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Saturday, January 6
Vikings aren't 'finished' yet
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- To understand the focus of the Vikings' defense Saturday, all you had to do was look at defensive end John Randle's shoes.
There, in thick black Sharpie ink, were two words:
|  | | Saints QB Aaron Brooks (2) has the ball knocked from his hands by the Vikings' John Randle. |
Start.
Finish.
Randle wrote the words as a reminder to himself and his defensive comrades that nothing less of a hard-hitting, trash-talking defense for an entire 60 minutes would do against the Saints.
And they listened. Though statistically it may not look impressive -- the Minnesota Vikings "held" the New Orleans Saints to 19 first downs, 355 total yards and 16 points -- the numbers are deceiving.
The majority of New Orleans' points, yards and first downs came after the Vikings had built a 24-3 lead and installed a cushier prevent defense. To better understand the effort of Minnesota's defense, just look at halftime, when the Saints had a minuscule 123 yards.
It was an impressive effort for the league's 28th ranked defense, a unit chastised by the Minneapolis media this week for its poor play in the Viking's three-game, season-ending losing streak.
"We're 28th? So what? Who cares?" safety Robert Griffith said after the game. "All that matters is how you're playing now and I guarantee you there are a lot of teams that would like to be in our spot. To win in the playoffs you have to play good defense and we did that today."
At the heart of it all was Randle, the team's emotional leader. Though he refused to talk to reporters after the game, there wasn't much to say. The two words on his shoes told the story.
"He told us all day, 'Start to finish. Start to Finish,' " cornerback Wasswa Serwanga said. "In the huddle, he was screaming and yelling and pointing to those shoes. And in the fourth quarter, he pulled us together on the sideline and told us one last time, 'Start to finish.'
"So that's what we tried to do -- to get after it. To play with more emotion. It sounds simple, but it really stuck with us."
Beyond the numbers, the Vikings' defense improved its tackling, pass defense and pressure on the quarterback. Randle, who had only one solo tackle in his last three games, had three tackles and a sack against the Saints. A forced fumble was nullified by a penalty.
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He's always an animal out there, but
today he turned it up a little more. He was on a whole other level -- the 'John Randle in
the playoffs' level. ” |
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— Wasswa Serwanga, Vikings cornerback |
"He's always an animal out there, but today he turned it up a little more," Serwanga said. "He was on a whole other level -- the 'John Randle in the playoffs' level."
The Vikings utilized their blitzing defense more than usual in an effort to put added pressure on Saints quarterback Aaron Brooks. It worked, as Brooks was knocked around by Randle and Co. and coaxed into a pair of second-half interceptions. Minnesota had intercepted a league-worst eight passes during the regular season.
When Brooks avoided danger in the air and on the ground, Minnesota's linebackers were there to step up, limiting the speedy signal-caller to 29 yards on five carries. His longest run went for 13 yards.
And if he did get a pass away, more often than not it was tipped away by a defensive back. In all, the Vikings had eight passes defended.
"We were opportunistic today," Griffith said. "Aggressive and opportunistic -- that's how I would put it."
The effort was reminiscent of the Vikings' first 13 games during the regular season, when they held opponents to 27 plays of more than 20 yards. That was a welcome change for Minnesota, which had been plagued with no pass rush, poor tackling and shoddy pass coverage in the season's last three games. During that span, opponents scored at least 30 points and gained at least 400 total yards against the Vikings.
So awful was the unit in the regular season's last three games that Randle moved his locker room belongings to an area occupied by practice squad members. There was a bit of irony when Randle celebrated his sack of Brooks by crawling along the line of scrimmage like a dog.
"Going into this game, we were concerned because we weren't playing defense like a team," linebacker Ed McDaniel said. "But I think we made a statement today that we can do the job. We stressed all week working together like a unit regardless of what it takes."
Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com.
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