Behind Enemy Lines: After slow start, Aaron Rodgers carved Vikings up last week

As the Vikings prepare for Saturday's playoff showdown with Green Bay at Lambeau Field, we asked Tyler Dunne, who covers the Packers for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, to give us his up-close-and-personal scouting report. Here are four things you need to know …

1) The Packers will welcome two key contributors back to the field – one on offense, one on defense.

After missing last Sunday's game with an ankle injury, receiver Randall Cobb has been back at practice all week and progressing nicely, likely to start Saturday night and eager to add some pop to the Packers offense.

On the other side of the ball, defensive back Charles Woodson, a 15^th-year veteran, seems likely to return after a nine-game absence due to a broken collarbone.

So which return is more important?

Cobb was Aaron Rodgers' top target during the regular season, registering 80 catches for 954 yards with eight TD catches.

"The Vikings had a little bit of success blitzing Rodgers last week," Dunne said. "He wasn't lights out like he usually is against that. But I'd have to think having Cobb back in the slot and on the same page, that's a big cure for that. And it's been a long time since we've seen the Packers offense with both Cobb and Greg Jennings together, both at full strength, playing their best. That's a big deal."

"As good as those young guys have been, they all had key errors in that game last week," Dunne said. "So there's definitely room for Woodson."

Now it remains to be seen just how extensive a role Woodson will be able to take on, his conditioning certainly lessened due to his extended absence.

"They seem pretty confident that he can jump right in and be a difference maker," Dunne said. "But you'd have to think there will be some type of transition."

2) Green Bay's defense still has no answers for Adrian Peterson.

If at first you don't succeed, try try again. And if you don't succeed then? Well, that's the predicament the Packers seem to be in after allowing Peterson to run for 409 yards in two regular season games. Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy continues to insist that his defensive players simply need to do a better job of tackling to slow Peterson. But that's an easy request for a coach with a headset to make. For the guys absorbing Peterson's shoulder blows and stiff arms and ridiculous power, the challenge is elevated.

Peterson's 199 yards Sunday came with the Packers devising a decent game plan designed to keep the star running back inside. Still, the yards just kept coming.

"He was chipping away, chipping away," Dunne said. "That has to be a concern. It seemed like the Packers had a good game plan and guys in position to make stops all game long. And still, they couldn't do it. So now what?"

3) As good as Peterson is, reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers was at the top of his game last Sunday as well.

During one break in the action, Peterson and Rodgers stopped to talk with one another, both offering sincere praise of the other as the best in the game at their position. So, see, it's not just the fans who recognized the legendary qualities of Peterson and Rodgers last weekend.

Troubling for Rodgers in last week's loss: Green Bay's slow start. The Packers punted on their first three possessions, allowing the Vikings to build confidence and a 13-0 lead.

Not troubling for Rodgers: he found his groove eventually leading six scoring drives on the Packers' final seven possessions. Green Bay probably would have won last week's game had they had the ball last, especially with Rodgers in a zone and picking apart a Vikings' secondary that lost Antoine Winfield to a hand injury late in the first half. Rodgers threw for 318 of his 365 yards after Winfield's exit.

"That was as good as they've looked in a really long time," Dunne said. "And after Winfield went out, the Packers went after [Marcus] Sherels. They were just attacking him for big chunks."

The Packers offense also got a notable boost last week from 24-year-old running back DuJuan Harris, who had 70 yards on 14 carries. Signed to the practice squad in October and later promoted, the diminutive Harris didn't see his first action until Week 14 as he became the next man up in an injury-ravaged Green Bay backfield. His effort last Sunday was impressive.

"The Packers have a lot more trust and confidence in the guy," Dunne said. "And his running style is just a little different than everybody else. Ryan Grant is so good on those stretch plays where he can press the hole and cut upfield when something's there. Alex Green is more of a spread offense kind of back. Harris just gets it and goes. He's a north-south tough runner."

4) It's not just the Vikings trying to vanquish the bad memories of their last playoff game.

Green Bay's last playoff game? A 37-20 home loss last January to the Giants, filled with uncharacteristic errors and providing a galling conclusion to a season in which the Pack went 15-1 during the regular season.

"That was a strange game, especially for the offense," Dunne said. "They had three fumbles all year and then three fumbles in that game. They rarely dropped passes all year then dropped a ton of passes in that game. With the season on the line and so much at stake, everybody just fell apart, crumbled, played bad. That's where the sting remains. They just weren't themselves when it mattered most."

The emotional scars of that loss won't impact Saturday's game with the Vikings much if at all. But certainly it provides motivation and a reminder of capitalizing on postseason opportunities as much as possible.