Realistically, it doesn’t matter if Bushrod stops him every play but one. That one play could be the one resulting in a key turnover. Bottom line is that he’s going to get beat a few times, it’s all in how we handle it when he does. I think you’ll see a lot of screens and swings to Allen’s side in an attempt to slow him down a bit.

Course, I wouldn’t be surprised if you see the defensive line of the Vikings moved around considerably in an attempt to catch the Saints’ offensive line coach off guard. They KNOW we’ve been studying, gameplanning and preparing for this game for weeks if not months. Don’t be surprised if Minnesota comes out showing a bunch of new looks. You know Gregg Williams will after all.

Individual players aren’t going to win this game, coaching is. Although Brees and Bush both have the ability to take over if they’re having a good day. Here’s to hoping that Brees is firing on all cylinders and Bush has his best performance yet!

Payton will call many plays where Allen’s opportunity to cause a Brees sack or fumble will be minimized- i.e. 3 step drops, screen plays, reverses, traps, calling running plays right at him with double teams, short roll out pass etc etc.

Also, Edwards may not be 100% (or even play).

Getting reasonable gains on first ( and second) down and avoiding 3rd and long will be critical too. I think we can handle it.

Who does he think he is? He wants a lot of noise so that it will throw off the offense He wants a noisey Superdome so that Drew will be off his game? Does he think that Saints fans are stupid or what!!??? The fans will be quiet when the Saints offense is on the field because we don’t want to disrupt the audible. When Drew asks for the crowd to quiet down, damn right they will. Bushrod things it will be better for him if the crowd doesn’t make a lot of noise, then so be it. The fans know what is going on. When the Vikes take the field on offense, the Dome is gonna be thumpin’!!!! We will be the ones to disrupt the quarterback and not allow him to call the audibles. Favre said it himself, GW gives you one look and then next think you know as soon as you get behind center, he changes it up on you. Not enough time to call the audible. Take it how you may, but I have full faith in the Saints front line to protect Drew. The Vikes might be looking at film of the Cowboys game to see what they did to disrupt Drew, but you know it’s not going to be like that. Like the last play of the game, you know Drew would have called Thomas over to provide a chip block on Ware to give him more time to complete the pass, come on now. It’s all part of SP’s plan to get us to the Superbowl. Give them one look then throw out the playbook.

may be key to this game. Bushrod handled Peppers and Abraham rushing as down linemen out of a 4-3; Ware rushed as an outside backer from a 3-4. I think Bushrod can handle Allen. He might even be able to shut him out. And I think Stinch will be fine.

remember the Vikings don’t do well in NFC Championship Games. They’ve not been to the Super Bowl since the 70s. Expect that trend to continue.

end of story.

If he sits we have a god shot of shutting out their D-Line. We could double Allen and play their back-up heads-up and keep Drew clean all day. If Edwards plays we will have to give one of their ends a one-on-one with our tackles and that scares me a little. Edwards is just as good as Allen and could cause just as much chaos. We remember the Dallas game. Ware was trouble, but it was Spencer rushing off the other end that ended our chances in that game. our O-line can shut down 1 explosive pass rusher, but strugles when they come in pairs.

In 2007, waiting on the draft, I went over all the players from small schools trying to figure out who would be worth a lower-round pick. I finally settled on two: Usama Young from Kent State, and Jermon Bushrod from Towson. Lo and behold, the Saints picked both of them. It was my finest hour; I haven’t come close since (well, I did pick Malcolm Jenkins and Sedrick Ellis…but those were no-brainers).

So Jermon is my boy. Y’all cut him some slack. I would bet that he’s seething right now, after reading all the opinions that he’s going to fold like wet tissue against the great mulletheaded Jared Allen. I would not be at all surprised if Allen is shut out completely—no sacks, no tackles, just like he was against Arizona.

look for screens and draw plays to fake them out a bit.

run many draws. They get too much push in the middle. Dallas was very good at running draws but the Vikings made them look foolish when they tried it. Screens are good to go. Just as long as the blocker on that side doesn’t let Winfield kill the player that catch’s the ball.

he was schooled by Flo last week and by Free after Flo went out, everyone thinks Allen dominated but that`s a farce, he had 1 sack and then when was Witten tried to block him and whiffed and Kosier the guard was supposed to kick out and help but did n`t. So I think Bushrod can easily handle him…in other words he`s no DeMarcus Ware.