“Loud is loud,” said Texans head coach Gary Kubiak. “Those domes tend to get a little bit louder. That one is pretty darn loud. But, the bottom line is, they’re a dang good football team. They’re a heck of a defense. I think they’re ranked seventh or eighth in defense in this league and eleventh or twelfth on offense. That’s about as balanced as you can get as a football team. So, a lot of people picked that football team to be there at the end this year. So, a very good group.”
The Vikings will likely have one of the game’s great pass rushers, defensive end Jared Allen lined up across from Texans rookie left tackle Duane Brown, which could cause problems for the visitors. Coach Kubiak is certainly concerned about that matchup–
“The good news is Duane’s been in a couple of tough places already this year with Tennessee, Pittsburgh and Jacksonville. So, it’s not like he hasn’t been there. He just hasn’t been there in a month and he’ll find out real quick in this game how difficult it’s going to be just from a noise standpoint and how good a player that is. So, (T) Ephraim (Salaam) will get him ready to play and Ephraim will still spot him. We’ll still do the same thing.”
The toughest test that Houston will face will be defensively, as they try to slow down one of the most dynamic running backs in the NFL in Adrian Peterson. Peterson has rushed for 684 yards this season and is averaging 4.5 yards per carry. Peterson is capable of running over unprepared defenders, and he has more than enough speed to get around nearly anyone.
“Well, I don’t think you’re going to totally stop him (RB Adrian Peterson),” Kubiak said. “I think the bottom line, we’ve got to contain him. You don’t want any big bust out runs. What he’s capable of is the big play. So, we’ve got to be sound and make sure that we don’t have him come out on us on a big time play. It’s going to be very difficult. We’re going to have to tackle really well. We did that last week. We’ll have to tackle even better this week.”
Texans linebacker Zac Diles is well aware of the challenge his defense faces in the prospect of stopping Peterson.
“Just watching tape just now and earlier, yesterday, you see the kind of running back they have in (RB) Adrian Peterson. He’s a very hard, physical runner. He hits the hole hard and he’s running down hill so we’re going to have to bring our hard hats this week.”
Still, Diles is confident and knows what a road victory could mean for this team, especially being that it will even Houston’s record after the 0-4 start.
“It would be huge. We haven’t had a road win this year so just going out there would be a real big momentum for us. To go on the road and beat a really good team in Minnesota. You see, they are a real potent offense, a real potent defense. As long as we go out there and we play like we’ve been playing, we should be fine.”
The one major advantage Houston should have is in special teams, as punt returner Jacoby Jones has already been named AFC special teams player of the week twice, and the Vikings have struggled in punt and kick coverage.
“I saw where (RB) Reggie Bush could have had three on them, but he took two back on them,” Jones said. “There’s some tweaks in there. Maybe they fixed them, maybe not, but we’re going to try.”
Minnesota is ranked dead last in the NFL in punt coverage, as they allow 18.0 yards per return, and 21st in kickoff coverage, allowing 23.4 yards per return. Jacoby Jones tops the NFL with a 14.7 yard per return average on punts, and he will likely see some action returning kickoffs as well.
Four weeks ago, a .500 record seemed unattainable for the Texans, but they will achieve that with a road win on Sunday.
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