EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Mike Zimmer dried out following a postgame Gatorade shower from last week's 34-6 victory at St. Louis and skipped the celebratory red wine for his first regular-season, head-coaching win. The Minnesota Vikings' first-year coach had already turned his attention to the New England Patriots.
Zimmer remained business as usual. He knew the challenge ahead with New England, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, who Minnesota hosts in the season's first home game at TCF Bank Stadium on Sunday.
"Honestly, I haven't looked at it as far as anything monumental or anything like that," Zimmer said of last week's win. "This season is such a marathon anyway. It's who can survive the longest, who can play the best over the course of the season. Honestly, by the time I hit the locker room I was already thinking about New England, after I dried off."
Zimmer knows what's ahead.
His influence has taken hold in Minnesota. However, a defense that features eight new starters from Week 1 last season was expected to take some time to learn under Zimmer's tutelage. Then, facing two backup quarterbacks for St. Louis, the Vikings were the only team in the league to not allow a touchdown last week and tied for the league-high with five sacks.
Minnesota goes from backups to Brady. Vikings' cornerback Captain Munnerlyn called Brady the best quarterback in the league and the always-vocal Munnerlyn won't try the tactic with Brady.
"I don't know if you can rattle him a little bit, try to get in his head," Munnerlyn said. "I wouldn't try to do that. Guys like that, like Adrian, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, you don't try to get in those guys' heads. You just let them go out there and play, and you just try to make plays and execute and do the things you do. I don't think you can rattle guys like that."
Zimmer found a way to get Brady off his game in the past. Last year, with Zimmer as the defensive coordinator, the Cincinnati Bengals held Brady to 47 percent passing for 197 yards. Brady was sacked four times, threw an interception and was held without a touchdown in a 13-6 loss.
"It's a different team, a different situation, it rained like crazy the last minute of the ballgame," Zimmer said. "This is completely different. Obviously you look at the tape, but you don't think that everything is going to be the same."
Meanwhile, Brady completed just 52 percent of his passes last week for 249 yards and was sacked four times by Miami. The Dolphins feature a similar defense to Minnesota with coordinator Kevin Coyle, who coached under Zimmer for four seasons in Cincinnati.
Facing Brady, Belichick and New England is an early barometer for just how far Minnesota has come in a short time.
"I think it's a great challenge for our team to find out where we're at," Zimmer said. "We have the ultimate respect for them. They've got our attention. From Sunday, about 5:30, they've had our attention. I don't know either way about playing this week to several weeks from now, it's probably the same."
Facing the Patriots after a loss might alter the outlook. New England opened with a loss at Miami last week, snapping a string of 10 straight season-opening wins. Since the beginning of the 2003 season, the Patriots have lost back-to-back games just four times, with a 32-4 record following a regular-season loss.
The Patriots, who own the NFL's best September record since 2004, have won 11 straight games against the NFC North including three against Minnesota.
The last NFC North team to beat New England was the Green Bay Packers in 2002.
"Oh yeah, I definitely do (look forward to facing the Patriots early in the season) just to see where my team is at," Munnerlyn said. "I know it's a big test for us. We know they're going to throw everything at us."
The Vikings followed the lead of their veteran coach and turned their sights to the Patriots quickly after last week's game.
"I think we've been fairly business-like from the start of training camp to now," Zimmer said. "Look, we haven't done anything. We have not done one thing yet. We have got so much work to do, so far to go to where we want to get to that I would be disappointed if we were celebrating one win on opening day."
Floyd, Rhodes held out: Stopping Brady could be much more difficult without defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd and cornerback Xavier Rhodes.
Floyd (shoulder) and Rhodes (groin) were held out of Wednesday's practice after both were hurt in last week's game. Rhodes stretched with the team before practice and said he's feeling better.
"Moving up the ladder," Rhodes said, later adding: "If I'm ready to go by Friday, then I know I can't sit there and worry about the injury. I have to go out there and perform. I can't sit there and worry about the injury at all."
Rhodes hoped to return to practice by Friday. Rookie linebacker Brandon Watts (knee) was still out.
Starting left guard Charlie Johnson (ankle) was limited in Wednesday's practice as a new addition to the injury report. Fullback Zach Line (ankle) and linebacker Michael Mauti (foot) returned to practice on a limited basis. Offensive tackle Mike Harris (shoulder) was limited.
For the Patriots, tight end Rob Gronkowski (knee) and starting center Ryan Wendell (knee) were limited.
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