Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards had what coach Brad Childress called a "career day" on Sunday in the Vikings' 34-3 playoff victory over Dallas but he also suffered an injury to his right knee that is believed to be a sprain.

Childress said Monday that a few players were at Winter Park receiving treatment and gave no indication if Edwards will be able to play Sunday in the NFC title game at New Orleans.

"We'll just see how they turn out on Wednesday," Childress said. "We were able to get some other people in the game at the end and Ray's a tough guy. If he can possibly go, he's going to go."

Vikings players have Monday and Tuesday off and will return to practice Wednesday to begin preparations for the Saints. The Vikings will issue their first injury report of the week late Wednesday afternoon.

Edwards' stats line was extremely impressive Sunday. The left end had five tackles, one forced fumble and six quarterback hurries to go with his three sacks. "Obviously you saw the day that Ray Edwards had," Childress said. "It was a career day right there. Backside plays, front-side plays, sacking the quarterback, plays on runs as well as the pass. So a great day for him."

The Vikings focus now turns to playing in New Orleans at a venue that, like the Metrodome, is very loud and can cause problems for offenses. The Vikings experienced the noise in the Superdome in October 2008 when they edged the Saints, 30-27, on a Monday night.

"We know with the fans that I talked about here, we go right into that same environment down in New Orleans," Childress said. "We've already talked about having a plan for that and obviously the best plan is to make them sit on their hands down there. You only do that by playing well down there. So it should be a great matchup and excited to represent in the NFC Championship Game."

Childress also took time to praise the Vikings fans for making so much noise on Sunday. "You can't say enough starting 9-0 and finishing at home in front of those fans," he said. "Tremendous, electric atmosphere right out of the box and they stood continuously and made communications tough so my hat's off to those great Minnesota Vikings fans. They made that the environment that it is and that's why you talk about the home-field advantage."