On a day when the Vikings showed the intensity missing the Sunday before, it was fitting that cornerback Antoine Winfield, whose energy has helped make him an All- Pro, returned to work after missing six games with a foot injury. There was a lack of urgency about the Vikings play in a 30-17 loss to the Cardinals last week in Arizona but not so yesterday in the Metrodome where the Vikings dominated Cincinnati, 30-10.
“That was the difference between this week and last week in the desert…the intensity and the energy that the Vikings played with,” said former Vikings assistant coach Dean Dalton. He praised the emotion the Vikings (11-2) showed on offense and defense in beating a Bengals team (9-4) that he said was almost efficient enough to have come to Minneapolis with only one loss, not three.
The Vikings defense was impressive for most of the game including a strong start holding the Bengals on their side of the 50 yard line until midway through the second quarter. It took an unnecessary roughness penalty by defensive tackle Kevin Williams on quarterback Carson Palmer to place the Bengals in Vikings territory. Later on that drive the Bengals scored their only touchdown of the game.
In the last minute of the second half the Vikings scored twice on field goals for a 16-7 halftime lead. The second field goal came with a few seconds remaining, and it followed a fumble by the Bengals’ Brian Leonard caused by a Winfield tackle.
“I think the key play of the game was probably the fumble he (Winfield) caused right before the halftime with four seconds to go,” Dalton said. “That made it a two score game with that extra field goal.”
Winfield ranks with the NFL’s better cornerbacks, certainly the more physical ones. His return yesterday was timelier than it might otherwise have been because two starting players on defense couldn’t play, middle linebacker E.J. Henderson and strong safety Tyrell Johnson.
No one has to tell Dalton, who analyzes the Vikings in the media now, how important Winfield is to the team. “He’s critical,” Dalton said.
Dalton said Winfield gives the Vikings “confidence on the backend in pass coverages” and then he talked about Winfield’s run support. “He’s just a beast against the run,” Dalton said.
Winfield quickly diagnoses what’s happening in front of him and reacts. No pondering, just moves quickly to make the tackle. “That’s why he gets underneath lead blockers (and) blows up the running backs (and) blows up wide receiver screens,” Dalton said.
The Bengals will give a nod to Winfield about that. He led both teams with nine tackles yesterday.