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NEW ORLEANS — It appears as though one pregame question mark for the Minnesota Vikings has been answered. Barring a change of heart during pregame warm-ups, the Vikings have decided to start center John Sullivan despite a lingering right calf injury that cost him most of training camp and the entire preseason, according to ESPN’s Ed Werder.



Sullivan returned to full practice earlier this week after spending more than a month dealing with the injury. The Vikings experimented with two options in the interim; one was using backup Jon Cooper and the other was shifting over right guard Anthony Herrera and inserting rookie Chris DeGeare at right guard. Ultimately, however, the Vikings decided to inflict minimal collateral damage by using an established starter who probably still isn’t in full game condition rather than moving one or more players to different positions.



For our next trick, we’ll endeavor to find out if the Vikings will add a cornerback to their roster or if they really do plan to enter this game with three healthy players at this position.

With the New Orleans Saints-Minnesota Vikings matchup just a few hours away, now is the perfect time to pick up our weekly Air and Space analysis. (The timing is fortuitous, too, considering our plan once again is to post this staple every Thursday afternoon.)



The twist for this season: We’ll do our best to incorporate the NFC North’s collective response to our precedent-setting shift toward the passing game. We obviously don’t have any numbers to use for that angle yet. But considering the Saints’ tendency toward pressure defense, I thought it would be interesting to re-enforce how each of our starting quarterbacks performed against the blitz last season and compare it to the 2009 blitz frequency of their Week 1 opponents.



(Remember, we define the blitz as five or more pass rushers.)



The first chart shows how three of the quarterbacks actually threw better against the blitz than they did against standard rushers schemes. Only Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre had a lower passer rating against the blitz, and even then it was 96.2.



The second chart lists our Week 1 opponents and how frequently they blitzed in 2009. Tendencies can change over an offseason, but it’s worth noting that none of those four teams have changed schemes and only one — the Chicago Bears — have a new coordinator. The upshot is that NFC North teams are scheduled to play three of 2009′s top six blitzing teams in Week 1.



I’ll be especially interested to see how the Philadelphia Eagles approach the Green Bay Packers, who were somewhat of a paradox last season after giving up 50 sacks while also boasting the NFL’s top passer against the blitz. Aaron Rodgers completed 68.2 percent of his passes and produced an amazing 9.2 yards per attempt in those situations.



The Eagles defense is coordinated by Sean McDermott — who runs most of the pressure-heavy schemes of his predecessor, the late Jim Johnson. But in Week 1, any scheme surprise is possible. Hold tight.

I can remember a time when Donovan McNabb owned the Dallas Cowboys. The specific play that comes to mind is the one that lasted 14.1 seconds on “Monday Night Football” in November 2004. In addition to producing that iconic completion to — who else? — Freddie Mitchell, McNabb threw for 345 yards and four touchdowns in leading the Eagles to a 49-21 victory.



But those memories have faded in recent years. McNabb has lost seven of his last 10 games against the Cowboys, including all three matchups last season. Never mind that McNabb and the Eagles swept the other two NFC East teams in 2009. I think his recent failures against the Cowboys are a large part of why the Kevin Kolb era finally got off the ground in Philly.



And despite what McNabb has said publicly this week, don’t think that last point’s lost on him. In Philadelphia, every facial expression he made on the sideline was dissected in print and on talk radio. His air guitar session before last January’s playoff game at Cowboys Stadium has come up several times this season, although he’s quick to remind folks that it’s something he’d been doing all season.



Perhaps the silver lining in the whole Albert Haynesworth fiasco is that McNabb has sort of flown under the radar at Redskins Park — by his standards. Normally a starting quarterback with an ankle injury would generate plenty of headlines in the nation’s capital, but it was a mere footnote to the ongoing catfight between Mike Shanahan and Haynesworth. For his part, McNabb seems incredulous to the theory that his recent failures against the Cowboys might have some bearing on Sunday night’s season opener at FedEx Field.



“It’s a new year. You start all over again,” McNabb told the Dallas-Fort Worth media Wednesday. “I think that’s probably the plus for all of us. Not just for me but for them as well. I’m sure they’re not excited about the way their season ended last year. Obviously, I wasn’t excited about the way my season ended last year. Everyone is coming into this game 0-0 and looking forward to getting their season started on the right note.”



The reason McNabb might be a bit puzzled that so much is made of his disappointing play against the Cowboys is because he went 9-2 against them in the first six years of his career. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones might have conveniently forgotten that record when he told the Philadelphia Daily News’ Paul Domowitch last month that the Eagles might not be such a boom or bust team with Kolb at the helm.



But the 33-year-old McNabb hasn’t dwelled on the past since showing up at Redskins Park. On the morning of his introductory news conference, he was already in the weight room with his new teammates, and on Thursday, he was elected captain. Shanahan and McNabb have restored a sense of credibility to the organization, but this process will take time.



McNabb told me recently that he called former Broncos greats John Elway, Terrell Davis and Rod Smith to ask them about Shanahan. The Redskins quarterback had a close relationship with Eagles coach Andy Reid that by all accounts is still intact. But he didn’t want to assume that things would be the same with Shanahan.



“I wanted to get a head start on knowing what type of verbiage he and Kyle [Shanahan] use, and I put pressure on myself to know what’s going on inside their heads,” said McNabb. “You know I’m a jokeful kind of guy who likes to keep everyone loose, but I needed to know how they approached things, too.”



During a recent conversation inside his office at Redskins Park, Shanahan talked about how much he’d learned from working with Hall of Famers such as Steve Young and Elway. He said McNabb has some of the characteristics that helped those players lead teams to Super Bowls.



“Those guys could make plays when nothing was there,” said Shanahan. “And [McNabb] has that same ability.”



Shanahan said he’s tapped into some of McNabb’s knowledge of the Cowboys’ defensive personnel. The Skins quarterback has a lot of respect for All-Pros Jay Ratliff and DeMarcus Ware, but he also has an idea of where the Cowboys might be vulnerable.



“I think he knows them quite well,” Shanahan told reporters Wednesday. “He knows the defense and he knows the personnel. Anytime you play within the division, obviously you know that team quite well.”



How much will that knowledge help when McNabb’s looking downfield for the aging Joey Galloway on Sunday? We’re about to find out.

Mike Florio breaks down some key players to watch in Thursday’s NFL kickoff between Minnesota and New Orleans. (NBC Sports)

Mike Florio breaks down some key players to watch in Thursday’s NFL kickoff between Minnesota and New Orleans. (NBC Sports)

PITTSBURGH — With a large group of media surrounding him like NFL defenders, Steelers quarterback Dennis Dixon stood tall in the pocket this week while fielding questions.



The inexperienced Dixon sounded confident and calm, ready for the storm that’s about to take place in what will be his second career NFL start. With franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger suspended four games for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, Pittsburgh is pinning its hopes early in the season on the arm — and feet — of Dixon.



The Steelers have won an NFL-best seven straight season openers. But that streak is in jeopardy without Roethlisberger under center and a good Atlanta Falcons team visiting Heinz Field Sunday as a slight favorite.



Dixon is in an odd spot as the 2010 Steelers are not his team. But it’s his starting quarterback job for the time being.



“It seems so surreal for me, something I tired to envision as a young kid,” Dixon said. “So, to open up the season at Heinz Field, with all these great fans, it’s going to be a sight to see. But I still just have to go out there and play football.”



What has been a struggle for the Steelers’ coaching staff is blending Dixon’s skills with how they want a quarterback to run the offense. Pittsburgh would like Dixon to progress more to his second and third reads and let its skill players make plays, while Dixon instinctively uses his feet when the first option isn’t avaliable.



Dixon has tremendous athleticism and has always been a running quarterback. It’s a major part of what made him a Heisman Trophy candidate at the University of Oregon.



But coordinator Bruce Arians’ offense is not designed for a scrambling quarterback. Whether the team adjusts to allow “Dennis to be Dennis,” or the Steelers make Dixon adjust to play more like Roethlisberger, Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch, who rarely run past the line of scrimmage, is one of the major storylines for Pittsburgh entering Sunday’s game.



This week team captain and receiver Hines Ward offered his advice to allow Dixon to be comfortable doing what he does best.



“If protection breaks down and he’s unsure about coverage, take off, run,” Ward said. “I like Dennis with the ball in his hands when he’s running. Good things happen when he does that.”



The Steelers are worried about the possibility of turnovers. In all likelihood, Pittsburgh will need to win by playing great defense and conservative on offense. That means Dixon has to be careful with the football, which he struggled to do in limited playing time with the starters this preseason.



Dixon threw for 94 yards with two interceptions, including a pick-six, in the third preseason game against the Denver Broncos. It was Dixon’s chance to prove he can thrive against a first-team defense. But too many mental errors offered red flags.



Despite his inexperience, Dixon has to play more like a veteran against Atlanta. He has two experienced quarterbacks he can rely on for advice this week in Leftwich and Batch.



“Me and Charlie can help him — me and Charlie were actually having that conversation,” Leftwich said. “We pretty much know everything that he’s going to be thinking about the night before the game, the day of the game, the morning of the game, two days before the game, because we’ve been in those situations. So me and Chuck are going to do our best to help Dennis be successful.”



Dixon’s NFL debut last year was a 20-17 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens. But Dixon showed positives, recording 145 passing yards, two touchdowns (one passing, one rushing) and one interception.



Pittsburgh put Dixon in a bad spot that game because Roethlisberger, despite suffering a concussion, practiced with the team during the week and was expected to play. But health concerns forced Roethlisberger to back out at the last minute, suddenly thrusting Dixon into the starting lineup.



This time Dixon gets an entire week of preparation for his second NFL start.



“For me, it’s all a matter of being comfortable and confident in what I do,” Dixon said. “Once I receive the call, I have to be able to execute it to the best of my ability. And at the same time, I need to be having fun. That’s real big. I cherish that, because you can’t be too serious out there.”



The playbook was so limited against Baltimore that, according to Ward, the Steelers ran the same play six or seven consecutive times.



“I’ve never been around where we’ve ran the same play six or seven times,” Ward said. “We were very limited with what we can call in that Baltimore game. Now we open the playbook. We didn’t expand like the other guys, but the things that we have he feels comfortable with doing.”



But Ward has seen many quarterbacks come and go in during his 13 seasons in Pittsburgh. Ward compared Dixon’s skills to former Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart‘s, and said Dixon could have similar success with more experience.



But for now, Dixon has to continue to improve and learn on the job. A major step in his maturation process comes Sunday.



“I [won't] ask Dennis to go out there and lead us to score 40 points,” Ward said. “If he does that, that’s a plus. But [we want] him to just manage the game and not turn the ball over. And the players around him, the supporting cast, we have to make plays.”

ESPN’s Wendi Nix reports from Gillette Stadium on New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady‘s car crash Thursday morning. The video also includes eyewitness accounts from the scene of the accident.

Mike Florio will be chatting during the game, and there’s a nifty new draggable picture-in-picture feature that lets you watch any of our four online-only angles, in addition to the regular broadcast feed of the game.