1. The Defense Played Well

Let’s get the good out of the way before we dive into all the bad. I loved the way the defense played in the first half. I loved the aggressiveness of Fred Pagac’s scheme, the multiple looks he threw at Philip Rivers, the way a lot of the guys got after it. I thought Brian Robison, E.J. Henderson, Chad Greenway, Jared Allen and especially Antoine Winfield were all brilliant in the first half when the Vikings held the supposedly high-powered Chargers offense to just seven points. I never thought in a million years the Vikings would get away with blitzing that much but they proved me wrong. They sent two extra men after Rivers on the very first pass play of the game and basically never let up after that. Will Pagac keep this up even after Kevin Williams returns from injury? I don’t know. Yesterday he clearly believed he couldn’t get enough pressure on Rivers with just his front four. He had enough faith in his secondary guys to leave them out in single coverage way more than was probably sane, and they rewarded that faith by mostly holding up. Had it not been for a few bonehead penalties and some missed tackles in the second half, it would’ve been an even better day for the defense.

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The big issue vs. the Saints last year was a lack of offensive rhythm related to Brett Favre having skipped training camp. The Vikings won’t have that excuse this year: Donovan McNabb was in camp from the start and fully engaged, and participated in three preseason games. Yes it’s a new offense and yes McNabb still has limited experience in it, but there’s no reason the Vikings shouldn’t be able to come out and execute early. If the offense struggles the blame will fall on the line, which looked okay at times during the preseason but is still a big question mark. The other issue is a lack of playmakers at receiver.

The equalizer for Minnesota is Adrian Peterson, who yesterday was locked up for 7 years and should come out Sunday with even more fire in his belly than usual. As Peterson proved the last time he played in San Diego, he can dismantle a defense all by himself. The Chargers figure to focus heavily on Peterson and dare the Vikings to attack through the air with their questionable receivers. Helping San Diego this time is the presence of Bob Sanders who, when healthy, is a great run-stopping safety.

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1. Bryan Walters

The UDFA from Cornell turned a lot of heads in camp and is now set to be the Chargers’ slot man with Patrick Crayton injured. He looked pretty dang good in the preseason tape I watched, a lot of it from the Cardinals game where he caught 5 balls for 61 yards including a couple of first down grabs from Philip Rivers. He did have a fairly glaring drop in that game as well but overall he looked like a tough little slot man who could show up big catching quick underneath stuff with the Vikings dropping their coverage deep to deal with Vincent Jackson and Malcom Floyd. Antoine Winfield will, as always, be lined up against the slot man in nickel. It will be interesting to see how young Walters fares in that match-up.

2. Mike Tolbert

The Chargers are going with a two-headed beast at running back, and Tolbert is the bowling ball half of that combo, Ryan Mathews being the speedy half. I think the Chargers will try to run Tolbert and Mathews right at the middle of the Vikings defense and test out those tackles, but I also think Tolbert could be a big weapon in the passing game. The Vikings figure to employ their usual strategy of playing their safeties and corners deep which means there will be lots of stuff open short: in other words, feast time for tight ends and receiving backs.

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