Defense scores, sacks at slower pace

The Vikings defense had three touchdowns in the first four games last season en route to tying the team record for scores in a season with eight.

That unit hasn't proven to be as opportunistic this season, scoring one touchdown during the team's 1-3 start.

"That will run in streaks at times," coach Brad Childress said. "It's usually just everybody doing their job, and hopefully it's because we've played some good football teams. You don't want to reach and say we need to do this in order to create turnovers. Our system is our system."

The Vikings' lone defensive score came in a 20-10 victory over Carolina in Week 3 when cornerback Antoine Winfield returned a fumble by quarterback Jake Delhomme 19 yards for a touchdown. That came on one of the Vikings' seven sacks this season; that figure ties them with Atlanta, Carolina and St. Louis for 19th in the NFL. The Vikings did not have a sack Sunday in a 30-17 loss at Tennessee.

Last season, the Vikings had 12 sacks at this point. Half of those came in an opening-game victory over the Atlanta Falcons. Minnesota also had two of its defensive touchdowns in that game.

Safety Darren Sharper, who entered the season tied for fifth in league history with eight interceptions returned for touchdowns, wants to see the defense create more turnovers and make a bigger difference.

"That's something we have to get better at doing," he said. "Last game, we would have liked to have sacked the quarterback. That's something that we pride ourselves on. And with that comes turnovers. They kind of go hand in hand. That's an area I think we need to improve on. You saw with the Carolina game how that affected the outcome."

The Vikings did not have to blitz much against the Panthers to get pressure, but sending extra pass-rush pressure could be an option after the Vikings did not get a sack Sunday for a second game this season.

"I don't know any game that we blitzed a lot that we didn't have a good outcome [last season]," Sharper said.

• The Vikings have about 4,000 tickets left for their next home game, Oct. 12 against the Detroit Lions. It's the team's only game at the Metrodome this month.

• Players had their ordinary day off Tuesday and won't practice again today because the Vikings' next game isn't until Monday night in New Orleans. Practice will resume on Thursday.