EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -The week before the Minnesota Vikings opened the regular season at Washington, defensive ends Kenechi Udeze and Erasmus James strutted around the locker room with their chests puffed out.

``We're having a race to the quarterback,'' James said playfully to a reporter. ``Which one of us do you think is going to get there first?''

The reporter wasn't about to choose sides between two young, physically gifted players considered to be on the rise. But 11 weeks into the season, the question has yet to be answered.

James went down with a season-ending knee injury against Carolina in Week 2, and Udeze still is searching for his first sack despite starting all 10 games this season.

Minnesota (4-6) has lost four straight games and hasn't had a sack in the last two, except for one that was awarded by statisticians after last week's loss in Miami. Udeze and the rest of his linemates are starting to get antsy.

``I've been pressing ever since Game 1, when I didn't get one,'' Udeze said with a chuckle. ``But they're coming, and I can't get hooked up on statistics. I have to play this game the way it was intended to be played, and that's playing team ball, and that's the only thing I can do right now. I don't care if I don't get a sack the whole year, as long as we start winning.''

Their next chance comes on Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals (2-8) and former Vikings coach Dennis Green come to town.

Judging from the previous four games, the Vikings can expect rookie Matt Leinart and the Cardinals to throw early and often. Minnesota leads the NFL in run defense, but a lack of a pass rush, an inability by the linebackers to cover the middle of the field, and opposing quarterbacks taking three-step drops and getting rid of the ball quickly have given the team fits.

``We take a lot of pride in smashing the run. That's what we do and what we love doing,'' said defensive end Darrion Scott, who took over as the starter opposite Udeze when James went down. ``But the hard thing is coming back and seeing (maximum protection) and the quick passing and all that type of stuff. But our reputation stopping the run is definitely giving the offenses the heads-up and trying to do something else and keep us off-balance.''

The result has often been receivers and tight ends running free over the middle of the field for big gains, and quarterbacks who hardly get touched.

Not a good combination.

When asked if he was satisfied with the pass rush, defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin said, ``Absolutely not. I am not. But again, we're far from a finished product. We come here every day with the emphasis of getting better, and we look forward to next Sunday and the opportunity to improve in that area.''

Losing James certainly didn't help matters. Entering his second season out of Wisconsin, the former first-round draft pick was being counted on to be the pure pass rusher the Vikings have lacked for years.

``I think that, not hurt us, but gave us one less man to be able to bring it and add it to our depth chart,'' Scott said. ``And statistically, I think he really would have helped out. He would have got it going.''

Udeze, a former first-round pick himself out of USC, isn't considered a pass-rushing prodigy like James, but still, remaining sackless this late in the season has been a disappointment.

``I would say he's probably been frustrated a little bit,'' Scott said. ``But every defensive lineman that doesn't have a sack in (Week 12) is probably going be like, 'When am I going to get a sack or when is it going to start happening?''

Udeze has done his best to remain level-headed, though he realizes that perception of a defensive end's success largely hinges on the almighty sack.

``Everything is hard to cope with when we're not getting wins out of it, but this team is learning a lot right now,'' he said. ``We're becoming battle-tested, and hopefully it will help us out later on down the line.''

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AP sports writer Dave Campbell contributed to this story.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.