No one runs on the Vikings…no one. Teams that have success against them have done it throwing. Spread things out with a lot of 3 and 4 WR sets. Go after the weak links in coverage. If Antoine Winfield is still out, that means the awful Karl Paymah and rookie Asher Allen are Nickel and Dime guys, which can definitely be exploited. The Vikings also do a poor job of covering the TE seam route down the middle. Warner should look to hit that early and often.

The Vikes are going to put up 30+ points no matter what…there’s just too many weapons there. Turn it into a track meet…a real shoot-out…and there’s a chance.

The keys to the game: We need to play like a team that is in the top 5 in sacks registered, and get Favre dirty.

Likewise, our O-line is going to have to play one of their best games of the year in order to stave off the powerful Vikings D line. It won’t be easy.

Why risk his health against a very physical defense when there is no need, its not a playoff game

I think we keep Kurt healthy for next week when we will need him … if we weren’t in such a soft division with a great chance to make the playoffs I might feel differently

They are men. At the end of the day, the Minnesota Vikings are men with faults and tendencies just like the Arizona Cardinals. Yes, they have been playing terrific football and they are talented across the board. That does not mean they aren’t beatable.

If nobody has run on the Vikings, then I say you’ve just pointed out their weak spot. If every team goes out there and tries to exploit a depleted secondary, what do you expect the Vikings to gameplan against? They will expect our offense to try to win entirely through the air just as every other team has tried. To win this game, we must run the ball. The Vikings will spend all week expecting the Cardinals to attack primarily through the air. If the Cardinals can find a way to expose, and attack, weaknesses in the Vikings’ rush defense then we will have them on their heels scrambling to adjust. That is when we flip the script on them and go to play action and attack through the air.

On defense, pick your poison. They have a variety of weapons and, barring injuries or the fluke horrid day, we probably cannot contain them all. My suggestion is to show blitz on every defensive play. All of them. Brett Favre is masterful and can read a defense as well as any quarterback that plays this game. For him, it’s like reading a book. So we need to write that book in a different language. Every play needs to be disguised. Every coverage needs to have a different look and different feel. We aren’t going to win this game unless we take huge risks and gamble it all. Show blitz and then drop back. Show blitz and send 6 men at Favre. I agree that we need to put Favre on the ground and we need to do so before he lets go of the ball. Keep in mind that he is still prone to interceptions. We need to bring out the old Favre who plays terrible in a dome and has multiple interception games. Focus entirely on Favre. AP is a beast and everybody knows that, but Favre has been winning the games and Favre is the one we need to eliminate.

A win this week alleviates a huge chunk of playoff pressure so I hope the Cardinals come into this game with the mindset that they want to blow out the Vikings. I’m tired of listening to everybody talk about how we need to try and stay in the game to pull one out. That’s exactly what Minnesota thinks as well. If we want to be an elite team, then we need to get our minds right. Elite teams don’t try to stay in games. Elite teams eliminate their opponent from the first play. I want Cardinal domination and I believe they are capable. Do you?

Allen is a sack machine – we get that. But exploit that by running delay traps and running out of the shotgun. Teams who do this minimize Allen’s impact because he is always going upfield trying to beat his man outside. Delay and run between the tackles. Do this successfully a couple of times and you just changed the game.

When the Birds are on D, they need pressure on Favre. It is that simple.

yeah i suggest this all the time. It puts all of our most explosive playmakers on the field at once.

Spread out that secondary, screen passes when it makes sense. Beanie and Timmy could be dynamite if they are on the field at the same time.

as for our defense: play disciplined. If our offense is firing on all cylinders and our defense plays smart this is definetely a winnable game.

We need to get revenge on Favre for what he did to us last year as a Jet. We all also have a score to settle with the Vikings for the beatdown they layed on us in 08. Now we have the chance to do all that in one game.

Look for Calais Campbell to have a big game.

but that doesn’t mean it can’t be beaten. Yes, other teams have certainly failed in this aspect. I’d say about 10 other teams have failed. I don’t see Whiz as a coach that is incapable of succeeding where other coaches have failed. Case in point, look at how successful he’s been with the Cardinals. So, in response to a few posts above, allow me to make a few points:

1) Run. We have to run. It doesn’t matter what other teams have failed at previously. We need to be succesful in this one aspect. If we abandon the run, we are handing the Vikings defensive line a free pass to forget we oven own a running back and just go quarterback headhunting all day long. We don’t want to do that with our current struggles at left tackle. We have crafty running plays in our arsenal and we can utilize those, as well as throwing in some “down your throat” run plays, to keep the defense honest.

2) Big plays are great. Those are not going to win the game for us this week. The Vikes are too consistent in their coverage, especially if Winfield plays. Nickel and Dime strategy will be huge. What’s the quickest way to frustrate a sack-hungry, blitzing defense? Short, quick throws. We can march right down the field all day long with 5 yard dump-offs. The beauty of this is we can spin the tempo our direction all game. If we can establish a run, then we pull the defense up a bit and can then open up the play-action. If they stack up against the run to start and are blitzing, we can screen pass and check-down against them. Tight end play will be huge if we can get several 5-10 yard dump offs to the TE. Doing so will force the Vikings, especially the defensive line and linebackers, to play back on their heels a bit. Once they are on their heels from the dump-offs, run it on them again. Off balance is the key to beating the defense.

3) Cardinals on D. Forget about AP. That’s right, I said it. Forget about Adrian Peterson. Let’s face facts here, the offensive line for the Vikings has been dominant in pass protection. However, they haven’t opened up enough holes to give AP the game controlling performances he had in previous years. Now, I’m sure several of you will say this is mostly due to the emphasis the Vikings have placed in their successful passing game. Still, I don’t think the Vikings are changing their offense to beat our defense. In that case, Peterson is Chris Johnson from last week. He can get 150 yards and that isn’t what is going to beat us. What’s going to beat us is the pass.

Now, I’m not saying forget completely about AP. I’m saying that we don’t stack up against him and game plan against him. We focus all of our energy into making Favre hate life this Sunday. We hit him every chance we get. If we have to give up a 10 yard pass to put him down, we do it. We want him hurrying his throws. We also need to be more physical with their receivers. Check them on the line – let them know we aren’t scared. The Vikings are going to come out throwing. If we can make them keep an extra blocker at the line just to keep Favre standing, that’s one less option in the secondary. Favre is the key to this offense though. If we force them to change that, and change their game plan, it will give us control of the outcome.

We need to start, though, by not idolizing them. Like I said before, they aren’t Gods. We have the talent needed to beat them. I would say, arguably, we have the best talent of any team they’ve played thus far.

Gay lover?