Vikings vs. Saints NFC Championship Game

[BlueLundFishrman]

Did you expect the St Louis Rams to be there?

[Stcloudangler]

Thats the dumbest thing I have ever seen... Of course your SOS will be less than others if you have a good record... DOH!

Another shot in the dark to give the flavor of doubt in our coffee... maybe pick another flawed statistic?

[greebs]

could be a lot of points scored by both teams. all depends on which vikings D shows up. will it be the very good D that typically shows up at the dome or the not so good D that seems to not play very inspired on the road? with it being an indoor game and for a shot at the bowl, one would think the D might play a little better than usual on the road and surely the motivation better be there.

[fishersofmen]

Oh yea, I forgot we had to play the Cowboys. No big deal....

[JeffB]

Minnesota had the 2nd easiest schedule behind the Packers who had the easiest.

Actually I think we had the easier schedule since we played the pack twice and they had to play the Vikes!!

[swamptiger]

Favre is from Mississippi, so next week will be just like homecoming week to him... He just has to remember to bring Rice and his defense along...

[Cooter]

If both teams bring out their A game I see the Saints winning - anything else will just add to the credibility of that luckiest team chart!

[eyehunter]

I believe that if the Vikings defense gets after Brees like they did Romo that they will beat the Saints....can't wait to see Sid grab one over the top of Sharper's head and run it for 6. Sharper is a player, but the old man can't get up in the air like Sid can.

[bunkerbay]

Turnovers Turnovers Turnovers....and our D-line is pretty good... GO VIKES!

[LMITOUT]

After digesting the game yesterday did anybody notice any items that the Vikings need to work or improve upon? Were there any flaws or weaknesses yesterday in defense, offense, or special teams?

[TR21HP]

There are a lot of things the Vikings need to clean up but that has little or nothing to do with next weeks game as they will be preparing for a completely different team with different match ups.

[Scott K]

After digesting the game yesterday did anybody notice any items that the Vikings need to work or improve upon? Were there any flaws or weaknesses yesterday in defense, offense, or special teams?

Nope, they are good just they way they are now Dont change anything, I would like to see the exact thing happen this weekend, as happened last weekend.

[eyehunter]

I think Lmit brings up a good point. I think they are going to have to come out of the gates with pistols blazing and not take a series or two to take control like they did yesterday. They need to get pressure on Brees right away and score early and take the wind out of the sails of that crowd that will be louder than the one yesterday.

[Coach1310]

I think the matchup is pretty good... I think we win the battle of the line of scrimmage on both sides... our O line vs. their D-Line and vice versa.... I think they are more explosive because of the great schemes Payton uses to get certain matchups.... I know we have evolved into a passing team, but I think the biggest key is AP.... get him a nice hole or two early... establish the running game and keep Brees and Co. off the field... I am just glad that the elements won't play a factor in this game.... no excuses about cold, wind, rain, etc... Gotta score early and knock the crowd down a bit.

[Stratosman]

It's quite obvious that our secondary is our main weakness, and going against Brees will be a tough chore if we cannot apply pressure like we did on Romo, also, Longwell on kickoffs is another weakness, kicking it to the 20 doesn't quite cut it, not when we have been known to give up big chunks, special teams played phenomonal Sunday but better be able to keep it up, we need to play a near perfect game to win vs. the Saints. That's just my take though....

[fishersofmen]

Our secondary does a good job when the D-line plays like they did against the Cowboys. Lol. Just can't give Brees alot of time to throw the ball. Our defense beat Dallas and its going to take our defense to beat the Saints. If they come out with the same mentality we win the game. Dallas went into New Orleans when they were undefeated and took care of buisness. We all saw what we did to Dallas. We should win this game!!!

[james_walleye]

After digesting the game yesterday did anybody notice any items that the Vikings need to work or improve upon? Were there any flaws or weaknesses yesterday in defense, offense, or special teams?

It was frustrating to see Felix Jones hitting the edge in the running game pretty effectively at times. You don't want Reggie Bush doing that. The saints running game needs to be completely shut down to make that team 1 dimensional. I'm worried about how well the saints are at getting Bush the ball in open space in that passing game as well. That isnt a good matchup. Bad tackling will doom this team if it crops up.

The vikings more than ever need to get AP going. Get to 2nd and 3 where the saints have to play run and pass. Dont get into 3rd and 8 so Gregg Williams can dial all those creative blitzes up. They need some of those 10-12 play 6-8 minute drives. Keep the saints offense off the field and shorten this game. The less the saints offense sees the field the better the odds for the vikings, and better the odds you might somehow get that offense out of rhythm.

[Scott K]

I think Favre needs to work on his accuracy, 15 for 24 just isnt acceptable

Dont let this clown Lmit make you talk about the bad things of the Vikings, they just won, and are playing in the title game. We should be talking about how good our team is, instead of pointing out what is bad about our team.

[solbes]

Good points James'eye. Longer drives would be great since Brees can get on and off the field in a hurry with 7. Also I don't understand why the only running plays we seem to run are AP plowing into closing hole between the tackles? Can't we pitch it wide or run off tackle sometimes? Or better yet actually open the holes with our enormous and expensive O-Line.

The short passes to Chester and Shiancoe are also low risk plays and pretty effective at eating some clock. Set em up for the big bombs later on.

[greebs]

Our secondary does a good job when the D-line plays like they did against the Cowboys. Lol. Just can't give Brees alot of time to throw the ball. Our defense beat Dallas and its going to take our defense to beat the Saints. If they come out with the same mentality we win the game. Dallas went into New Orleans when they were undefeated and took care of buisness. We all saw what we did to Dallas. We should win this game!!!

....however, we all see what they did to Az who throttled the vikes. all this means is you can't compare other games to determine what will happen in upcoming games. If this game were a home game for vikes, no doubt they win. With it being on the road, I'll say it again. The D needs to come out and play much better than they did their last several road games or this could potentially be similar outcomes to their last several road games.

[Nick Kuhn]

I agree. the running game and screen game could improve quite a bit. Favre could also have spread the ball out a little more as well.

I think the key again will be controlling the line of scrimmage. I think special teams will also be a big factor that goes overlooked this week.

[fishersofmen]

If you can't compare other games to determine what will happen in upcoming games then there is no gaurantee we would win if it was at home either. All I was saying is Dallas proved this team can be taken down in their house and I agree it has to happen with our defense.

[zepman]

Originally Posted By: LMITOUT

After digesting the game yesterday did anybody notice any items that the Vikings need to work or improve upon? Were there any flaws or weaknesses yesterday in defense, offense, or special teams?

It was frustrating to see Felix Jones hitting the edge in the running game pretty effectively at times. You don't want Reggie Bush doing that. The saints running game needs to be completely shut down to make that team 1 dimensional. I'm worried about how well the saints are at getting Bush the ball in open space in that passing game as well. That isnt a good matchup. Bad tackling will doom this team if it crops up.

The vikings more than ever need to get AP going. Get to 2nd and 3 where the saints have to play run and pass. Dont get into 3rd and 8 so Gregg Williams can dial all those creative blitzes up. They need some of those 10-12 play 6-8 minute drives. Keep the saints offense off the field and shorten this game. The less the saints offense sees the field the better the odds for the vikings, and better the odds you might somehow get that offense out of rhythm.

That's a pretty complete run-down James. IMO, the biggest key to this whole game is our ability to run the ball AT WILL and OFTEN. We don't want to get into a basketball game with this team on their turf....if that happens, chances are we lose. Ball control, tenacious defense, and Lord Favre will get the Vikes over the hump. The ONE advantage the Saints have on us is obviously their home crowd. Running the ball with AP, Chester, and hopefully Percy will take them right out of the game.

[MidCoast]

Our secondary does a good job when the D-line plays like they did against the Cowboys. Lol. Just can't give Brees alot of time to throw the ball. Our defense beat Dallas and its going to take our defense to beat the Saints. If they come out with the same mentality we win the game. Dallas went into New Orleans when they were undefeated and took care of buisness. We all saw what we did to Dallas. We should win this game!!!

Dallas did take care of business vs the Saints. However, by that time, Saints were no longer playing for a perfect season anymore. Saying we all saw what Vikings did to Dallas is like saying we all saw what Saints did to the Cardinals in the playoffs. Cardinals wasted the Vikes in the regular season.

It will be hard for Vikings to win against the Saints on the road. Saints have a top notch defense and the best offense in the NFL right now.

[rayguy]

Breeze is Favres equal, and Bush can do more things than Peterson. Not sure this will be as easy as you guys are spinning.