HC LESLIE FRAZIER told me tonite on "Vikings Live at Winter Park" he expects ANTOINE WINFIELD to play Saturday night at Lambeau Field and that the game-changer will practice tomorrow.

Man, Antoine's hand must have hurt badly last Sunday for him to check out of a game of that magnitude because he's pound for pound maybe the toughest guy in the NFL. As I have shared all week 9-to-Noon, his right hand after the game was triple the size of a normal hand, the swelling flat gross. When he left the game it all changed because AARON RODGERS went right at MARCUS SHERELS and AJ JEFFERSON. Marcus did his best but was thoroughly overmatched.

They never threw at CHRIS COOK once Antoine exited because he was the best CB on the field. Antoine playing the entire game is key to victory because he's a shut-down guy versus the run and tough from the slot blitzing and covering. I cannot see Antoine not playing Saturday night and hopefully from a training-staff standpoint something can be done to minimize the pain.

Even though he doesn't play as much as some others MLB JASPER BRINKLEY has to come up big Saturday night. He has to trust his instincts in the running game and cannot be responsible for GB RBs turning two-yard gains into eight yards or more. Our defense has made GB's rushing attack look much better than it is both times this year, and in a game versus Aaron Rodgers you cannot trip out against the run when they pass so well.

They probably look at our passing attack the same way given we run so well, but CHRISTIAN PONDER is supposed to pose more of a threat than DUJUAN HARRIS. And our DL is better than GB's OL, and the LBs are good run-stuffing players. When GB sets up in that Power I (TE, KUHN and a TB) I swear they run behind Kuhn about 80 percent of the time. Jasper has to sniff that out and make them pay. No time for fundamental mistakes in a game of this magnitude.

In watching film at WP today and watching back the game GB is arm tackling too much, and that will be a problem Saturday night. They failed to take on ADRIAN head on and seemed so worried about his elite cutting posterizing them they didn't attack him with full heads of steam. That will not change Saturday because they want nothing to do with him. He has obliterated them so badly this year they do not know what to do. He gives them and DC DOM CAPERS every bit as much trouble as Rodgers gives us, and I'd be shocked if AP doesn't get loose for 150 or more.

His dominance is permitting OC BILL MUSGRAVE to do some potent things from the "22-personnel" sets. That's when we use two TEs, Adrian and a FB. To wit, on the fourth-and-one from around midfield Leslie went for it and dialed up the "22." They ran left, RUDOPLH buried CLAY MATTHEWS and Adrian scampered for six and a first down.

Later in the game they set up in the exact same formation, motioned the TE from right to left like they did on the fourth-and-one and Matthews didn't know what was coming. Thus, after the snap he hesitated thinking run and Ponder had the most cavernous pocket he has seen all year. KALIL handled a late-reacting Matthews one on one and Ponder dialed up the 65-yard hit on SAM SHIELDS because the 'Cane CB guessed run, too, and Jarius got the jump on him. Musgrave is on a roll right with the game-calling, and this "22" set has given teams problems all year. Our 82-yard TD at GB and 61-yard TD at home versus Detroit came from this formation, and that we can pass out of it makes it our most lethal approach.

The key as usual is grabbing an early lead, something we have done twice against them this year. We absolutely can play with the Green Bay Packers and have proven it twice this year. If we win this game we have a very realistic chance at making the Mission Mardi Gras because GB never loses at Lambeau, Rodgers is elite and this will be a tougher test than going anywhere in the NFC. Let's play.