So if the return of Daunte Culpepper is not enough for you to have some interest in this weekend’s Viking game, how about the return of Keith Millard? Keith is in his third year of being the Oakland Raiders defensive line coach and will be at the dome on Sunday to help his players chase down Tavaris Jackson. Yup, thats how low this game has sunk. In order to find anything of interest you have to look to former players, one a d-line coach and the other a washed up backup.

Last week the Raiders sacked the Chicago QB 3 times with one coming from Millard’s D line. This year Oakland is 22nd in sacks with 14, 29th against the run, 4th against the pass, and 20th in scoring giving up 21.6 per game. The Raiders have been without their best man for sacks for much of the season with Derrick Burgess being out weeks 1 -7. In his three games back he has two sacks and 4 tackles. I think its safe to say that even though the Raiders are low in sacks this year they are good against the pass and we will see another weak performance by Jackson in the passing category. The load will be on Chester Taylor this week.

Back in 1989 the Vikings led the league in sacks with 71 only behind the Bears 72 in 1984. Chris Doleman (21 sacks), Keith Millard (18 sacks) and Al Noga (11 sacks) were a force and Millard had a hell bent drive that was a fun to watch and one we don’t often see anymore. We can only dream what a pass rush like that could do for the Vike’s pass defense this year. For a little reminiscing on old number 75 in purple check out a bunch of old Keith Millard playing cards at Vikings Cards.