Fitzgerald slides inside to confound pass defenders

Cardinals All-Pro receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. moves inside to the slot position more this season than he did the last time he faced the Vikings a year ago.

That could be bad news for nickel backs Benny Sapp and rookie Asher Allen, a couple of 5-9 corners who could be bumping into and chasing the 6-3, 217-pound Fitzgerald in traffic on Sunday.

"I primarily stay outside," said Fitzgerald, the former Holy Angels star. "But I'll move inside from time to time in the run game and in the pass game. It's just something different that gives the defense something to look at."

Fitzgerald leads the NFC with 75 catches and has nine touchdowns, but he's averaging an un-Fitzie-like 11.0 yards per catch with a long of only 27.

That's because defenses have played blanket coverages designed to take away the deep ball Fitzgerald routinely caught during his record- setting 2008 postseason.

Moving Fitzgerald to the slot has been the Cardinals' way of trying to jump-start his big-play abilities.

"If I'm usually on the backside by myself [out wide], I'll see a lot of cover-2s, two-man and I just don't see a large amount of single-high [coverage]," Fitzgerald said. "So to free me up a little bit, they moved me inside to create some mismatches."

Moon isn't limit for Favre Vikings quarterback Brett Favre could surpass Warren Moon for most touchdown passes in a season by an NFL player who turned at least 40 before the end of that season. Moon had 25 for Seattle in 1997. Favre has 24 heading into Sunday's game at Arizona.

Talk about elite company Titans running back Chris Johnson continues to put himself in some elite company. If he gains 104 yards on Sunday at Indianapolis, he will join Walter Payton, Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson and Terrell Davis as the only players to reach 1,500 yards rushing in only 12 games.

Brown and Simpson each did it twice. Simpson and Davis each went on to rush for more than 2,000 yards, Simpson going for 2,003 in 1973 and Davis reaching 2,008 in 1998.

Don't give up, losers The NFL has five 5-6 teams and four 4-7 teams. Don't count them out just yet.

Since 1990, 13 teams with losing records through 11 games went on to make the playoffs, including one in each of the past five seasons. Of those 13 teams, 10 were 5-6 and three were 4-7, including the 1996 Jaguars, who finished 9-7 and reached the AFC Championship Game.

The last team with a losing record through 11 games to make the playoffs was last year's Chargers, who were 4-7 before finishing 8-8 and reaching the AFC divisional round.