Vikings pass defense has toughest test yet

As the Vikings get prepared to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on their home field, there is concern about their pass defense as they are preparing for the best quarterback they have seen this season in Ben Roethlisberger.

Baltimore's Joe Flacco -- who passed for 385 yards against the Vikings on Sunday, including 196 in the fourth quarter -- is a good quarterback, an up-and-coming player in his second year, but he is not in the class of Roethlisberger, who at age 27 has already won two Super Bowls with the Steelers.

The Steelers are fifth overall in total offense at 403.7 yards per game and lead the league with 296.7 passing yards per game. The Vikings, despite being one of only two 6-0 teams, rank 18th in total defense at 341.8 yards per game and 24th in pass defense at 248.3 yards per game.

It doesn't help the Vikings that rules seem to be written to completely favor the offense, with defensive players being very limited in what they can do when facing great receivers.

Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier recalled being at a NFL symposium one time when that subject came up.

"That question was asked to a member of our competition committee, and he talked about the offense having the great edge in rules," Frazier recalled.

"One of the reasons that the rules have been changed the way they have is to increase scoring in the National Football League. That's what the fans want to see. So, whenever a rule changes a lot of times, it's slanted towards increasing offensive output. From a defensive standpoint, it just puts the onus on you to come up with ways to keep them from scoring points.

"So you can't get too caught up sometimes in yards allowed, it's more important with points. And for us, getting turnovers and keeping the points down is far more important, but the rules are going to be what they are. The fans want to see scoring, and that's what the league is going to cater to."

It wasn't so long ago that a quarterback throwing for 300 yards was a big deal in the NFL. Now it is commonplace.

"You don't even blink an eye," Frazier said. "Everybody throws for 300 yards now. It's the norm. It's not uncommon for a guy to throw for 300 yards a game because of the rules where you can't touch receivers downfield, and it's become more liberal with the quarterbacks. It's hard to get hits on the quarterback because of the way things are. But it's what it is. It's why our game is so popular, because offenses can move the ball and score and it's good for our league.

"It's not necessarily good for defensive coaches, but it's catered that way, and we've got to find ways to not let them score points."

One thing that clearly hurt the Vikings in the fourth quarter against the Ravens was missed tackles. Antoine Winfield didn't play in the second half because of injury, and not only is he a great cornerback at defending against the pass, but he also is one of the surest tacklers on the team.

Looking back to the Ravens game, Vikings coach Brad Childress said: "A guy like [running back] Ray Rice is able to elude and bounce off and keep pads down low, so it would be missed tackles. ... Then in a couple of instances we had missed assignments where, A, a guy is not doing what he should do, or B, a missed communication where everyone is doing one thing and somebody else is doing another thing.

"So we go through the communication process and [sometimes] we are trying too much. I think you go back and [say] you can't stop every play."

We lost a very close personal friend when Rabbi Max Shapiro of Temple Israel died last week at age 92.

There isn't enough room in this column to mention all of the wonderful things this great man did, but one of the many things he did concerned the Twins. When they first moved here from Washington, black players were housed in a separate hotel from white players at spring training, then held in Orlando, Fla.

Shapiro heard about the problem, went to work on it, and made sure the players' housing was not segregated.

Yes, he made sure everybody was treated equally in all aspects of life.

Looking back on the offsides penalties called on Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards on Sunday, Childress said he thought Baltimore center Matt Birk, the longtime Viking, was fiddling with the ball a little bit. "[Birk] was kind of moving the ball in his hands. I just pointed it out to [Edwards] that you have played against him [in practice]. ... We talked to the referee about it. They were using some silent counts and [there was] head-bobbing, waist-bending and some finesse going on. [Edwards] got finessed a couple of times."

Marc Trestman, the former Gophers player from St. Louis Park, is 13-2 in his second season with the Montreal Alouettes, after coaching them to the Grey Cup final last year, where they lost to Calgary. CBSSports.com's Clark Judge wrote Wednesday that Trestman, a former assistant coach with eight NFL teams including the Vikings, deserves a shot at an NFL head coaching job.

Nick and Chris Dardanes, identical twin brothers from Oak Park, Ill., have committed to the Gophers wrestling program. Nick, who compiled a record of 50-1 this past season, was the runner-up at Junior Nationals in Fargo, N.D., and won the Illinois Class 3A title at 130 pounds. He is ranked as the No. 20 recruit in the country by InterMat. Chris placed fourth at Junior Nationals in freestyle at 130.

The International Scouting Service released their top 30 skaters for the 2010 NHL draft list for the month of October, and Blaine winger Nick Bjugstad, the son of former Gophers and North Stars player Scott Bjugstad, is ranked as the 24th-best skater. Derek Forbort, a defenseman from Duluth East who is playing with U.S. Developmental Program in Ann Arbor, Mich., is ranked No. 15, and defenseman Jarred Tinordi, son of former North Star Mark Tinordi, is No. 23.

The Miami Dolphins signed Hutchinson native Lydon Murtha off the Detroit Lions practice squad. The 6-7 Murtha was a seventh-round pick by Detroit out of Nebraska.

After taking Long Beach State from a 6-25 record and eighth-place finish in the Big West in his first year as coach to a 15-15 mark and a second-place finish in his second, former Gophers men's basketball coach Dan Monson's team will play a nonconference schedule that includes road games at Notre Dame, Texas, Kentucky and Duke, as well as a game against West Virginia in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif., an eight-team tournament the Gophers are playing in as well. The 49ers' second game would be against Clemson or Texas A&M.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com