Photo Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-US PRESSWIRE

Our Detroit Lions schedule preview continues with the Lions’ opponent in week four, the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions and Vikings will also meet in week ten in Minneapolis.

My thanks to Dan Zinski, editor of The Viking Age, for taking the time to answer my questions. Check out TVA for more on the Vikings.

1. What is your initial reaction to the Vikings’ 2012 draft class?

Dan Zinski: They did what they had to do in terms of addressing the biggest holes on the roster. Taking Kalil was a no-brainer (Blackmon and Claiborne chatter notwithstanding). Taking three DBs in the first 7 picks was also a no-brainer. Little surprised they doubled up on receivers and took a kicker. Biggest surprise was probably how active they were in trading out. They’ll have a bunch of picks next year because of it, which sort of gives a hint about their plan. It’s at least a two year rebuild in their minds.

2. How concerned are Vikings fans about the health of Adrian Peterson’s knee?

DZ: There will always be nervousness, because everyone knows how important he is to the franchise, but this whole offseason has been nothing but one encouraging sign after another. If fans are worried about anything now it’s that he’s pushing too hard and will try to come back too soon. But I think the organization has made it clear they won’t go crazy trying to get him back for the start of the season. There’s no sense putting him out there just to put him out there, especially in a year when no one really expects much from the team.

Leslie Frazier will enter his first full year as head coach with the Vikes.  The Vikings drafted future franchise quarterback Christian Ponder (Florida St.) in the first round and tight end Kyle Rudolph (Notre Dame) in the second to help out the offense.  The Vikings made a splash after the lockout when they signed veteran QB Donavan McNabb to a one-year contract.  Don’t be scared fellow Lions fans, I’m not expecting much out of McNabb. As you probably remember, last year when McNabb and the ‘Skins took on the Lions McNabb was awful and was later benched in the game.  Also, McNabb doesn’t have Sidney Rice as an option at receiver this year as he left for Seattle.
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Photo: YardBarker.com

We are entering the final week of the NFL season, and the Detroit Lions are streaking. For the final game of the 2010 season, the Lions will face off against a Minnesota  Vikings team that is just one game better than the Lions. Defensively, they are coached by their interim head coach/defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier, who in my opinion is a biggest reason the Vikings defense has been so good in the past few seasons.

The Vikings run a standard 4-3 defense that is basically a cover 2, but mixes in plenty of Tampa 2 and zone blitz principles. What the Vikings do defensively has a lot to do with Leslie Frazier’s background. Frazier broke into the NFL with Andy Reid and Jim Johnson’s Eagles as a defensive backs coach, where he had the opportunity to learn the zone blitz scheme from one of the best. After a short stint with the Bengals as their defensive coordinator, Frazier served as the defensive backs coach for Tony Dungy’s Colts, where he learned the finer points of the Tampa 2 from the inventor of the scheme himself.

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