Prediction for Vikes/Cowboys and thoughts beyond this week's game.

Just my quick thoughts about tomorrow's game and a few short thoughts about what lies beyond that, should we pull off the victory.  More after the jump...

As I see it, here are the match-ups:

O-Lines:  Advantage - Neither one has a big edge, really.  With us rested, I'd give our Vikes O-line the nod by a tiny bit.

D-Lines: Advantage - Cowboys, though our Viking's D-Line plays better at home.

Linebackers: I'm not as familiar with the Cowboy's LBs so I'll give this as a tie between both teams in this regard

Secondary: Advantage - Cowboys - we all know where we stand here, this is our weakest link and could be our downfall against the amazing Witten, Austin, and even Roy Williams.

Running Backs: Advantage - Vikings - yeah they have Felix Jones but Adrian, despite his issues this year, is still potentially (at least) a monster compared to Felix "the cat" Jones.  Also, Chester can really show up to play too, teams always, always overlook him.  We need to tap into that fact.  We love you, too, CT!!!

Receivers - Advantage - Neither, though I'd give us the slight edge, if anything, since we have too many potentially dangerous targets with the Pro-Bowler Rice, speedy Berrian (please be "good hands" Berrian tomorrow not "Capt. Dropsy"), Shiancoe, both of our RBs, and Harvin.  But really this is an issue of variety for the Vikings rather than a disparity in talent between the two team's receiving corps.  We just have a better variety of poison for Dallas to choose from, that's all.  ;)

QB - Advantage - Vikings, you have to pick the more experience player who has put up stellar numbers this season in several high-pressure games.  Sorry Tony Romo, I actually like you as a player but I think that Favre is better even now.

Special Teams - Advantage - Vikings, if we see the ST unit that we saw for 90% of the season.  If not, it's a toss-up since they have a good kicker.

Coaching - Advantage - Neither, both coaches have their issues, though I'm less of a Childress hater than many around here.

X-Factors - Advantage - Vikings, by quite a bit.  We have the Dome-Field advantage for one, we've been resting for 2 weeks, secondly, and finally, we've been flying under the national media's radar for the past two weeks.  And one last thing, Harvin can be a huge X-factor due to the fact that he plays all over the field.  I don't feel that the Cowboys have any kind of X-factor that we're not aware of or that could pop outta the woodwork to surprise us.

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So adding things up the Cowboys have the advantage in two key categories: O-line and Secondary.  This means our D-line probably won't get to Romo as much as we'd like, thus they'll definitely be able to score through the air.  Their Secondary and strong D-Line is going to stifle some of our passing attack. Which means we will need our RBs to have big games (or at least one of them) to really have a good chance to get things done. 

We have the advantage in Special Teams, QB, RBs, and X-factors.  This means we'll start with good field position which could drastically affect the potential damage a good D-line pass rush from the Cowboys could have on us - if we're starting on the 35-45 quite frequently, we only need a few good pass plays to get into the danger zone.  Most pass rushes cause troubles but Favre is extremely good at escaping trouble and once he's out of the pocket, he's even more deadly.  This bodes well for us - but again, that's if our Special Teams plays like it has for MOST of the season.  Having the better QB is obviously key in a close match-up between teams and Favre's experience and ability once he's out of the pocket could be huge for us, too.  Having better RBs, in general (taking nothing away from Felix Jones), means that we can force their Pass Rush to hold back a bit which will blunt its effectiveness.  Furthermore, we've seen today in the Saints game what one super hot RB can do to an opposing team and for his own offense.  We have the edge in personnel in that regard, so I'd expect some good things there.  Finally, the X-factors are going to be helpful - particularly so if we cause some early turnovers and/or get our offense rolling really quickly.  With our Vikings, a quick, decisive start is huge at home.  If we get up 14 pts right away (or more) with a few sacks and/or turnovers, the Cowboys are in serious trouble.

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A few quick thoughts about the Saints.  I still think that they get annoyingly lucky at times but as is frequently pointed out, you make your own luck.  So be it.  Anyway, both our team or the Cowboys have the tools to beat the Saints but it's a matter of composure, confidence, and execution.  If the Cowboys or Vikings can keep the Saints Offense off the field while minimizing turnovers, they have every right to believe they can win that game.

Sorry Saints, I'm not drinking the kool-aid.  But I do think that whoever represents the NFC in the Super Bowl will win it all.  Just a hunch.