This defense is coached up incredibly well. No surprise: It's a Mike Zimmer defense. And the unit possesses three bona fide stars: DE Everson Griffen, CB Xavier Rhodes and S Harrison Smith. Rhodes and Smith earned first-team All-Pro honors last season, and Griffen was en route to such an honor (with 10 sacks in the first eight games) before a torn plantar fascia sapped his production down the back half of the season. I talked to Griffen last month on my SiriusXM Radio show, "Schein on Sports," and the three-time Pro Bowler wouldn't take the cheese when I called the Vikings' D special. The 30-year-old vet stressed that the unit needs to maintain consistency and do the little things. That comes from Zimmer. And that, well, makes the group special.