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The Minnesota Vikings have just announced game-day inactives for their Wild Card game against Philadelphia.

After a week of hope over the health of defensive tackle Pat Williams, who has missed two games with a broken shoulder blade, the Vikings have announced Williams is inactive.

The big question heading into the 3:30 pm EST kickoff is whether Eagles coach Andy Reid will try to take advantage of this. Long known as a pass-happy play-caller, Reid does have the talent in the backfield to exploit the Vikings defensive front, which has missed Williams each of the last two games.

His absence may also hurt the effectiveness of the Vikings' other linemen, who aren't used to getting tons of attention from blockers on running plays.

It's also worth noting that starting end Ray Edwards is out, meaning Brian Robison starts opposite Jared Allen.

A broken shoulder blade sounds like a pretty severe injury, but Vikings defensive tackle Pat Williams is trying to prove that it's just a three-week speed bump for him.

Williams is planning to be back on the field Sunday when the Vikings face the Eagles in the first round of the playoffs. According to Big Pat, he no longer has any pain, although he has to show that he's regained the strength in the shoulder.

Even if Williams' isn't at 100 percent, he's one player who can help the team simply by getting on the field. Williams is big enough that even with one arm, he'll help clog the middle and force the Eagles to junk their running game. Williams' return would be especially important because there is a good chance Minnesota will be without starting defensive end Ray Edwards, who injured his knee against the Giants.

If Edwards is out, the Vikings will have to rely on Otis Grigsby and Brian Robison. Robison is a better pass rusher, while Grigsby may be a little bit better run defender, but neither of them can equal Edwards' all-around ability.

Halfway through the 2008 season, Jared Allen has given the Vikings what they had asked for. He's given the Vikings seven sacks, a consistent pass rush and plenty of energy.

But now the Vikings may have to find out if they can win without him. Allen sprained his shoulder in the Texans game and managed to not only play through the pain but managed to pick up two sacks and a forced fumble. But apparently the shoulder injury is serious enough to make him doubtful for this Sunday's game against the Packers.

What's not clear is if the Vikings will have any pass rush without Allen. Defensive tackle Kevin Williams (seven sacks) has feasted on getting less double teams this year, but the Vikings other defensive ends have been very quiet. Ray Edwards has two sacks, while Brian Robison and Otis Grigsby have barely recorded a tackle. Robison is likely to get the start if Allen can't play, but he has yet to build on a promising rookie year.

But the good news for the Vikings is that Allen's ability to play depends on his pain tolerance, and as he showed on Sunday, Allen can play through some pain.

The Vikings depth at defensive end is quickly disappearing. First it was Ray Edwards being hit with a four-game steroid suspension for what his agent said was a tainted supplement (has anyone in the NFL actually taken steroids? If you listen to agents they're all tainted supplements). Now Erasmus James is likely to miss the 49ers game with knee injury.

James' surgically repaired left knee has been giving him problems recently to the point where the Star-Tribune is reporting he might not play again this season.

If that's the case the team all of a sudden has one solid DE in Kenechi Udeze, one promising rookie in Brian Robison and an inexperienced second-year fill-in in Jayme Mitchell. The team signed Panthers practice squadder Otis Grigsby to a contract. Grigsby has been bouncing around training camps since 2003 looking for a job, so it's a safe bet he won't be fighting for a starting role.

With the defensive ends banged up, the Vikings may have to rely on even more blitzing. The good news is that the 49ers passing offense has been bad enough that this week's game might not be the perfect time to get youngsters a chance to get comfortable in playing extended numbers of snaps.

The fact that Ray Edwards will miss the next four games because of a drug suspension is obviously bad news with bad timing for the Vikings. But at least the Vikings have some depth at the position. If this suspension had happened last year the Vikings would have been in big trouble, but that was before they took Brian Robison in the third round of this year's draft.

With Robison's arrival and the return to health of Erasmus James, it's hard to think of a position (besides running back) where the Vikings are better prepared to make due despite losing a starter.