View Photos

Watch Video Here

Watch Video Here

Fast forward one year and AP leads to league in rushing yards finishing just 9 yards shy of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record.

Tonight Peterson faces the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.  During regular season play Peterson torched the Packers for a combined 409 yards – but this time, Packers’ LB Clay Mathews says AP will not be having a big performance.

With return of Packers’ safety Charles Woodson, we agree that AP has his work cut out for him – but if there is one thing we’ve in 2012, it’s to never bet against him when he’s facing a challenge.

Kickoff is set for 8PM ET on NBC.

Watch Video Here

MINNESOTA (10-6) AT GREEN BAY (11-5)

After going 3-13 in 2011, Minnesota surprised the NFL by winning its last four games to finish 10-6, and securing the final wild card spot in the NFC.

Minnesota and Green Bay met twice in December, with the home team winning each contest. The Packers knocked off the Vikings in Week 13, 23-14, while the Vikings clinched a playoff berth in Week 17, with a 37-34 win over Green Bay.

Now, the two rivals will meet on Saturday for just the second time ever in the playoffs, with a trip to the NFC’s Divisional round on the line.

What is the history of teams that meet in the postseason after playing the final regular season game against each other?  The most obvious trend is that in the rematch–the playoff game–the home team (and therefore the better team based on seeding) has gone 10-2, or a winning percentage of .833. What is fascinating is that by my count, home teams have a winning percentage of .659 (58-30) in the Wild-Card round since 1990.

The Vikings haven’t won a game outdoors this season and some people would say they’ll be playing their first defining cold-weather game since the days of Metropolitan Stadium, and that’s the Packers’ greatest advantage for this game.

The last time the Vikings went on the road and beat a team in weather conditions at 32 degrees or below were 2010, in the Tuesday night game against Philadelphia. Before that? The 2004 Wild Card playoff game against…Green Bay, in Lambeau.

Adrian Peterson has rushed for 409 yards and a 7.4 yards per carry average in two games against the Packers. That must not happen again, either, for the Packers to win.

Last Sunday, the Packers keyed on motion, repeatedly bringing a safety down to the strong side of the Vikings’ formation to try to keep HB Adrian Peterson from getting outside. So, Peterson gashed them on runs called between the tackles instead — running for 199 yards and a touchdown on a career-high 34 carries (5.9 average), forcing 11 missed tackles and gaining 119 yards after contact (60% of his yards). He stiff-armed MLB Brad Jones on a lead play that went for 22

Don Barclay (rookie right tackle from West Virginia) goes against defensive ends Brian Robison and Everson Griffen Saturday night.  Robison, who has 8½ sacks and 22 hurries, and Griffen (eight, 25) each had a sack against Barclay Sunday at the Metrodome. Robison opposed Barclay for three quarters while Griffen was playing inside on passing downs. Down the stretch, the Vikes put Griffen over Barclay and it was near domination.

On the other side, left tackle Marshall Newhouse held up well against defensive end Jared Allen.

With Percy Harvin (ankle) out since Nov. 4, the Vikings have relied more than ever on Adrian Peterson.  Peterson ran the ball 348 times this year (including 31,24,25, and 34 times the last four games).

The Vikings are helped by their offensive line.  Matt Kalil, Charlie Johnson, John Sullivan, Brandon Fusco and Phil Loadholt started all 16 games.

The Vikings went into the season with new starters at left tackle (Kalil), left guard (Johnson) and right guard (Fusco). Kalil, a rookie, and Fusco, a second-year player, never had started an NFL game.

On defense, Minnesota’s Jamarca Stanford, after losing his starting job to Mistral Raymond in training camp, he was forced back into a leading role after Raymond dislocated his ankle in Week 3. Sanford played so well in the six games Raymond missed that he earned the opportunity to keep starting with the two safeties splitting time over the final seven games.

Ponder played perhaps the best game of his career in Week 17, however, completing 16-of-28 passes against Green Bay for 234 yards and three touchdowns.

Ponder hasn’t thrown an interception in his last 14 quarters of play, and over his last three games has completed 60% of this throws.

Christian Ponder was limited in practice again as the Vikings try to get his sore throwing elbow to “calm down a little bit,” Frazier said. Ponder hurt the elbow when Packers safety Morgan Burnett hit him on a blitz in Sunday’s game.

DuJuan Harris, the Packers running back,  carried the ball 20 times in his three games prior to Sunday, so Vikings coaches did watch film of the second-year back from Troy. But at Minnesota, Green Bay used Harris extensively for the first time. Harris finished with 70 yards on 14 carries.

Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers has passed for 2,823 yards and 24 touchdowns against the Vikings. He has only four interceptions and a 116.4 passer rating.

And Aaron Rodgers has been outstanding in his last three games of the season: 10 TD, 0 INT.  And…Rodgers will have both Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson, which will enable Rodgers to spread the ball around.  Nelson suffered a knee injury in the regular-season finale at Minnesota.  Cobb sat out last weekend because of knee and ankle injuries.

James Jones had 14 receiving touchdowns, most in the NFL this season.

If there were any doubt about the impact CB Antoine Winfield (18 snaps) has on the Vikings defense, this erased it. Rodgers repeatedly targeted CB Marcus Shrels,  who replaced Winfield as the nickel and had almost every ball thrown to his side the rest of the way. Sherels ended up surrendering 123 yards on six completions, including a go ball to WR Jordy Nelson that went for 73. Sherels always competes, but he’s no match for the way Rodgers can attack the middle of the field.

Winfield remained mostly a spectator on Thursday as the Minnesota Vikings held their final full practice on a short week before their NFC wild-card playoff against Green Bay. He played only 18 snaps before dropping out of last weekend’s win over the Packers in the second quarter because of pain and swelling in his broken right hand.

The Pack will have Charles Woodson back, but how much will he play and how effective will he be?  He’s missed 9 games.  The biggest decision Dom Capers has to make is whether to leave Charles Woodson at safety full time or continue to move him into a slot corner position when he goes to the nickel or dime scheme. CaseyHayward has proved to be an outstanding slot corner with a team-leading six interceptions, and it would be a mistake to use of his cover skills.

The Vikings had four offsides penalties in the first half of Green Bay’s 23-14 victory at Lambeau Field on Dec. 2.

The Packers are 7-1 at Lambeau this season.

Blair Walsh set the NFL record for most field goals of 50 or more yards in a season with ten (and his first miss from 50 yards out or more will be the first of his career) while going 35-of-38 overall in replacing veteran Ryan Longwell. He also set a team record for touchbacks with 53, finishing third in the NFL in that category.

Mason Crosby was only 2-9 this year in 50+ yard field goal attempts.

Crosby was 21-33 FG this year.

CINCINNATI (10-6) AT HOUSTON (12-4)

The Bengals finished the season 7-1.

The Texans finished the season 1-3.

The Bengals and Texans are meeting for the second consecutive year in a Wild Card game at Reliant Stadium. Houston won last year’s meeting 31-10.  The Texans’ defense had four sacks, three interceptions and one touchdown– a 29-yard interception return by rookie DE J.J. Watt – against Bengals rookie QB Andy Dalton.

Matt Schaub will make his first start in a playoff game. Schaub saw action in the 2005 NFC Championship Game as a member of the Atlanta Falcons at Philadelphia (1/23/05).

The Bengals have won four straight on the road and finished tied for the best road record in the NFL this season at 6-2.

The Bengals sack the quarterback a bunch — 51 times, which left them one shy of being part of a three-way tie for the NFL lead.

Defensive tackle Geno Atkins had 12.5 sacks, a margin of 4.5 over second-place Ndamukong Suh of Detroit (8.0) for most in the NFL this year by an interior lineman.

But the Bengals have also allowed a lot of sacks.  Andy Dalton has been sacked 19 times in the last four games.

This is how well Adam Jones has done for the Bengals.. At least according to Pro Football Focus, the Web site that grades every play. For his 608 snaps, it rates Jones the NFL’s 11th-best overall cornerback. And it has him rated seventh in pass coverage, which is telling for a guy on the field most of the time on third down. PFF has him for allowing just two touchdown passes on a defense that has allowed the third-fewest TD passes in the league with 16.

Biggest matchup of the game: Bengals LG Clint Boling and RG Kevin Zeitler vs. Texans DE J.J. Watt.

J.J. Watt led the Texans’ seventh-ranked defense with 20.5 sacks, 107 tackles, 39 tackles for loss, 42 quarterback hits, 16 passes defensed and four forced fumbles in 2012.

In order for the Bengals receivers to take advantage of a banged-up Houston secondary that allowed five touchdown passes of at least 34 yards in December for a defense that gave up first downs on 55 percent of its third downs in the last two games, the Bengals O-line must give quarterback Andy Dalton some time.

When the Bengals won four straight from Nov. 11-Dec. 2, they allowed a total of five sacks. Since then they’ve allowed five in one game and six in two others and the running game has been bad in the last two games averaging just 2.2 yards per 37 carries.

In the 13 games Pat Sims has missed the past two years, the Bengals have allowed 4.5 yards per rush. In the 19 games Sims has played, they’ve allowed 3.6. In the last two playoff games without him, they’ve been buried by the Jets and Texans with 171 and 188 rushing yards, respectively. At the most, he’ll play about 30 percent of the snaps. Maybe about 20 to 25 plays. He didn’t get off the physically unable to perform list (PUP) until halfway through the year.  Of course, Cincy went 7-1 in the eight games with him.

Arian Foster ran for 153 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s 31-10 Texans’ win over the Bengals in an AFC wild card game, including a 42-yard touchdown up the right sideline that featured a couple of missed tackles.

One reason for the Texans’ struggles is that the running game has gotten off to slow starts. In last week’s game at Indianapolis, Foster had only 23 yards in the first half.

Ironically, the Bengals’ worst game against the run was last week against Baltimore, as they allowed 206 yards. However, 65 of those were by quarterback Tyrod Taylor, mainly on option reads. Cincinnati will face more conventional and familiar backs this week in Foster and Ben Tate.

The Bengals Josh Brown will be kicking in his 10th postseason game Saturday. He has made 16 of 19 field goals in his playoff career, with the three misses coming from 49 yards or longer. His career long make in the postseason is 50 yards. His lone missed field goal this season was a 56-yard attempt at kicker-unfriendly Pittsburgh.

In the four games since Josh Brown signed with the Bengals on Dec. 6 when Mike Nugent strained his right calf, he has made all eight of his extra points and 11 of 12 field goal attempts, including the playoff berth-clinching 43-yarder to beat Pittsburgh 13-10 two weeks ago at Heinz Field.

The Texans couldn’t be thinner at inside linebacker heading into the playoffs. A day after the team put Darryl Sharpton on injured reserve, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips admitted Wednesday he’s “worried” about Tim Dobbins’ availability for Saturday.

Dobbins has been battling a shoulder problem during the last half of the season and was held out of practice Wednesday. Coach Gary Kubiak said the idea was to give Barrett Ruud more time with the first unit and also try to catch up Mister Alexander, who was re-signed to replaced Sharpton on the roster. (Ruud was signed earlier this year after Brian Cushing was lost for the season).

Texans radio analyst Andre Ware thinks the issue with the team’s offense begins up front with the right-side rotation of rookie guards Ben Jones and Brandon Brooks plus Antoine Caldwell and tackles Derek Newton and Ryan Harris.“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen or been a part of a team that has a (similar) rotation,” Ware said. “There’s no continuity on the right side. They can’t sustain drives because they can’t run the football effectively, and the defense has worn down because it has played so many snaps.”

Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who did not play against the Ravens on Sunday after straining a hamstring in pregame warm-ups, returned to practice Wednesday and was one of five players listed as limited on the injury report.

In his past four games, Matt Schaub has thrown exactly one touchdown pass. He hasn’t been playing particularly well of late. Now he gets a front four that sets up shop in opponents’ backfields. The Cincinatti defensive line has accounted for 42 of their franchise-record 51 sacks; there isn’t a weak link on this relentless front. Cincinnati’s defense has been afire down the stretch in general. In the Bengals’’ past eight games, they’ve allowed just 282 yards and 12.8 points per contest.

Dalton’s lifetime record at Reliant Stadium is 3-1; he won twice there in high school and once while playing for TCU in the 2007 Texas Bowl.

The Texans are 6-0 at home this season against AFC opponents.

The Bengals are 4-0 this year when Green-Ellis ran the ball at least 25 times and are 35-2 under Marvin Lewis when a Cincy running back gets that many carries.

Watch Video Here

Watch Video Here

Watch Video Here