Rice.

The week and the wait is almost over.  All we're waiting for now is Faith Hill to sing us on.  I will be back Monday with my recap of the game.  I will also hand out my Gunslinger award and my awards for the game. 

Until next time, adios and via con Dios.

Skol Vikings.