When the Lions last saw quarterback Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings, the veteran quarterback was just finding his rhythm with his new team.
At Detroit in Week 2, Favre was coming off a game in which he passed for just 110 yards in his first-ever regular season game as a Viking. He followed that up with 155 yards against Detroit.
Since then, Favre has averaged 277 yards per game and thrown for 13 touchdowns to just three interceptions.
“Starting in the fourth and fifth week is when the quarterback, the receivers and the running backs get (things together),” said rookie safety 
“It’s going to be a challenge.”
The Lions were able to contain the Vikings’ offense for the most part the last time the two teams met, though the score got away from them down the stretch. Receiver Bernard Berrian led the Vikings with 46 receiving yards while Adrian Peterson finished with 92 yards rushing.
What hurt Detroit in that game was turnovers and explosion plays. From a defensive standpoint, the explosion plays consisted of Peterson running around the outside – something he does well.
Of his 15 carries, he had three for 22, 14 and 27, with the last one being a touchdown run. Aside from those three runs, Detroit held Peterson to an average of 2.4 yards per carry.
“We did a good job in the first half and then Adrian Peterson is the type of back that you can hold for 10 plays, 11 plays, 12 plays and then in one play he’ll bust out for a 78-yard touchdown,” said cornerback Will James.
“It’s just about being consistent and everybody doing their job of staying in their gaps so that he doesn’t have anywhere to run and try to bottle him up.”
Peterson may not put up big numbers every week, but he is effective regardless. He has only put up two 100-yard rushing games this year, but has reached the end zone in all but two games and has nine touchdowns on the season.
“He’s great in between the tackles, but he’s excellent outside the tackles,” said Delmas.
“Once he gets outside the box, he’s gone – you can basically throw up your hands for a touchdown. We’ve got to do a great job of trying to contain him. It’s going to be hard, but we’ve just got to do a good job of getting all 11 hats on the ball.”
If the Lions are able to contain Peterson and the run, contending with Favre and the passing game doesn’t get any easier.
Detroit was able to get to Favre three times in the teams’ first meeting and disrupting his rhythm will be important again this week.
“The biggest thing is getting off the ball, making sure we run our set lines, get up field, put guys in his face and making sure guys are playing their proper leverage when it comes to coverage,” said veteran linebacker
“Everybody has to be on the same page: the pass rush has to help the back end and the back end has to help the pass rush. After that, you hope to make some plays on our own whether it be an interception or a sack.”
The defense showed they were capable of coming together for big plays last week at Seattle. In the first quarter, Detroit had an interception and a forced fumble and recovery, helping the Lions to a quick 14-0 lead before a field goal made it 17-0.
Things could have gotten even better for the Lions in the next possession when cornerback
“It would have changed the game, I think,” said Peterson. “Those are the type of things I’m talking about. Right now the ball is not rolling our way and we’ve got to find a way to get that ball to roll our way and make it a point to make it roll our way.”
The Seahawks started to chip away at the Lions’ lead and eventually took it from them.
It is something Detroit is still figuring out how to do: ice a game after getting an early lead. It is something the Lions were unable to do against Minnesota in Week 2.
“You can see the potential that – if we do play that game that we want to play, we can look like that first quarter right there as a team,” said Peterson. “I think everybody did a good job at that point: offense and defense. We just have to be more consistent and that’s not where we’re at right now.”
