"Big D" and the Smell of Fear

Drew Pearson's push-off, The Great Herschel Walker Trade Robbery, Emmitt Smith running amok in overtime, Michael Irvin running his mouth ALL of the time, Keith Brooking chirping about the Vikings piling on; need I go on? When you mention the name of the Dallas Cowboys to Minnesota Vikings fans of a certain age (actually, pretty much any age), you can see that vein in their temple suddenly take on more definition. Their jaws tighten ever so slightly, and their fists begin to clench. No team outside of the NFC North Division inspires more abject hatred among Vikings fans than the Dallas Cowboys. Now, the Vikings, with a record of 1-3 and badly in need of a win, have a double-edged opportunity to begin the reclamation of their season, while at the same time effectively dashing the playoff aspirations of the Dallas Cowboys, also 1-3, by beating them tomorrow afternoon at Mall of America Field. No quarterback truly reacts well to sustained defensive pressure. Cowboys QB Tony Romo in particular presents the Vikings' defense with a stark choice: apply that sustained pressure and force the kind of errors that we've all seen Tony Romo make when he's under siege, or sit back in coverage and allow Romo sufficient time to go through his progressions, and employ his considerable array of weapons. The most important question in this regard, is whether or not the Vikings D-line will be able to apply that pressure on its own. If so, it will be a boon for the Vikings' depleted secondary, which will have its hands full in covering the likes of Dallas wide-receivers Miles Austin, Roy Williams, and Dez Bryant, and seemingly omnipresent tight-end Jason Witten. For this to happen, the Vikings D-Line will need Jared Allen to return from the federal witness protection program. Of course, if the Vikings find that they need to blitz in order to get consistent heat in Tony Romo's face, then the reward of disrupting the Cowboys' passing game must be viewed as being worth the risk of getting burned on occasion. Forcing Romo to make mistakes should also help the Vikings to push their takeaway/giveaway ledger in the positive direction. Monday night's offensive awakening against the Jets showed us that, if (and only if) Brett Favre can hang in there physically and minimize his own mistakes, then the Minnesota Vikings will definitely score more many points per game going forward, than they were scoring before the recent acquisition of Randy Moss. The addition of Moss will force most defenses to play a Cover-2 shell, preventing the safeties from cheating-up in run-support. While this was not true for the Jets, who uniquely prepared themselves to deal with Moss at the beginning of 2009 (and even more so in 2010), it is definitely true for the Cowboys. Dallas corners Terence Newman and Mike Jenkins will both need safety help over-the-top, against both Randy Moss and Percy Harvin. This will keep Dallas from loading up "the box" and open up opportunities for Visanthe Shiancoe and timely running by Adrian Peterson. Frankly, it would be helpful if the Vikings put together some early sustained scoring drives, preferably culminating in TDs, and played with a lead for a change. The only thing better for the Vikings than keeping Tony Romo on the run for his life, would be keeping him off the field altogether. For the Vikings to make good on the aerial threats, their pass protection must improve. The Vikings O-Line and blitz-control package have allowed Brett Favre to be abused by the previous two 3-4 defenses they have faced thus far, the Dolphins and Jets, a fact that the Cowboys should be well aware of at this point. DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer present significant threats on the edges, where the Vikings have recently had difficulty. One of the important measures of a running back is his ability to protect the quarterback, by correctly identifying and stopping blitzing linebackers and safeties. Unfortunately, this is an area of Adrian Peterson's game that has been lacking thus far. That situation absolutely must change going forward, and tomorrow's home game against the Dallas Cowboys would be an excellent place for that change to start.