TheATMs Saints Vs Vikings Preview

The top two teams from the NFC this season will battle it out on Sunday for a chance to go to the Super Bowl. The 14-3 Saints take on the 13-4 Vikings in what is looking to be the best match up of the playoffs. This is a high flying match up in the truest sense, featuring two offenses that truly can score at any time. At Quarterback you have Drew Brees who is a top 3 QB in the league right now against Brett Favre the leader of most QB career stats and will be a first ballot HOF’er. The Runningback match up is Reggie Bush the versatile back who came alive in a big way last week, also Pierre Thomas and Mike Bell vs Adrian Peterson a speedy punishing back among the best in the league who is spelled by Chester Taylor. Thats a lot of star power for just 2 positions.

The Saint’s finished the regular season ranked 1^st in yards per game and 1^st in scoring per game. The Vikings offense was almost just as good clocking in at 5^th in yards per game and 2^nd in scoring per game. The Saints defense however was not as good, led by ball hawking safety Darren sharper they were ranked, 25^th overall, 26^th against the pass, 21^st against the run, and 20^th in scoring. The Vikings D anchored by relentless pass rusher Jared Allen was a good compliment to their offense, they were ranked, 6^th overall yards per game,  10^th in scoring against per game, 19^th against the pass, and 2^nd against the rush.

Now with those stats out there it looks like these two teams are a mismatch and that the vikings with their superior defense should win. That is not the case. The one thing that the Saints defense does well and the Vikings does not is force turnovers. We all know the old adage of win the turnover battle and you’ll probably win the game, cliche i know but really that is the case for the Saints. They forced 39 turnovers during the regular season, compared to the Vikings 24 and last week forcing turnovers against a good offense led to them having a big lead early and a blowout win. The same thing could happen to the Vikings. Brett Favre’s biggest problem is throwing interceptions and Adrian Peterson is a fumbler, If those trends continue this week the Vikes will be watching the Super Bowl at home.

The key for the Vikings D or really any defense playing New Orleans will be to get pressure on Drew Brees. If they can make him uncomfortable in the pocket they have a chance of playing a good game against the top offense in the league. On Offense the Vikes need to stay balanced with a good mix of run, pass, and play action. that will help keep the Saints D off balance and unable to sit on pass routes and try to force turnovers. The Vikings also need to get Adrian Peterson going, at his best he is unstoppable and the best back in the league, but recently he has been mediocre. He had a bad game last week against Dallas, and even the regular season was a bad one for him by his standards. If Adrian gets going the combination of him and Favre will be too much for the Saints D.

This is a very hard game to pick, I’d like to think that it’ll be a close contest but these playoffs have been an NFL fans spirit breaker with blowout after blowout. Regardless I’m taking the Vikes to cover a 3.5 spread but expect the Saints to win.

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