Minnesota Vikings

Earlier this week I felt like this was a huge game for the Patriots to prove that they are indeed in the conversation of Super Bowl contenders. Sure, they’ve beaten two very good teams since the bye week, but it’s been the old school brand of Patriots football that we were more accustomed to in the early part of the decade. Playing solid football, capitalizing on the other teams mistakes, and most of all not beating themselves. But we have yet to see an all around dominating performance in all phases of the game.

You don’t really know what you’re getting with the Vikings this week. I remember being similarly nervous before the 2006 game against them, and that ended up being, in the words of Brad Childress “a surgical procedure”. What do the Patriots have to do to get the Vikings back on the operating table this weekend after the jump.

While most of the pundits seem to be picking the New England Patriots to beat the Minnesota Vikings this weekend, I’m finding myself quite nervous about this game.

Not because it’s necessarily a must-win, but because I have a feeling the Vikings are going to turn it around at some point, and I’d prefer it not come at our expense. You can never count out a team with Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss, Percy Harvin, and their defensive front seven.

If the Patriots want to be considered an elite team, they’ll need to knock off Minnesota this weekend. I’m as big of a Patriots fan as they come, and even I am not quite sure they’re “elite” just yet. 

Yes, they have five wins, but all of them could’ve easily gone either way.

The offense is still looking for it’s exact identity. The defense seems to be improving every week, but they are still giving up a lot of third down conversions. 

As always the goal is to be peaking at the end of the season, not in late October. But it’s games like these, home games against teams that are banged up and vulnerable, that elite teams win.

With so much focus going to whether or not Brett Favre will play, there’s very little talk about just how good the Patriots really are. Clearly they can compete with anyone. But are they the kind of team that will win twelve or more games? We’ll have a much better sense by Monday.