The Vikings secondary enters Sunday's game against Dallas shorthanded again after cornerback Cedric Griffin suffered a torn ACL in his right knee Monday night.
With Griffin out and rookie Chris Cook questionable to return from a knee injury, it's possible the Vikings could have only four healthy cornerbacks. That includes veteran Frank Walker, who was signed on Wednesday.
The Cowboys are ranked No. 3 in the NFL in passing offense so the Vikings need another strong performance from their front four to help out the secondary.
The Vikings defensive line destroyed Dallas' line in a 34-3 victory in the playoffs last season. The Vikings sacked Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo six times and had 10 quarterback hurries. Romo had no time to do anything and he looked completely uncomfortable the entire game.
"Our front four had a field day with them last time," middle linebacker E.J. Henderson said. "I think it's going to be a big deal for them this week to really amp themselves up and the game plan is going to depend on our front four dominating."
Romo completed only 22 of 35 passes for 198 yards and one interception. He had a 66.1 passer rating that day.
"It's tough," Romo said on a conference call Wednesday. "They're good players combined with a good scheme, combined with a tough place to play. You stack it all together and it makes for a difficult place to go out and be perfect on every play. You just have to know going in you're not going to be perfect on every play and try and minimize the bad plays and try and connect when the good plays are there." Defensive end Ray Edwards had the best game of his career that game. He set a team playoff record with three sacks while adding eight tackles, two tackles for loss, five quarterback hurries and a forced fumble. He dominated his matchup with right tackle Marc Colombo. Edwards comments on Colombo on Wednesday are certain to reach the Dallas locker room. "I don't know him personally, but as a player I think he's kind of dirty," Edwards said. "Does some dirty things. You have to have that fight in you to play this game. I guess that's his way of having that fight in him." What kind of dirty things? "Face mask pulling and things like that," Edwards said. "But it happens. It happens in the battle of the game. I'm not a crybaby about it. I'll continue to play. It happens both ways."
