Top Five Things to Watch For During Vikings And Lions Game

Last season, besides Adrian Peterson carrying the Minnesota Vikings to the playoffs, Blair Walsh was literally kicking this team to the postseason. Walsh only missed three field goals all season, and pushed through 35 field goals last season, including 10 from 50-plus yards, which was a NFL record. Yet this year Walsh will have a different place holder, since the Vikings cut Chris Kluwe. This preseason Walsh has been a little shaky going three-for-five in his attempts, and his last kick which won the game for the Vikings in week four of the preseason, we saw that new place holder Jeff Locke did not get a good hold down for Walsh, see if the Vikings can iron out those kinks with Locke, or maybe Kluwe will come back just to be a place holder.

Going into this season the Vikings have four defensive lineman who are in their last year of their respectable contracts, and not to mention three of the four are starters in Jared Allen, Brian Robison, Kevin Williams, and the fourth is not a starter, but plays starter minutes in Everson Griffen. The Vikings D-line is a very critical spot for this team, because with a very weak/young secondary the D-line needs to generate a lot of pressure in order to prevent the opponent to exploit their secondary. Sometimes players playing in contract years brings out the very best in a player, so watch for this Sunday if Allen is playing like the 2011 Jared Allen who was just a few sacks away from breaking the NFL single season sack record, or like future unemployed Jared Allen.

This is the year for Chris Cook. Injuries, personal problems have derailed Chris's young career so far, yet now is the time for Cook to establish himself as a number one or two corner on this Vikings team. No longer does Cook have the luxury of playing along side future Hall of Famer Antoine Winfield (Who is now retiring), Cook who is entering his fourth season in the NFL is the elder statesmen on this team. Cook will have to play against an old ACC rival in Calvin Johnson twice this season, and not to mention Brandon Marshall. If this team hopes to take the next step in becoming a Super Bowl contender, then Cook needs to lead the secondary, and fulfill those expectations the Vikings have for him. Watch this Sunday to see if Chris Cook can slow down Megatron.

Let's be honest Adrian Peterson does not rush for 2,000 yards last season if it wasn't for those five men in front of him. Yet this preseason the O-line has looked more like the Chicago bears offensive line then the line that helped clear the way for AP to claim his first MVP award. Forget Peterson, because even if he had no O-line in front of him, he would still find a way to rush for a hundred yards, but instead this line needs to make sure Christian Ponder stays up right. If Ponder spends more time on his back then on his feet, his confidence will suffer; and any hope that the Vikings had in Ponder would be out the window. The O-line is the foundation for this team, watch this Sunday if the preseason was just rust, and now with games that actually matter they will protect this house, or will the addition of J'Marcus Webb signal the end of this once great O-line.

Hey number one is very obvious, it is Christian Ponder. Last season we witnessed Ponder show signs of Bipolar, first four games he was a game manager, next eight games looked like he was actually trying to lose the games, and the last four games he played Robin alongside Adrian Peterson's' Batman. I will say this, Ponder did help the Vikings get into the playoffs, yet this preseason; he has not helped his case that he actually deserves the starting job. Then again that was the preseason, so watch for this Sunday if Ponder can show signs of progress, and will that chemistry between Greg Jennings ever show up? Because it never even teased us during the preseason. As much as Peterson is leader of this team, the Vikings future will all hinge on Ponder, fair-or-foul that is what you get when you play quarterback in the NFL just ask Mark Sanchez.