Note: Due to the Vikings' short week this week, the game preview will come today instead of Friday as per usual, and weekly Power Rankings will be delayed until Friday!
After another last-minute loss Sunday, the Vikings have dropped down to 1-7 after half of their schedule, tied for the worst start to a season in their franchise history (tied with their first year of existence, 1961). With one more loss, these Vikings will have the worst start in franchise history, and in order to avoid that they will have to defeat the Washington Redskins at home on a short week. The Vikings have to wash away that loss to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday fast, as their schedule neccessitates a quick turnaround because kickoff is already tomorrow, Thursday night, for their date with RGIII. The Vikings showed some nice adjustments in the Dallas game on offense, and even their injured secondary showed some improvement, but they will have to hope that improvement holds even after a heartbreaking comeback spoiled an otherwise decent performance in Jerry World. The Redskins, meanwhile, are coming off of an overtime win where their defense made a big goal-line stand at the end of regulation, and have to believe they are still in the division race in a weak NFC East. Will the Vikings be able to end those hopes? Here's the many more questions this game will provide, as the Vikings try to save face in front of their home crowd:
Offense
How will this offense function without Kyle Rudolph?
The Vikings suffered a major injury on Sunday, when they found out that a foot injury will cause tight end Kyle Rudolph to miss over a month of the season. It's fair to wonder whether we'll see Rudolph on the field again this year, as most likely he would only be able to return for the final two games of the season and it's almost guaranteed the Vikings will not be playing for anything at that point. The loss of Rudolph takes away of the Vikings biggest (literally) threats in the passing game, as the other tight ends on the roster don't have Rudolph's size or athletic ability. Once Rudolph left last week Musgrave did not mix up the play calling and had backup John Carlson run the same routes as Rudolph, but Carlson doesn't have the athletic ability to make those plays work. That means the Vikings should start to lean on their wide receivers more, hopefully rookie Cordarrelle Patterson, but the emphasis is on the "should" there, because Musgrave's lack of adjustments is one of the biggest knocks on him as a play-caller.
Can J'Marcus Webb hold up the right side?
Right tackle Phil Loadholt will miss Thurday's actions with a concussion, which means former Bears' left tackle J'Marcus Webb will take over the right side for the game against the Redskins. Webb certainly did not impress in his action with the Bears last year, and in the limited game action he saw last week he was not impressive, giving up a pressure that led to a Christian Ponder fumble and a defensive touchdown for the Cowboys. Will the Redskins overload Webb's side and be able to get pressure on Ponder? More importantly, can Webb be trusted enough to open holes for Adrian Peterson?\
Can this team exploit another bad defense?
The Vikings' offense had life to it for the first time in a while in Dallas, where Bill Musgrave came out running a no-huddle that seemed to make Christian Ponder more comfortable and the offense more effective as a whole. Will Musgrave keep in those adjustments and keep feeding the ball to Adrian Peterson, who looked like his MVP self against the Cowboys? The Redskins' defense ranks 30th in yards allowed and 31st in points allowed, so there's hope that this offense can come together and at least have a somewhat respectable performance.
Defense
Can this defense hold Washington's ground game in check?
The Washington Redskins' identity on offense is running the football, plain and simple. Everything they do on offense is predicated their ability to run the ball, as when this team is forced to play from behind it doesn't look like RGIII is healthy enough to carry this offense on his own. Last week the Vikings were very solid against the run, causing the Cowboys to become one-dimensional and throw the ball 51 times, and while the Redskins will likely never abandon the run as much as the Cowboys did, if the Vikings can at least shift their run/pass ratio to the pass side this team has a much better chance of success.
Will the defensive line be able to apply pressure on RGIII?
The Vikings' defensive line was very active against the Cowboys, and they're going to need to be again if they want to walk out of the Metrodome with a win Thursday night. RGIII has wilted when pressured often this year, as he fell apart when the Denver Broncos were able to hit him early on. RGIII likes to take hits a little bit too much for his own health, and the defensive line with have to oblige him on that front because when RGIII starts to take hits it affects his accuracy and his movement in the pocket. If the defensive line can get pressure like they did last week and take RGIII out of his game, the Vikings may be able to avoid a potential disaster.
How healthy will this secondary be?
The big question for this defense will be how many available members of the secondary the Vikings will have to suit up for this game. Rookie cornerback Xavier Rhodes seems likely to be ready to go on Thursday night after leaving the Cowboys game, but cornerback Chris Cook and safety JaMarcus Sanford might be not dressed for the second game in a row. The Vikings' secondary depth was very up and down last week against the Cowboys, as players like AJ Jefferson stepped up and made some plays, while others like Mistral Raymond looked like they had no idea where they were on the field. The Washington Redskins don't have nearly the arsenal of weapons that the Dallas Cowboys have, so will this secondary by able to step up for at least another week to give this team a shot to win?
Coaching
Has this staff lost this team?
After the loss to Dallas, for the first time this season some Vikings players outright criticized play-calling and coaching decisions for the first time through the media. Is this a sign that the players are already starting to give up on this coaching staff and that the coaches may have lost the trust of the locker room? Winning cures everything, but if the Vikings come up short Thursday night again the criticisms from players will only get more vocal.
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