Challenge for Saints' Bushrod: Somehow Slow Jared Allen

One can only imagine the thoughts dashing through the head of a certain left tackle as he watched tape of the mayhem brought by the Minnesota Vikings defensive line in last weekend's divisional-playoff pillaging of the Dallas Cowboys.

His name is Jermon Bushrod and he figures to enjoy some new-found fame when the the New Orleans Saints knock heads with the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game Sunday at the Superdome.

Whether that's good news or bad depends on Bushrod.

And Jared Allen.

"He's a great player with great size, great speed and great power," the little-known Bushrod said of the Vikings' All-Pro end and sack king who anchors the league's best front defensive front. "He has to be accounted for."

Bushrod, a third-year pro with two NFL games on his resume before the 2009 season, will be charged with the aforementioned accounting as New Orleans' starting left tackle. His teammates, including Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees, are fine with that, given the strides he's made since being forced into the starting lineup following a season-ending injury to starter and former first-round pick Jammal Brown in training camp.

"He's cool," Pro Bowl guard Jahri Evans said of Bushrod, a fourth-round pick in '07 out of Towson. "I don't think he's felt anymore pressure than he needs to; if he did, he's not showing it. He's been playing well all year long and we expect him to play to play well Sunday."

Expect the Saints will lend Bushrod (pictured below) -- who allowed seven sacks this season, most on the Saints -- a hand on the edge, with a chipping back or tight end help, but it's not like they'll be able to focus everything on the left side. For all of Allen's disruption (14 1/2 sacks during the season) and demonstrations (roping those phantom cattle after each), he's only a fourth of the wrecking crew that tortured Dallas' Tony Romo for six sacks, forced three fumbles, and held the red-hot Cowboys to a mere field goal in a 34-3 pummeling at the Metrodome.

It wasn't a fluke, either. Minnesota's 48 sacks led the NFL during the regular season.



"They play with confidence," New Orleans Coach Sean Payton said of the league's No. 2-ranked defense, a unit that also parks massive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams (no relation) inside and brings Ray Edwards (3 sacks last week) from the side opposite Allen. "When you look at the game last week, how they played against a Dallas team -- and I think everyone saw how good the Cowboys were playing -- to see them win in that fashion was impressive."

Both Edwards and Kevin Williams came out of the Dallas game with knee sprains and did not practice Wednesday. That's a pre-game subplot that will be followed closely all the way to kickoff.

But even if the new-age Purple People Eaters show up intact, the Saints will have every reason to come into the game with some confidence of their own. Whereas the Dallas offensive line has flaws and Romo has been known to hold the ball too long in the pocket, New Orleans has a trio of Pro Bowlers up front in Evans, center Jonathan Goodwin and right tackle Jon Stinchcomb, who helped form a wall that yielded just 20 sacks, the fourth-fewest in the league. A good dose of credit there goes to Brees.

In addition to being Peyton-like in going through his reads and progressions, Brees delivers the ball in a hurry -- 13 of the 20 sacks on Brees this season came when he held the ball for 2.6 seconds or less, just six at three seconds or more, meaning Minnesota will have to hustle to get to him. For a quarterback who goes just 6 feet, he's uncanny at finding his receivers, most of the time finding his passing lanes around linemen, rather than over them.

For Minnesota, just making Brees uncomfortable and batting down some passes can disrupt the rhythm of an offense that led the NFL at 403.8 yards per game.

"We have to be able to force them into third-and-long situations, second-and-long situations, to where we can get the one-on-one matchups that we want," Allen told reporters at team headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn. "If it's second-and-short, or the game is close and they can max protect, if they're blocking seven against our four, it's going to be tough to get there. If we can get them into where they've got to release people and we can get the matchups we want, we should be successful."

The best the way the Saints can afford that scenario is to get Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas going in the running game -- which they can. New Orleans averaged 131.6 yards during the regular season (6th in the league) and erupted for 171 in last weekend's 45-14 rout of defending the defending NFC champion Arizona Cardinals.

The Vikings merely will counter with a run defense (fourth-best in the league at 92 yards per game) that has been one of the best in the biz for three seasons running.

"The emphasis of being able to run the ball more efficiently, that's helped us get to this game," Payton said.

Staving off the Minnesota front will be an emphasis. They'll need to do it get to the (really big) next game.

And make Jermon Bushrod even more famous.