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Minnesota’s issues run much deeper than football. Star running back Adrian Peterson has been indicted on a felony child-abuse charge in Texas; on Wednesday, the Vikings put Peterson on their exempt list, barring him from games and practices.

The Vikings deactivated Peterson for their Week 2 game, a 30-7 loss at home to the New England Patriots.

The Saints, meanwhile, are hoping to use their home opener to rally back from two stunning, last-second losses at Atlanta and Cleveland.

ESPN Saints reporter Mike Triplett and ESPN Vikings reporter Ben Goessling discuss this week's matchup:

Triplett: How much did the Vikings miss Peterson on the field last Sunday? And how do they try to fill that void this week?

Goessling: Against a Patriots team that appeared vulnerable against the run, they missed Peterson considerably. He didn't have a great first game of the season in St. Louis, but a large part of what Peterson brings to the offense, even when he's not being terribly productive, is the number of looks he opens up for others simply by the attention he commands from defenses.

Matt Asiata caught a touchdown pass last week and is a decent between-the-tackles runner. They also like rookie Jerick McKinnon, though they haven't gotten him involved in the offense yet. But no matter what the Vikings do, they're not going to be able to replace Peterson. They have some good weapons in their passing game, and they'll have to make them work. Without Peterson, though, the Vikings' offense looks a lot less intimidating.

CONTINUE READING THE FULL ANALYSIS ON ESPN.COM

WhoDat!656

Another game the Saints should win easily, especially in the Superdome.

I believe the defense gets its act together enough to at least flash the way they played last year.

If the defense continues to struggle, especially against lesser teams, would Ryan's job be in jeopardy?

dizzle88

I think after the last two performances Rob is already tight roping on job security, if this issue stretches for more of the season I think Payton will get rid

4 defensive coordinators and we still can't find a consistent defense.

dizzle88

Very true, but our stagnant offense is ranked #2 in the league, they should do better at the end of the games, but they do enough during to get a win, its been the defense both times that has failed to seal it for us.

2 weeks in a row we've had the opposing team pinned inside their own 10 yard line and both times they've drove the full length of the field for a score

TheOak

LOL!

Our offense has stagnated at near 30 points per game on the road... Anyone care to guess how many fans would love that level of stagnation?

2014 points/game away 29
2013 points/game home 29.6

Rugby Saint II

This is going to be a media frenzy.

xan

So, we're basically one touchdown better than the average football team on offense. Ok, nice, but there are a lot of teams that score points but can't win. Which are we?

We played two teams that were 4-12 in 2013. They averaged 28 and 25 points per game allowed. Both teams shut down our offense when it counted.

SaintFanInATLHELL

How exactly is scoring 29.5 average points on the road stagnant?
Exactly. Late in the 4th quarter of each game the offense needed to score a TD and they did both times. Late in the 4th quarter of each game the defense needed to make a stop to seal the win. And both times, they didn't.

The offense isn't perfect by any stretch. The clock management sucked both times. However, in both games the offense did enough to win the game while the defense simply did not.

SFIAH

lee909

Hawthorne out of the game along with Ingram,Ball and Lorig

ikecomp

After having time to really take things in, our defense isn't as bad as it looks right now. Our defense looked terrible in game one (missed tackles, blown coverage, bad scheme,etc). Our defense looked a little out of sync in week 2 but not terrible. Now I know we didn't make the plays we needed to win but if you look at what we actually gave up the defense wasn't terrible. The defense only gave up 2 TD's and some field goals (one field goal being missed and re-kicked due to a penalty).

A little over 200 yards passing (most of that came on the last drive) and 123 yards rushing. Not great but far from horrific. I believe our defense will get better. I think a lot of our troubles are scheme related and one or 2 personnel issues which can be sorted out. I know we didn't get the result we wanted but I think there was improvement. Now the question is can we continue to improve to get to where we want to be.

ATL GAME Yards: 568
ATL GAME Pts: 37

CLE GAME Yards: 324
CLE GAME Pts:26