Minnesota Vikings-New York Jets Breakdown: Monday Night Football Edition

Welcome to this week's Monday Night Football Edition of the matchup breakdown. To see the Falcons vs. Browns edition, click here. 

Headline: Santonio Holmes and Randy Moss make debuts for their new teams.

This week the Patriots traded Randy Moss to his old team, the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings have been needing a wide receiver considering Sidney Rice is still out with an injury. Moss gives the Vikes a downfield target and Brett Favre a new toy.

Speaking of Favre, he has some off-field distractions according to Deadspin.com, but that is for another story.

The Jets also will be debuting a top flight wide out, Santonio Holmes, who is coming off a four game suspension. It will be interesting to see what chemistry him and Mark Sanchez have.

Keys to Victory for the Minnesota Vikings:

1. Establish the passing game- So far this season the Vikings are averaging 185 passing yards per game, only good enough for 24th in the NFL. They look for one man to change that and his name is Moss. Moss will move Percy Harvin to the slot when Rice returns.

For now, Moss and Harvin will be starting with Visanthe Shancoe at tight end. Expect this to improve.

2. Force Mark Sanchez into mistakes- As a rookie Sanchez threw a ton of interceptions. This season, it's a different story. Sanchez has looked like a veteran Pro-Bowl Quarterback. The Vikings need to pressure him, so we find out which one is the real Sanchez.

Keys to Victory for the New York Jets:  

1. Stop the Vikings running game- The Vikings rank fifth in the league in rushing, as Adrian Peterson has 392 yards in 70 attempts. The good news for Jet fans is Rex Ryan's rush defense is raked fourth.

2. Get Santonio Holmes involved- The Jets should be welcome to the idea of adding a former Super Bowl MVP to their receiving corps considering the leading receiver is Dustin Keller, a tight end. He should be involved early on to get him and Sanchez chemistry.

The Rest of the Vikings offense vs. the Jets defense:

As much as I've talked about chemistry between Sanchez and Holmes, they had training camp to gel. That is unlike Favre and Moss, who have just had this week's practice time. Darelle Revis is very familiar with Moss, so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

This has gone both ways in the past, but Revis usually has the upper hand. The matchup on the other side of the field is just as interesting, as Antonio Cromartie will cover Harvin. Both of those men are very athletic and fast, but Cromartie has a size advantage.

Adrian Peterson's power running style may be able to wear down the Jets' defense allowing Favre to go deep, possibly to Moss.

The Rest of the Jets offense vs. the Vikings defense:

The Vikes' top corner, Winfield, will be covering Holmes. Holmes may be rusty after not playing for a month. Last season Winfield showed many signs of aging, he was also injured most of the season. This is an opportunity to figure out if he is still capable of covering guys like Holmes.  

LaDainian Tomlinson has looked like he did in his prime this year. The rejuvenated Tomlinson creates a dynamic duo with power runner Shonn Greene. They will meet the Williams wall.

The Jets offensive line against the Vikings defensive line might decide this game. The interior lineman for the Jets will be blocking Kevin and Pat Williams, which will make for great matchups.

I would expect for the Vikings defensive line to win this battle, including Jared Allen getting a sack on Sanchez.

Prediction:

The Vikings need this win a lot more than the Jets do, which makes me lean towards a Vikings victory.

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