Brett Favre’s status is up in the air this Sunday after Chicago Bears’ defensive end Corey Wooton knocked Favre out of Monday’s game, which now leaves rookie Joe Webb as the starting quarterback if Favre is unable to go.
Whether it be Favre or Webb, the Vikings will need all of their playmakers ready to go in order to pull off the upset over the Eagles.
Adrian Peterson is, without a doubt, the team’s best offensive weapon, but after missing Monday’s game with injuries to his ankle and knee following a collision with Tarvaris Jackson two weeks ago, Peterson may not be able to perform up to his highest level.
If he can’t go, rookie Toby Gerhart will receive the majority of the carries.
Aside from Peterson, the Vikes have a terrific playmaker who will be utilized in every aspect of the offensive scheme. Second-year man Percy Harvin accounted for 72 yards and one touchdown on five receptions against the Bears on Monday Night Football and will look to carry over those numbers into the team’s meeting against the Birds.
Since entering the league last season, Harvin has compiled 11 receiving touchdowns and three return touchdowns.
He ran a 4.41 forty-yard dash, which ranked seventh among receivers at the combine, but he was rumored to run a 4.32 during his freshman year at Florida. Either way, Harvin is one of the best playmakers in the game today because of his vision and quickness.
Asante Samuel, who most likely will match up with either Sidney Rice or Harvin, runs a 4.49 forty-yard dash. He’s one of the few members of the secondary that may be able to match up with Harvin speed-wise. Samuel still leads the league in interceptions (7), even after missing three games, and is coming off a game in which he shut down Hakeem Nicks. His experience and aggressiveness will force Webb to look elsewhere.
But if Dimitri Patterson matches up with Harvin, who struggled against Mario Manningham and surrendered three touchdowns, then Harvin will be able to rack up some yardage.
The Giants didn’t test Samuel the entire game and continually targeted the right side of the field. Other teams will see this on tape, and you have to believe they will attempt to do the same against Patterson.
If Webb does enter the game as the starting quarterback, Harvin’s chances of making big plays on offense can be limited because Philadelphia should be inclined to send as many blitz packages as they can to disrupt Webb and force him to make bad decisions.
However, Harvin is also a threat on special teams. He didn’t record any returns against the Bears, but has averaged 23.3 yards per return this season after averaging 27.5 yards per return in his rookie season, which resulted in him earning a trip to the Pro-Bowl.
His lone return touchdown this season came against another NFC East team, the Dallas Cowboys, in Week 6.
On paper, the Eagles should have no trouble in capturing their fourth straight win, but as we’ve seen before, if the Eagles don’t start off fast (and strike first on their opening drive) they can be beaten.
Unless they’re playing the Giants…
Andy Reid said one of the reasons he drafted CB T Lindley was because he shut down Harvin and the other top SEC recievers. This might be a good time to give Lindley some more game experience and have him ready for the playoff should there be a problem with D. Patterson.
If Patterson struggles early I have no problem replacing Patterson with Hanson. Hanson is having a pretty good year. He struggled in Chicago but other then that hes been ok. Cant keep trotting Patterson out there if he cant play. I then also like Lindley at the nickle. I thought he also struggled at Chicago but has played well since. Mickell has showed me alot. Earlier in the year he wasnt very good. But the last half he has played really well. Also Coleman with his physical presence and playmaking ability will only improve the secondary. I full expect Coleman to never give up that job.
Harvin is a good young receiver who really works the middle of the field in those 10-20 yard intermediate routes and He’s not really a true deep route receiver yet (Sidney Rice will be running the Deep Routes to utilize his height and leaping ability), Harvin works a lot of routes underneath with slants, drag routes,bubble routes,etc,etc, and his biggest weapon at this point is beingn out in space and getting yards after the catch, being a small fellow, he is succeptible to putting the ball on the ground if you can hit him early and often..
I really expect the Vikings to call a lot of 3 step- 5 step drop backs for inexperienced QB J Webb
who will be having his 1st Start. He does have a big arm and can throw it 60 yards in the, the Eagles need to come after him,confuse his with zone/man to man and match up coverages to give him as many looks as possible early to confuse him..
I also expect S Rice to line up vs D PAtterson and attempt at least 3-4 “Hook and Go” routes
to catch Patterson out of position.. Safety Mikell needs to help out deep and be aware…
agreed Pman. We need to keep an eye on this QB, he looks to run before pass and as we see with Vick it can do some serious damage and catch a team off guard. He didnt show me much against Chicago but DTs need to shut down all running lanes for him and let Cole and Parker pin their ears back.
Long strides this kid has and really reminds me of a young Randall Cunningham and obviously very raw.
QB Webb was dominant in College (U of Alabama-Birmingham) and set some records down at the school and C-USA Conference they played in –He Passed for over 2500 yards while rushing for over a
1000 yards his last 2 seasons. He actually worked out at the NFL combines as a WR and was drafted
as such by the Vikings, but since Farve was late arrival to camp as usual and Tavaris Jackson was nursing an injury, that he got to play QB during the Pre-Season and camp and showed enough flashed that they liked what they saw and made the team as the #3 QB..
This kid can run, but he can really throw the ball too..Keep him in the pocket should be the plan
Good thing Brett Favre is ruled out of this game……. Look keep the same game plan that the bears played on defense monday night against a rookie Qb Webb…….. Make it very difficult for him to make plays, keep him in the pocket to where he’s most un-comfortable……. make sure AP……. is not running down hill and keep Toby Gerhart from exploding as well…….. THere corners are horrible….. We should win this game big…… And rest our starters for Dallas…….. 42-7 my prediction……
our best defense will be early offense
take any sense of confidence away and they will pack it in
our worse nightmare a tight game at halftime cause then they will play for pride
so mr vick mr mccoy lets get on the board early a quick 10-0 lead and its over
don’t plan on Webb too fast….sounds like Farve could start
I rather see Farve playing than the unkown,unprecitable and much more athletic Webb…
Either way, Webb is getting the reps this week in Practice for the VIkes, so even if Farve starts and gets hurt by the 1st Quarter, Webb will be coming in with some reps behind him and not stone cold..
Vikings Special Teams and Defensive SEcondary are really playing poorly down the stretch this Season, If Eagles can jump out on them, they should bury this team that has imploded on itself since the beginning of the season..They should pu 34-40 points on this VIking team…
Remember when the Vikes D was good? Last year. What happened to them?
Their D/Line got a little lazy and full of themselves I believe
Both WIlliams players at the DT have gotten bigger and look to be out of shape
Jared Allen does not appear to have the strength that he used to have, he has basically become a speed rusher who has been exposed big time versus the Rush…
Ray Edwards who has a fantastic playoff run last year is just playing average and not been consistent at all.
Watching game tape, teams have been big time succesful running around the left side of the Viking Defense and right at J Allen.. (I think LT J Peters will manhandle Allen for most of the game)
Lastly, the Secondary of the Vikings has struggled for the last couple of years, and without that
dominant Pass Rush that they use to have, they are really allowing a lot of big plays and yardage
Their LB’s are probably the strength of that team with EJ Henderson and Chad Greenway
Eagles should lite this unit up and score lots of points if they play thier game and keep their focus
On a side note and it may seem like a minor detail and not making any excuuses.
But remember that for D/C Leslie Frazier has been promoted to Interim Head Coach which maybe has taken some of his time, energy, game planning skills and just flat out time away from this Viking Defense which has looked horrible the last month of te season…
I agree with Pman in rather seeing Favre play. Ol’ Brett has no arm strength anymore with that injury earlier as was pointed out by the commentator. He isn’t going to run so you’ll see him right there in the pocket, and this defense can disrupt their OLine. Brett’s abilities have taken a beating with his body and he knows it; the 90’s are long gone.
This will not be an easy game, but if the Eagles remain focused on winning this one first, they should prevail.
Give Lindley more reps, split time, he matches up better against the bigger WR’s, Patterson is oddly like Hanson in that he is small and quick, so he matches up in the slot with the shorter (and often lower) slant routes, the possession receivers who aren’t necessarily the blazers or the beasts on the outside. Patterson is a better tackler though, and much better on the outside than Hanson, but I think he’d better serve us in dime packages, with Lindley getting more of the reps on the outside – he’s young, but he’s our future.