Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Cris Carter recently joined ESPN's Gary Miller on Up Close to discuss the Vikings 1-2 start to the season and how the team is handling it. It's the first time since 1995 that the Vikings have had a losing record.

"When you play in the NFL now the teams are very, very equal," says Carter. The difference between an 8-8 team and a team that goes 12-4 is not that much, and I think we realize that."

	Cris Carter streaks down the sideline in their week one victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

Carter also touched on the coaching changes in Minnesota, his relationship with Randy Moss and his take on the on-going Dimetrius Underwood saga.

The following is an edited transcript of the interview.

Miller: What's going on with the teams that were in the AFC and NFC title games last year?

Carter: Well, it's very, very tough and I think that this season is somewhat different than any other season, where you don't necessarily have the carry over that you had in years past. Normally the teams that are in the NFC and AFC championship games are the teams that are going to be right there in the forefront as the season begins. The teams that have won the Super Bowl have normally lost in those games, so you look to create some momentum in the off season and build on what you did in the preseason. The four teams that you talked about earlier, we just haven't been able to do that.

Miller: Do you think Randy Moss is frustrated (by his receiving totals being down dramatically this year)?

Carter: Yeah he's frustrated. He's not frustrated necessarily because he's not catching the football, he's frustrated because he's not getting the looks that we had prepared for. Any time you roll up a corner and you have a safety standing behind him helping out the corner, it's frustrating for any player. Randy is going through nothing that none of the other great receivers haven't been through. Jerry Rice has been through it, but he was able to overcome it, and offensively you have to do some things to try to get him in some creases. But the one disadvantage we have had this year is we haven't had the 10, 14 point lead, which in turn makes a lot of teams play man to man, and make them blitz, to try to put pressure on the quarterback, and that's where we normally make all of our big plays; we haven't had that cushion this season.

Miller: A lot has been made about the change in offensive coordinators from Brian Billick to Ray Sherman. After yesterday's loss, Randy Moss commented that the offensive coordinator's job is to find a way to beat the "cover 2". How do you respond to that?

Carter: Well, Randy is right and that is his job. It's our job that once they get the game plan, if you like it or if you don't like it, you have to execute it. Most of the plays we have are good plays, we're just like any other team, we have a lot of plays and it all boils down to execution. It is the job of the offensive staff to come up with ideas to beat what we're going to get. We're going to play Tampa this week, they're going to play the same thing and they have always played us that way; that's the only way they have been able to slow us down. But it's not only Ray Sherman's responsibility, it's our responsibility as players to go out there, because we missed a few things, one time we had a "cover 3" and Randy was open on the post and Randall Cunningham missed him. That's a part of the game, it's a chess match. Do we miss Brian Billick? Of course we do, any staff would miss a coach like Billick. But I think another thing that is more important, too, is we lost Chip Myers, who was our quarterback coach, who was also one of the people who helped Brian and the other coaches on the coaching staff. He passed away this off-season, and we miss both of them. I think the combination of both of them being gone has affected us this season.

Miller: What's it like standing on the sideline watching Brett Favre take control of the game?

Carter: Well, you've seen it so many times that you really have to give Brett a tremendous amount of credit. On television you really can't see the intensity, the one time he scrambled for three or four yards and Dwayne Rudd tackled him, and every time after a play Brett was on one knee, he was taking his helmet off, he was totally exhausted. At the end of the game there was total confusion on a lot of people's part and he told the receivers to go for the end zone. He kind of gave him a hand signal and he directed everything. He knew he had one play and he forgot about the first down and he went for the end zone. Besides Joe Montana, and with all the great things he did in San Francisco, Brett Favre is probably the second best quarterback that's ever played in the National Football League and he's showing that.

Miller: Jimmy Hitchcock got burned on the touchdown to Corey Bradford and you were very vocal to him on the sidelines, what did you say to him?

Carter: Well, in a situation like that, I thought Jimmy had gambled; when it's fourth and one, you have to defend the goal line because we're up by four points, you don't defend anything in front of you, you just play everything in front of you, they don't have any timeouts. If you make the tackle, lay on him and they probably don't have enough time to get off another play. For me in that situation, you have to think about the whole team, it's not about individuals, it was man to man, and he got beat. He got beat by a great quarterback and I have to say that Bradford is a great receiver, but he ran the route in a crucial time and he was able to make the play.

Miller: How does it feel to have a losing record for the first time since 1995?

Carter: When you play in the NFL now the teams are very, very equal. The difference between an 8-8 team and a team that goes 12-4 is not that much, and I think we realize that. One thing that is upsetting is that we lost at home to Oakland. Oakland is playing very good football at this time. They should be 3-0 because they outplayed Green Bay badly the first week of the season. We knew we had our work cut out for us and we didn't plan on being 1-2, but that's the reality of it and we have to try to come back and get to .500 this week.

Miller: How do you put closure on the loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship last year?

Carter: Well, you have to bring closure to it. You have a new season starting, you have new opposition, the stakes have changed, the circumstances has changed. It was nice to be able to play them the first game of the season, especially because we won, you're able to put it behind you. But if you think winning that game brings back some type of redemption compared to the NFC championship game, that's a myth, because they are not the same and they will never be the same.

Miller: Why hasn't the team played well, is it not picking up the blitz, not having the same fullback, what do you point to?

Carter: It's none of those things. All the people we lost were very replaceable, but when teams aren't playing well everyone seems to think they have the answer. You probably think you know better than I do what we can do and what we can't do, but you have to believe that we are working hard, we're working like everybody else. How would you like to be in Denver this week? Don't you think that Mike Shannahan and his coaching staff and his players are working hard to do it. People on the outside looking in feel they have all the answers and they feel like they can put a finger on it, and if we do this it's going to work. It doesn't necessarily work out that way.

Miller: What's the most influence you've had on Randy Moss and do you think you receive too much credit for his adjustment to the NFL life?

Carter: Well, I don't try to take any of the credit. I'm just a friend to him. I'm probably the closest player to him on the team. I probably spend more time with him than anybody else on the team. I've taken a great interest in his life, not only professionally, but with what he wants to do off the field. We live in South Florida together, he's over at my house all the time, I'm trying to get him to eat right, and now I've got him into a habit of fishing. I knew I couldn't get him to golf, but I got him into fishing. We spend a lot of time fishing together. It's a lot of fun, a lot of fun, it's like having a brother and it's not like I'm his father. I try to tell people that all the time. I'm like his big brother.

Miller: Dimetrius Underwood is in the hospital with what police are calling self-inflicted stab wounds. From the brief time he was in Viking camp this summer, what are your impressions of Dimetrius Underwood?

Carter: You have to realize it was very, very brief and my first encounter was at minicamp. I sat down with him at the facility and talked with him for a long period of time, and I knew that he was like a lot of young people. I knew he had a lot of issues that would need to be resolved and if he could keep his focus on football and family and those situations, he had the ability to be a tremendous player. But in this league there are a lot of things going on not only on the field, but off the field and certain people have the ability to be a pro athlete, but they don't have the mind comprehension to be able to understand everything else, to be able to understand the big picture. He has a lot of issues that need to be resolved before he even really deserves to be put on the football field.