As you mentioned, DJ should be the secret weapon we use in stopping J Allen. I like the little bit I’ve seen of him in the H Back spot. He is supposed to be a great blocker, and has shown he is capable so far. This is his big test, if he is what we think he is, it will be his presence on the left side of our O-Line that will be the key to stopping the Vikes’ O.

And I think J Allen is better against the run than you give him credit for. He’s not a stuffer, and he has a lot of help on that line, but he has worked on his run defense. He knew he needed to step it up to match the play of his linemates. He’s not a great run stuffer yet, by any means, but in my opinion, he’s not completely one dimensional any more.

I think Frazier’s idea for our 4-3/ tampa is to stuff the run with the interior linemen and the middle linebacker (EJ Henderson). This allows the ends to rush up the field and the RLB and LLB to roam behind them. This also demands that our corner backs and safeties tackle, which we did not do a very good job of last week.

Yes, he is often rushing up the field and hanging on the QB but I think he had 7 tackles last week. I personally have seen him stuff the run numerous times especially on 4th and short situations.

I will give you this, the screen over his head while he blitzes is unbearably productive. I think Frazier will finally have a solution to that this week however.

The guy is a beast. There’s no way you can downplay him as a player. He plays like a madman from the snap to the whistle. Starks will have his hands full, but he will handle his business. He’ll need help every once in a while, but I think he’ll respond well to the challenge.

Everybody’s talking about Allen when we really need to be worried about Kevin Williams, the best player on that line. If he lines up over Essex, Ben might be in trouble Sunday. That guy is too much for one person to handle.

Allens game is speed and more speed. While he certainly isn’t weak, he will not overpower Starks. If he beats him it will be because he gets around him. He is also exceptionly good with his hands and using the opponents momentum to his advantage. He can be very good against the run but as mentioned earlier is vuneralbe to screens, which thankfully we seem to be getting better at.

Watched the replay of the Balt. v. Mn game last night. There are plenty of kinks in the Mn defense. They are quick to the QB if he just stands there but on many plays they rushed hard on both sides and left a huge drive a truck through hole right up the middle. None of very little coverage underneath. Ben will eat them up if they want to play that game. If Jared Allen is rushing the passer and it is a run, he does nothing once the runner is past him, no pursuit at all, I saw this at least 5-6 times. Screens, draws, delays, underneath routes, all wide open all day long. On the flip side, their OL is solid, AP is AP, and the old man still has more zip on his passes than 80% of the QB’s out there with a damn quick release when he wants to. If we don’t try to get huge chunks we will move the ball on them pretty easily and control the clock.