Sid Hartman: Packers defense has had Vikings' number

Most teams that face the Vikings load up the line of scrimmage to stop running back Adrian Peterson. Vikings center Matt Birk said the Packers are different.

"Green Bay, they're a heck of a defense," the Pro Bowl center said. "I think they just do what they do. I don't think they worry too much about who they're playing.

"I mean, they're that good. We've gone up there the last two years and they've kicked our tails, their defense has kicked our tails. I think they're just going to play their thing and do what they do, and it's up to us to rise to the challenge."

The Packers are 4-0 against the Vikings over the past two years, including a 9-7 victory in Green Bay in 2006 and a 34-0 victory at Lambeau last year, when Peterson left to an injury.

"That's what we're going to see, that's life," Birk said of the Packers defense. "If teams are daring us to throw the ball, we've got to throw the ball. If teams are daring us to run the ball we've got to run the ball. I think that's why it's so important offensively you've got to have balance. You've got to have balance so defenses can't key on just one aspect of your offense.

"... That's why we play the game. It all comes down to execution. Whoever executes better normally wins."

Birk said it will be different with Brett Favre not being there with the Packers, but Birk believes that subject is blown out of proportion.

"It will obviously be different," he said. "I mean I was watching him when I was a kid, that's how long he's been in there. But I think for both teams once Monday comes around, it's obviously a big game. The season opener is always a big game, but a division rival and all that, I think that the fact of him not being there will kind of get put on the back burner."

Aaron Rodgers will make his first NFL start for the Packers, while Tarvaris Jackson begins his second season as Vikings starter.

"I guess I don't really look at it in that context," Birk said of the QB matchup. "Maybe it will go down like that. Maybe these two quarterbacks will play for a long time for both of these teams and do battle many times. But right now, it's just kind of focusing on, this is the first game on our schedule and it's a division game on the road, so it's pretty important."

The Gophers football team's surprising 42-17 victory at Bowling Green on Saturday night certainly doesn't compare with Glen Mason's big upsets at Penn State, at Michigan and at Ohio State. But for this program that had hit rock bottom last season, it was big.

Definitely there will be a lot more conversation, interest and excitement about Monday's Vikings game at Green Bay.

But if ever a team needed a road victory, it was the Gophers, and they got it against a team that won at Pittsburgh last week and was favored to win its division in the Mid-American Conference. A Gophers defense that was maligned all last season and even after last week's Northern Illinois game forced five turnovers. An offense led by quarterback Adam Weber and a great receiver in Eric Decker found another weapon in Duane Bennett in pulling off a victory that, frankly, not many expected except for the Gophers themselves.

With only five seniors seeing action, there is hope for the future of this young football team.

No, they aren't going to win the Big Ten title. They aren't going to the Rose Bowl, and they will be underdogs in most of the conference games.

But after winning one game last year and hearing coach Tim Brewster take his share of criticism, the Gophers now have a good chance to be 4-0 when they open the conference season at Ohio State Sept. 27, and with two more victories they could be in a decent bowl game.

When the 2007 baseball season ended, the Twins were facing the problem of going to arbitration with five of their top players, and the picture didn't look good for signing any of them to long-term contracts.

Those five players were Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, Matt Guerrier and Juan Rincon. Then the Twins also had Torii Hunter and Carlos Silva as pending free agents, and Johan Santana and Joe Nathan were entering the final year of their contracts.

But looking to the upcoming offseason, it is a completely different story for the Twins.

They have only four pending free agents: Adam Everett, Nick Punto, Dennys Reyes and Eddie Guardado. In addition they have a one-year option on catcher Mike Redmond for $950,000, an option the Twins are sure to exercise.

Punto and Redmond made it clear Saturday they want to come back but have not talked contracts.

The Twins have only two players who can go to arbitration, Guerrier and Kubel, after they signed Cuddyer and Morneau last offseason.

And none of the Twins' five starting pitchers has enough major league service time to qualify for arbitration, nor do young outfielders Carlos Gomez, Denard Span or Delmon Young.

So the future not only looks good on the field with a group of outstanding young players, but the contract situation has never been better with the key players all signed to multiyear contracts.

Guardado received $250,000 from Texas for agreeing to the trade to the Twins, according Rob Antony, Twins assistant general manager. Guardado had an incentive-laden contract with $2 million guaranteed and $250,000 additional each for 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 and 65 appearances.

The Twins have paid out a total of $6.2 million in buyouts of released players this year, more than ever before. Mike Lamb will be paid the rest of his 2008 contract as well as his $3 million contract for 2009 now that he has been released; Rincon was paid $1.2 million, and Craig Monroe $1.4 million. They did not need to pay out the balance of Livan Hernandez's $5 million contract because Colorado claimed him on waivers.

Steve Nelson, brother of Minnetonka football coach Dave Nelson, will be one of 13 former New England Patriots players to be inducted into the club's new Hall of Fame on Sept. 21. Steve Nelson, who is from Anoka, played linebacker for the Patriots from 1974 to '87.

Gophers football coach Tim Brewster hands out a lot of awards after each game; one he gave out after the team's opening victory over Northern Illinois was "scout player of the week" to Kim Royston, the transfer from Wisconsin, to whom Brewster gave credit to for doing a great deal in preparing the Gophers for the Huskies.

Making official basketball visits this week to the Gophers campus will be Royce White of Hopkins, who has said he will play for the Gophers, and Darius Smith, a standout guard from Chicago Marshall. Cooper's Rodney Williams, who is a top national recruit, might also make a visit.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast once a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com