Deja Vu All Over Again

The last time fans saw the Vikings, they were walking heads-down off the Metrodome carpet following a 41-21 mugging by the Rams. As they start their 2007 season, the venue and the opponent remain the same.

The Vikings and Rams are heading back to the scene of the crime.

By the time the Vikes and St. Louis meet Friday night night at the Metrodome, each will have two weeks of practice time in and for both it will represent the first game action since the Rams thumped the Vikes and Tarvaris Jackson 41-21 in the regular-season finale last year. While the Rams finished just 8-8 in Scott Linehan’s first season, it was much more harsh to Brad Childress and the Vikings.

After getting off to a 4-2 start to the 2006 season, the loss to the Rams capped off a streak in which the Vikings lost eight of their final 10 games. As both teams come back for their first game of the 2007 season, each is looking to erase the memories of forgettable seasons in hopes of getting on with the business at hand.

While the starters will likely see very limited action, the Vikings need to get Tarvaris Jackson some playing time, as well as see if Adrian Peterson is as good as advertised. Defensively, a little revenge on Steven Jackson is in order. It was his big rushing day that prevented the Vikings from setting the modern-day team rush defense record and there has to be a little bit of animosity about that.

Who says preseason games are meaningless?

MONDAY NOTES
* Former Viking and current Ram Corey Chavous got into a shoving match with running back Steven Jackson that got pretty intense in a team scrimmage Saturday night. Chavous was accused of taking a couple of excessive hits on Rams offensive players.
* Adrian Peterson might be starting opening day, but not by design. We speak, of course, of the “other” Adrian Peterson, the running back for the Bears. He’s been taking reps with the first team since Cedric Benson’s first training camp in the spotlight has led to him getting assorted owies that are more serious since the team no longer has Thomas Jones to kick around.
* The Packers signed Donald Driver to a one-year contract extension that adds about $11 million in “new money” to his deal.