Quarterback Brad Johnson and tight end Jermaine Wiggins talked earlier this week about the contrasting defenses of the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins. The Cowboys were expected to provide a “vanilla” look in the Vikings’ final pre-season game last night while the Redskins’ defense is capable of the “exotic” in the NFL regular season opener for both teams on Monday, September 11.
Regarding the Cowboys’ defense, Johnson said, “They are about as vanilla as you can get, but they’ve been stopping people. They‘ve only played probably three different coverages.”
The Redskins? “They do a lot of things,” Wiggins said. “They have a lot of exotic blitzes. They like to change it up so they definitely have a good defense. They have always been up there in top 10 total defenses so we know that we will have a good game on our hands.”
Whatever defenses the Vikings face, they will take on the challenge without super stars Randy Moss and Daunte Culpepper. Still, Wiggins, who has led the team in receptions the last two seasons, is optimistic about the offense.
“You don’t need an identifiable super star to win championships,” Wiggins said. “Obviously, if you look at a team like New England that won a bunch of Super Bowls they didn’t have no real super star. … Give me a team of good players (rather) than a team of one great super star. That’s the main thing. Just guys going out there and doing their jobs.”