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Championship weekend Vikings will win tight game, while Raiders should roll
Updated: Friday January 12, 2001 4:48 PM
CNNSI.com's B. Duane Cross talked with former NFL head coach and current CNN NFL Preview analyst Ron Meyer about several issues and storylines as teams prepare for Championship Sunday: B. Duane Cross: Coach, two mirror games this week with good defenses against good offenses. First, Minnesota and its offense at New York, whose defense really stepped up last week. Ron Meyer: Without question the talk of the town is Minnesota's offense. I think one main emphasis from Dennis Green is to get Robert Smith the ball more often; he was fairly quiet against the Saints. If Smith gets cranked up, it'll be even tougher for New York to contain the Vikings' offense. Everyone knows about the Minnesota receivers. Even when Cris Carter and Randy Moss are covered, they're not really covered. As much credit as Daunte Culpepper gets at quarterback, it's unbelievable that those receivers -- even when defended by good defensive backs -- still make catches. Carter is a very special receiver; he never ages! Last week against New Orleans, he made several spectacular catches.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for defensive coordinator John Fox. The Giants will be well game-planned. On the other side, if Minnesota's defense is forced to continually go out there after a three-and-out series, it will break. The Giants' offense must sustain some drives, get a couple of scores. Quarterback Kerry Collins is sound, but he must not commit turnovers. The Giants' offense really compliments the defense. Minnesota's defense must rally like it did last week against the Saints. They have to contain the run and keep Collins off balance. After all that, even with home-field advantage in New York's favor, I see Minnesota squeaking out the victory -- with Carter's and Moss' acrobatic catches the difference. Cross: OK, in the AFC, Baltimore talked the talk last week, then backed it up by beating Tennessee. The Ravens have been relatively quiet this week. Is this defense good enough to carry them yet again? Meyer: I think Baltimore has to stick with what got it here. It's a matchup of the best rush defense against the top rush offense. But that is skewed a bit by factoring in Oakland's Rich Gannon, who led AFC quarterbacks in rushing. I think the Ravens can shut down Oakland's rushing, especially with speedster Napoleon Kaufman likely out with a leg injury. I think Baltimore will stick with its normal defensive scheme and not put a spy on Gannon. They didn't do it last week against Steve McNair, who is a better runner than Gannon, who drops back with the idea to throw. The Ravens won't commit one guy to watching Gannon; that would take away from what they won with all year. The real Achilles' heel is Baltimore's offense. Trent Dilfer has to be more accurate, more of a force. The Raiders will come after Jamal Lewis, trying to shut down the running game. I think if Oakland does that, they'll harass Dilfer with stunts and run blitzes. I don't see Baltimore's offense generating enough points to make the Super Bowl. Defensively, no question. But the Ravens do not have enough offensive firepower. But if Oakland drops a few big balls, allows Jermaine Lewis to break a kick return or if Baltimore's defense scores ... look out. But if the Raiders get up 10 or 14 points, the Ravens cannot respond. It'll be loud because Oakland's fans are some of the loudest in the league. In fact, Oakland is the only NFL team to have an XFL franchise; you have to love the Raiders' fans. They will be a factor, causing Baltimore to have trouble snapping the ball. With that frenzy in the crowd, the Raiders play to it. I see Oakland winning a 21-3 game. Ron Meyer, a former NFL head coach, is a pro football analyst with CNN/Sports Illustrated and appears weekly on CNN's NFL Preview.
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