Vikings 4-man rush could be problematic

Photo from Fansided.com

On Sunday, the Minnesota Vikings ripped apart the St. Louis Rams by a score of 34-6 and a lot of it had to do with the Vikings defense. According to to Pro Football Focus, the Vikings were able to generate pressure on 17 of 41 plays when rushing 4. While it may have taken a little while for their best pass rushers, Everson Griffen and Brian Robison, to generate pressure off the edges, the Rams quarterbacks took 2.82 and 2.76 seconds to get rid of the ball, almost half a second faster than the average QB's, according to PFF.

While the Patriots are a much different team than the Rams, the Pats showed a lot of holes in their offensive line in their first game against Miami, and Griffen and Robison could create a lot of problems with their athleticism when rushing Tom Brady. They were most effective when they brought the blitz, but the Pats o-line still hasn't gelled yet, and that could create mismatches on the outside unless they've done a lot of work on that in practice.

The Patriots O-line versus the Vikings pass rush will be something to watch for on Sunday - if the Patriots O-line has worked on improving in practice from the Miami game, the Patriots should win this game. If not...well, we could be looking at a rare 0-2 start.