New England Patriots vs Minnesota Vikings - Preview
Minnesota Vikings and their quarterback Brett Favre might have been in the spotlight all week long but that doesn’t mean a thing to the New England Patriots. The focus has been entirely on the possibility of Minnesota’s quarterback Brett Favre ending his
291 starts streak. But, who needs the spotlight when you are the best team in the league?
Patriots share the top spot with their AFC East rivals, the New York Jets. They have won 5 of their six games so far and would be looking to make it 6-1-0 on Sunday. They could do it too. New England are on a four game winning streak while the Vikings haven’t
been doing too well this season. They have lost 4 of the six games they have played this season and are coming off a disappointing 24-28 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Returning to the Gillette Stadium for the first time since parting ways with Patriots would be wide receiver Randy Moss. He was traded to Minnesota earlier this month following contract disputes between Moss and the New England Patriots. Moss is one of the
all times best wide receivers in the league but Patriots aren’t really missing him much these days. They have been doing rather well even without him while Vikings have been able to do no better.
It would be interesting to see Moss go up against his former teammates. It’s an exciting prospect for some of the young Patriots. “Sometimes after a play, he’d give little tips to all the corners”, rookie cornerback Devin McCourty said. He told the rookies
things that would trouble wide receivers in general and specifically, trouble Moss. McCourty practiced against Moss in the training camp and said that it was the greatest challenge he faced. “I learned a lot from Randy.”
New England know well what Moss is capable of and they are preparing for him. Patriots' coach, Bill Belichik once said that Moss was one of the smartest wide receivers out there and that he had a sixth and a seventh sense about football.
A wide receiver needs a quarterback. Minnesota still don’t know whether Favre would be able to play on Sunday or would Tarvaris Jackson would be taking his place? Favre hasn’t had much luck getting the ball across and Jackson has spent too long on the bench.
As good a receiver Moss might be, he can’t do it alone.
Having Moss on Minnesota’s side gives Vikings a unique insight into how the Patriots work. Moss has been with New England for three seasons. He spoke to the coaches and told them how the Patriots function, trying to better prepare them for coming Sunday.
When asked how Moss felt playing against his former team, he said that he didn’t have a strong opinion about it. Moss stated that he was just excited to be able to play football. He might have said that but there is probably a part of Moss that wants to
show the Patriots what they are missing out on. That doesn’t mean Moss would run into the end zone for touchdown and shout ‘In your face’ but, he probably would want to pull out at least a touchdown on Sunday.
New England have their own array of wide receivers like Deion Branch, Wes Walker and Brandon Tate. Perhaps, they cannot be considered on the same level as Moss but with quarterback Tom Brady, Patriots have been highly successful in making good use of them.
Brady has thrown over thirteen hundred yards in this season and threw 11 touchdowns while giving away just 4 interceptions. The offensive line has been covering him well. In the past four games, the Patriots’ quarterback was sacked just twice. He has been
averaging 9 yards per attempt.
Patriots have everything going for them. Unless Favre is able to return on Sunday, Vikings have little chance of beating New England. Even with Favre, Patriots would still be able to defeat Minnesota.
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