A heavily favored New Orleans Saints should feel confident heading into their wild-card round game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Despite the Vikings having a surprisingly thin secondary heading into the matchup, there are still numerous challenges the team can pose to the Saints.
Minnesota all year-long has had a quietly good offense, and their rushing defense has been stout. It will take some of New Orleans best game planning and execution to defeat a very good Vikings team.
Here are three challenges the Saints may face in the Vikings:
A great Vikings rushing attack
Vikings running back Dalvin Cook will be returning to action after missing Week 15 and 16 with a shoulder injury. Saints head coach Sean Payton acknowledged the threat Cook brings to the table during his weekly press conference, saying, “I think, number one, they do a great job in their running game. They get to the edge, obviously they are extremely talented at running back. The type of season (Dalvin) Cook has had it’s been real impressive.”
New Orleans has had a fantastic rush defense all year, and has not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 42 games. However, the Saints defense noticeably struggled against the San Francisco 49ers edge rushing attack in Week 14. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer will be heavily looking at that tape as a blueprint to attack the Saints defense on the ground.