Vikings and Cowboys: Double desperado

Romo And Favre A Little Too Much Fun On The Field

The last time the Vikings and Dallas Cowboys met, the circumstances were cut and dried, the significance understood. It was win and advance, lose and go home.



Playoff football offers no gray area.



Flash forward exactly nine months to the day after the Vikings advanced to the NFC Championship Game and ended the Cowboys' season with a 34-3 victory at Mall of America Field at the Metrodome.



Same teams, same venue, many of the same players. The stakes are obviously much different, but it can be argued that both teams might feel a similar sense of desperation.



With so much returning talent on both teams, the Vikings and Cowboys were viewed nationally as Super Bowl candidates with enough firepower to be the last team standing this winter.



But their paths took a detour. Both teams are 1-3, a scenario few would have predicted.



"Not ... at ... all," Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield said. "We are surprised, too. But we still have a long way to go. It's not impossible. But our main focus is getting a win this week."



Unlike last January, the season won't end for the team that falls to 1-4. But the margin for error will continue to shrink while any remaining preseason optimism will all but disappear.



Consider: Since the current playoff system started in 1990, only five teams that started 1-4 made the playoffs. None won the Super Bowl.



Neither team wants to test that history.



"Two teams starving for a win," Vikings middle linebacker E.J. Henderson said. "I think a win would point us in the right direction. I'm expecting a lot from the Cowboys and definitely expecting a lot from the Vikings."



Said Dallas coach Wade Phillips, whose job security has become a hot topic again: "I think both teams are certainly disappointed with what their record is right now, but they can both do something about it. It's a good opportunity for one team to get their season started in the right direction."

Adrian Peterson Wanted More Carries In The Vikings 14-9 Loss Vs Saints

Adrian Peterson Stiff Arms Saints Defender

Adrian Peterson had 13 carries on the Vikings' first three possessions on Thursday night. The Vikings' game plan was, clearly, to get Peterson the ball coming out of the gate.

And then the Vikings got away from that game plan. Peterson had just six carries the rest of the game, and none at all on the Vikings' final drive, on which Brett Favre threw seven passes, the Vikings ended up punting with five and a half minutes left, and then the Saints proceeded to run out the clock.

So why didn't Peterson get the ball more late in the game? He says he asked for it, but he's not sure if coach Brad Childress heard him.

"I'll do whatever it takes," Peterson told Michael Silver after the game. "Whatever it takes to help this team win. I don't know if Coach heard me, but I remember walking by in the second half on the sideline saying, 'Hey, give it to me. Feed me.' I don't know if he really heard me. But there's a lot to learn from this game."

The No. 1 thing for the Vikings to learn is that just having Favre lead the offense won't be enough. They're going to have to feed the rock to Peterson more than 19 times a game this season.

Brand New Receiving Core For Vikings?

  The Sidney-Rice-less Vikings obviously have no problem adding receivers after snagging Javon Walker and Greg Camarillo last week. Camarillo showed his football acumen Saturday against Seattle with four catches and 47 yards despite just two days of practice for the former Miami Dolphin.
Walker made a sensational 25-yard touchdown catch on a lob between two Seahawks defenders, but he also missed on a few balls thrown his way.
Should the Vikings add one more player off waivers or through a trade? Depends on how happy they are with Walker.
Two popular options being bantered about...
Antonio Bryant -- Bengals paying him $7.85 million just to release him, so he can't be too ready to play. SI's Peter King points out that Bryant has Chondral Defect of the knee, a long-term problem that could scare teams from picking him up off waivers.
Laveranues Coles -- The 32-year-old Coles is reportedly eyeing retirement, but if he's got something left in the tank, maybe the Vikings can convince him.
Not sure either of those players add much value at this stage in their careers, but you've got to think the Vikings will explore all options.

    Now back to Percy Harvin Minnesota Vikings fans / Percy Harvin's migraine headaches have been a riddle that no one has been able to solve.
After another battery of tests last week, and a promising 2010 preseason debut, Harvin hopes he is getting closer to figuring out a debilitating medical condition that has plagued him for most of his life.
The Minnesota Vikings receiver had two catches for 30 yards and took two big shots to the head Saturday night in a preseason victory over Seattle, the first time he's played this year after being stricken by migraines for most of training camp.
``I felt great,'' Harvin said after the game. ``Just glad to get back out there with my teammates and work some of the rust off. I've got a lot of work to do, conditioning-wise, but it felt good to get out there.''
Harvin has barely practiced this month while dealing with the death of his grandmother and a string of headaches that have been maddeningly random and devastatingly severe. No one knows exactly when they're going to occur or what triggers them. Even more frustrating, doctors and trainers have been unable to come up with a treatment to neutralize them.
The Vikings have gone to great lengths to try to identify the causes and understand the problem.
``It's kind of a tenuous thing,'' coach Brad Childress told The Associated Press last month. ``What can exacerbate migraines? Stress? Check. Fatigue? Check. Head or neck trauma? Hmmm.''
Despite playing a sport that doesn't exactly help his condition, Harvin said he has no plans on making a career change.
``It's been rough, but it's life,'' Harvin said. ``I don't want the easy way out sometimes. It's life, I'm dealing with it. I finally got back and it's good to be back out here with my teammates.''
He missed one game last year because of the headaches and missed several practices in the playoffs. But teammates and coaches got their first real glimpse of how serious they can be on Aug. 19, when Harvin vomited and collapsed on the practice field.
He was taken by ambulance to a local hospital and spent the night. More tests ensued and Harvin surprisingly suited up for the game Saturday night despite not practicing all week.
``I did a test (Friday) night and they found some things that we think was the main cause of it,'' Harvin said. ``We're feeling really confident. I know we said that a couple times, but I think this time we found what the main cause was. I'm not saying I'll never get a headache again, but hopefully we can slow it down a little bit.''
The Vikings know they have to be cautious in their optimism, but they were treating that development as good news for the reigning offensive rookie of the year.
With Sidney Rice out for possibly the entire first half of the season with a hip injury, Harvin's importance to the offense has grown exponentially. He is Brett Favre's favorite target and a valued weapon for offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who can line him up at receiver or running back.
``It was a good start,'' Favre said of Harvin's first game. ``Percy's a football player. I'm not surprised at anything he does.''
Harvin absorbed two big hits in the game, one from Lofa Tatupu that knocked his helmet off in the first half and another from safety Earl Thomas on a slant over the middle.
``He didn't seem any worse for the wear,'' Childress said. ``He took a couple of pretty good licks.''
Harvin knows that's going to come with the territory and prepared himself for it.
``Everybody looks for that first contact to get hit, to feel part of the game,'' he said. ``I was looking forward to getting hit.'' 

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Brett Favre Ready, But Receiving Core Impaired

Brett Favre had good reason to play for the Vikings in 2009.

    He was never going to admit it, but the chance to show the Green Bay Packers they had made a mistake by jettisoning him after the 2007 season was a huge factor. Nobody ever believed Favre wanted to play a season in New York, and the fact that his year with the Jets went from magical (an 8-3 start) to maddening (he suffered a biceps injury and the Jets won one of their final five games) gave him even more incentive to continue.
This enormous level of motivation helped the 40-year-old Favre put together one of the best seasons of his career. He threw 33 touchdowns, only seven interceptions and led the Vikings to a 12-4 record and the NFC Championship Game.
That brings us to this simple question: What is Favre's motivation this time?
As Favre addressed the media on Aug. 18, 2009, there was a certain fire in his eyes and a defiance in his voice that, from this corner at least, seemed to be largely based on the realization that this would be his opportunity for pay back on Packers General Manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy.
Favre got it by beating the Vikings' NFC North rival twice, 30-23 in a Monday night game at the Metrodome and 38-26 at Lambeau Field.
Favre made his point.
Perhaps that's why as he addressed the media on Aug. 18, 2010, the fire and defiance of a year earlier seemed to be missing. Favre's theme was that this time he had decided to return because of the players in the Vikings locker room.
Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson and Ryan Longwell had shown up unannounced -- at least to Favre -- on his doorstep in Mississippi and explained to the quarterback exactly how much he was wanted (and needed) for another season. Eventually, Favre couldn't say no.


  As for the rest of Vikings Training camp, there is no real good signs. Sidney Rice, Favre's go - to target and pro bowl receiver has a bad hip, Percy Harvin will undoubtedly be inconsistent as far as starting games this season, and Bernard Berrian is coming off his worst season in a while. Will the Vikings receiving core come together before season start?

How did it come to this?
That seemed an appropriate question Tuesday after Vikings Pro Bowl wide receiver Sidney Rice acknowledged he had hip surgery that could keep him out for at least eight weeks and perhaps the season.
The arthroscopic procedure at the Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., was done to repair an injury Rice suffered seven months ago in the NFC Championship Game at New Orleans. That meant an entire offseason in which Rice could have had the problem corrected was now gone and, thus, so was one of Brett Favre's favorite targets.
Rice said he visited the clinic in the offseason but when he went back in recent days, his hip "showed significant changes." "[The doctor] said it was something I could try and work through," Rice said of his initial visit. "That was the plan I tried. I was trying to rehab it. The area just got worse."
Rice remained in Vail, where he had the surgery on Monday and shortly thereafter was allowed to ride an exercise bike for 20 minutes.
"I would think probably at least eight weeks before we're talking about [him] doing anything," coach Brad Childress said.
Rice, who caught a career-best 83 passes for 1,312 yards with eight touchdowns last season in his first year playing with Favre, has been on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list since training camp opened. By staying there when the regular season begins, he would be ineligible to play for the first six weeks and would not count against the 53-man roster. He could be kept on the PUP list through the ninth week of the season, but he would then have to be activated or placed on season-ending injured reserve.
Childress wasn't about to bite when asked if Rice had made a business decision -- not wanting to risk injury in part because he's due a salary of $550,000 this season in the last year of his rookie contract.



Looking on to the positive, Brett Favre is back, Cedric Griffin looks healthy finally,  E.J. Henderson got seven tackles and one sack vs the San Fransisco 49ers on Sunday and one sack;coming back to form, and Antoine Winfield hopefully has gotten over his endeavors as well. So Vikings fans, let your heart open and get a Brett Favre or Minnesota  Vikings player jersey below: