I have a couple choice quotes that I think say a lot.
CAPERS
“We’d obviously like to get more pressure,” Capers said. “But I will say this — and you see it all the time with the way they’re set up offensively and Brett’s always done a good job of this — he’s going to get the ball out of hands quick. The first game, there were two times I can think of where we had guys come flat free inside, and he just got rid of the ball. He’s played for so long, and he has good field vision. He has a good feel for when pressure’s coming, and he has to get the ball out of his hands.”
CAPERS
“There were 62 plays in that game and in 58 of them, they had 212 yards, but in four plays, they had 124 yards,” Capers said. “You aren’t going to beat a good team if you give them 124 yards on four plays. If we can go back and take out those four plays, that’s the key. You can say that about a lot of games, but the key is the last two weeks you haven’t seen four plays for 124 yards.”
CHILDRESS
“I have yet to hear a defensive coordinator in this league say, ‘I’ll tell you what we’re going to do, we’re going to come in and concede the run, and we’re going to take away the pass in this game,’” Vikings coach Brad Childress said. “There’s just nobody that does it that way regardless of who your running back is unless you’re completely one-dimensional. Somewhere, you have to take something (away). Generally with us, at least from what I’ve seen, they’re going to approach it from the standpoint of trying to get an eighth guy in the box. Everybody in the NFL does it that way.”
BARNETT
“I think you have to have a good balance of showing and not coming and coming and not showing,” Barnett said. “He’s obviously getting rid of the ball, but if we show and he gets rid of it to the wrong place, then we benefit. We can’t be scared to bring pressure just because he’s getting rid of the ball. Sometimes he might not be able to get rid of the ball with the type of DBs that we have.”
1. Favre gets rid of the ball really quickly. He's seen everything. Unless your blitz is really disguised well, chances are Favre will know where he's going and get it there before you get to him. He also is savvy at setting his protection, so of you're showing something, chances are, he's goign to have his guys in position to get it blocked. Getting to him is easier said than done.
2. Derrick Martin was responsible for screwing up his coverage on 3 big plays. The 4th big one, I'm not sure who's fault it was, but being assignment sure so as not to give up big plays is going to be key. Bigby back and Collins back at FS instead of SS helps a lot.
3. Every defense that plays the Vikings starts with 8 in the box. Childeress said it himself. There has been a strange Favre loving rumor that teams are stopping Favre first. Let's get that out of our heads. Favre sees primarily 1 deep safety on 1st and 2nd down. AP is enemy #1 when you play the Vikings and that isn't up for debate. On first and 2nd down, we're goign to be giving it to Favre, so if he has a good rating on 1st and 2nd, don't flip out. It's going to be on 3rd down that you measure our pass defense.
4. Barnett talks about 3rd down. 3rd down is going to be about disguising our blitzes and coverages well. I've said this a few times over the last few days, but hearing it from Barnett makes me think they see it too. He's going to win some. He's a good player. But, if he thinks one thing is happening before the snap, and then something completely different happens after the snap and you get to him right away, you can have some success. The Packers stopped the run well. The Steelers got to Favre more. We need to keep stopping the run and then on 3rd down, we need to get to him quickly while also not letting him know what coverage we are running until after the snap (buying a second to get to him). In short, our defense has to be smart (disguising until the snap, even through the hard counts) and execute well (win your one on ones and be in the right position in coverage).

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