Every day from now until next Monday, you will hear the following things:
You will hear that Judas rekindled his “old magic” with the throw he made to beat the 49ers on Sunday. We say: It was more improbable that the Vikings had a receiver that wide open on a desperation play than it is a decent quarterback with a shred of mobility could make that throw. Now, most quarterbacks haven’t been anointed by ESPN, so the popular logic will be that ONLY JUDAS could throw the ball 40 or so yards in the air to a receiver with room in the back of the end zone.
You will hear that Packers fans are living out their worst nightmare by watching what Judas did on Sunday. We say: This opinion is already being batted around by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, which, for a supposedly objective newspaper, has been bleeding a whole lotta purple lately. Maybe it’s because they know Judas love sells papers, and well, that’s been a bit of a problem. Anyway, this isn’t our worst nightmare. That happened last summer, when we had to watch Judas bring a whole can of lighter fluid to every media outlet that would have him and burn his bridges with a team and fanbase he’d professed his love for so many times. This? This, we expected to happen. This is our chance for revenge, too, on a former hero whose ego has inflated like that Teflon roof he’s now calling home. You think Mike McCarthy is going to need to talk for one second about motivation this week? Say what you want about players not taking rivalry games as seriously as fans, but the fact of the matter is, this guy was a distraction all last year, and it put a pall on the 2008 season. That alone should be enough.
You will hear that Brad Childress is the first coach who’s gotten Judas to play within the reins of a confined system, and he’s doing only what the Vikings need him to do to win. We say: Hmmm…Childress is the first one, huh? Seem to remember McCarthy resurrecting Judas’ career with a similar approach in 2007 (minus the five-yard checkdowns on third-and-eight, of course). And didn’t Favre get to his unmanageable worst when Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was his QB coach in Green Bay? Yeah, anyway, he might have toned it down for two games before writing over a mediocre game full of questionable passes with one big throw on Sunday. But that ain’t happening this week. As Chris and I discussed at length on Sunday night, this is the game Judas came back for. He can say whatever he wants, but the fact of the matter is, he wanted to head to another team to prove Ted Thompson wrong. After a week of hype, with first place on the line, his favorite network in town, the Metrodome on edge, Teddy in plain view from box seats at the Dome, his successor on the sideline and Nick Barnett waiting to hit him in the mouth, you think Judas is throwing checkdowns? Uh-uh. He’s gonna come out saying, “I’m Brett Favre. I’m gonna to show those SOBs what they gave up, and I’m gonna put Aaron Rodgers in his place.” And he’s not gonna stick to checkdowns. Which means it could be a very good week to be Charles Woodson, Al Harris, Tramon Williams and Nick Collins.
Here’s the OBOD Game Plan for Judas Week, as discussed by Chris and I in a long conversation on Sunday night: From now until Monday, confront every meathead Vikings fan you see by busting the above myths, particularly No. 3. And have faith that Mike McCarthy is smart enough to put eight in the box (preferably with the very cool “Big Okie” set we saw on Sunday), stop Adrian Peterson and dare Judas to throw on Woodson and Harris, knowing he’s going to face a scheme that knocked him all over the place on Sunday in the kind of emotionally-charged game where’s he typically gone off the reservation.
We’re not scared, or in awe, or living our nightmare, or anything else you’ll hear this week. We’re looking forward to this. This is revenge. This is gonna be fun.
–Gene Bosling
He’s been a game ‘manager’ and I will give him credit where credit is due on the final pass of the game, it was truly clutch. That being said, I’ve watched all three of his games in their entirity and he’s had at least 2 – 3 interceptions dropped or tipped in each of the three games. During the game against the 49er’s in the series before the game winning drive he hit DB Dre Bly right in the bread-basket and Bly dropped what was about to be a pick six. That would have been San Fran 30 Minn. 20, end of game. But hey, this is the NFL and that’s why they play the whole game.
Last but not least, look at the trends. Low completion percentage and lowest in the NFL yards per attempt. The only one I would be concerned about if I were a Vikings fan: he threw 46 passes. You will not have a fresh, competant QB on your hands come November if you ask him to do that on any level.
Give Minny their props, they came back and won at home. Looking at the bigger trend, Favre is ‘competent’ at the position.