Luft’s Locker Room

Sunday, 18 October 2009, will be the return of Matt Birk to the Metrodome to play his former team the Minnesota Vikings. The Baltimore Ravens will be making the trip. across country into a den of just absolute roaring bedlam. Their young quarterback Joe Flacco, we’ll have to deal with noise levels he has never seen before, and they can get underneath a quarterbacks skin in a heartbeat. I like to call this noise thunder from Thor’s hammer.

It seems that Joe Flacco is experiencing the normal sophomore year slump, is still ranked 12th among quarterbacks with a 90.2 passer rating. Not bad for the young man. I would also suspect that lining up behind Matt Birk and seeking all that wisdom that Matt has will do nothing but improve his play over the upcoming years. However, I also see playing against the Four Norsemen of the Apocalypse (Ray Edwards, Pat Williams, Kevin Williams, and Jared Allen) this weekend also adding to his education and his maturity the hard way. Today he has been sacked seven times, and I would anticipate at least two more this Sunday.

Speaking of offense in line and defensive line match ups, Ravens left offensive tackle Jared Gaither has missed his second straight day of practice with a neck injury. If Gaither cannot make the start on Sunday, rookie offensive tackle Michael Oher will move over from the right to left side and start against Jared Allen. I can see Jared Allen licking his chops now and Ray Edwards sharpening his cutlery.

One of the more intriguing matchups I look forward to reading about this weekend is that of Pat Williams versus Matt Birk. The two men practiced against each other for a good three years with Pat normally talking his little smack on the field and Matt mostly silently, giving Pat all he can handle. Both of them were Pro Bowlers and both benefited from each other’s work ethic and tenacity.  This matchup has been focused upon all week and though both players have been good sports about it, it is starting to annoy on Pat Williams.  “Everyone’s trying to make it a Birk thing, a Pat thing. But I don’t care,” Williams told Sean Jensen of the Pioneer Press. “We don’t miss him around here. We don’t care about no [expletive] Baltimore or nothing. We’re on a mission. We’re worried about the Minnesota Vikings. That’s it.”

Questions arise as whether Adrian Peterson breaks his own record of 4 games without 100 yards, especially with Brett Favre finding favorable pitch and catch buddies.  Brett’s aerial assault keeps growing and will with defenses still loading up the box with 8 or 9 players.  Don’t expect that defensive approach to stop anytime soon either.  D-coordinators know this is a run first and often team and will aim at stopping that and take their chances on the pass defense side of equation.  The once dominant defense of the Ravens has a critical flaw that will be the difference in the game;  their corners are not known for their run support ability.  There is no one in the league at getting out to and turning the corner than Adrian Peterson.  Add to that their tendency to play back off the line of scrimmage and AD should be busting steady gains in the 6 yard or better range.  That will be the death of a defense that was second against the run only to the Vikings.

This will be the first game this season you will have to watch for me, for the end of the quest is upon this writer.  The longboat is ready to set sail for the trip across the pond and to the desert.  I’ll check the final score upon landing in Kuwait.  Can the Vikes be 6-0 at the end of the day?  Odin and Thor assure that will happen.  Skol, my friends and…

GO VIKINGS!

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