Veteran Vikings defense ready for Saints offense

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP)—Even with only three healthy cornerbacks to throw at the Saints’ wide-open, pass-first offense, the Minnesota Vikings defense thinks it’s ready for the highly anticipated rematch Thursday night.
Perhaps the proud veteran unit’s performance in the football jerseys
NFC title game has something to do with that.
The Vikings held the Saints to 257 yards in the 31-28 overtime loss in New Orleans in January, by far the lowest output from the high-powered offense all season long. The Saints managed just 213 in the regular-season finale against Carolina, but Drew Brees(notes) did not play and a host of other regulars got just a few snaps in the game.
“They did a good job keeping the guy out of rhythm,” coach Brad Childress said Tuesday. “Anytime you’re getting off the field on third downs … They just got him out of kilter a little bit, whether it’s knocking receivers out of kilter or rushing him and getting him moving around, it was one or the other for most of that second half.”
The Vikings’ vaunted defensive line, which led the league in sacks last year, only sacked Brees once in the game. But they forced him to throw sooner than he wanted and kept the shifty Saints receivers from turning short receptions into long gains.
A team that averaged 403.8 yards of offense per game managed just 73 total yards on six full drives in the second half. The Saints capitalized on a long kick return right out of halftime and Percy Harvin’s(notes) fumble at the Minnesota 6-yard line for their two touchdowns in the second half.
But the Vikings held the Saints to 3 for 12 on third downs and forced four punts in the second half, and seven in the game, nearly twice as many as New Orleans averaged in the regular season.
“I thought they played very well against us in that NFC championship game,” Brees said. “As we go back and look in that film, we feel we were all kind of disappointed in the way we played offensively. You have to give them a lot of credit, obviously, because they did some good things. We just looked at short-yardage situations where we were kind of Indianapolis Colts jersey
poor at. Third downs in general, we did not do a very good job. … All in all, I feel like we are a lot better than what we showed last year in that game.”
If the Vikings defenders are going to have similar success Thursday night, they are going to have to overcome even greater odds than they did the first time around.
Veterans Antoine Winfield(notes) and Lito Sheppard(notes) and second-year pro Asher Allen(notes) are the only three healthy cornerbacks heading into the game against an offense that loves to run four, and sometimes even five, receivers on any given play.
Starting cornerback Cedric Griffin(notes) has practiced some this week and says he is close to coming back from a torn knee ligament suffered in the NFC title game, but it would appear that he is a long shot to play in Week 1.
The Vikings traded veteran Benny Sapp(notes) to Miami for Greg Camarillo(notes) to add depth to a thin receiver corps, then lost impressive rookie Chris Cook(notes) for at least the first two weeks of the season because of a torn meniscus in his right knee.
Sheppard has been up and down in his first training camp with the Vikings and the team could activate undrafted rookie Marcus Sherels(notes) from the practice squad for the game just to have enough bodies. They also could use safety Husain Abdullah(notes) more heavily in pass coverage.
“We expect every guy that lines up on Thursday night to play well,” defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. “We have high expectations for Lito, just like we do for all of our guys.”
The Saints know what they’re up against, and have their eyes on the weak spots that could be exploited.
“I’m sure they’re reading the papers, looking on the Internet, reading that we only have three corners,” Winfield said. “So, we can expect that.”
On the bright side, the Vikings will have Jared Allen(notes), Kevin Williams(notes), Pat Williams(notes) and Ray Edwards(notes) on the defensive line to chase Brees around. And captain E.J. Henderson(notes), who did not play in the NFC title game because of Minnesota Vikings jersey
a broken leg, will be right behind that fearsome front.
Henderson’s presence should help a unit that excelled in last season’s game at keeping Saints receivers in front of them and limiting big plays.
“The biggest thing is make sure we make the tackle as soon as we can,” linebacker Chad Greenway(notes) said. “They have so many athletes who are great after the catch. I don’t think there’s any secret to what we did. It’s basically the same thing we did every week.”