Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Not too shabby for an old man
Vikings 30- Packers 23

Well, the old dude didn't do so badly. Favre, who turns 40 on Saturday, completed 24 of 31 for 272 yards and three TDs in leading the Vikings over the Packers. (One question comes to mind: What the heck happened in the second half of last season, dude?)

He got a lot of help from the linemen, however. On offense, he could have been sitting in a rocking chair knitting and never have been touched. Probably would have finished the sweater, too. On defense, Jared Allen was a one man wrecking crew with 4 1/2 sacks including one for a safety. (And that was a weird challenge! The ball popped loose as Green Bay QB Rogers tried to get out of the endzone and it seemed the Vikings recovered on the one-foot line. Green Bay challenged the call of a fumble and won. The result was a safety --just 2 points--and the Vikes got the ball on a free kick instead of the one foot line--a sure 6 points. So Green Bay challenged, won and gave up 2 points instead of 6. Weird.) As for the sacks...the rest of the Vikings D did all right too. In total, Rogers was sacked eight (8!) times.

Still Rogers found plenty of holes in the Vikings defensive backfield as he completed 26 of 37 attempts for 384 yards (a career best) and two TDs. The final TD kept the Packers in the game with minutes to go.

The Packers schedule for the next month: BYE, Detroit, @ Cleveland, and then Minnesota again. They should be 4-2 on November 1st.

Th Vikings have it a bit tougher: @ St Louis, Baltimore, @ Pittsburgh, and then @ Green Bay. The Baltimore and Pittsburgh games are going to be key. If they split them (losing to the Steelers on the road) then they should be 6-1 on November 1st.

It will be interesting to see how the Green Bay crowd reacts to that Favre fellow showing up in purple.

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I've gotten a kick out of the Sear's commercials that feature Brett Favre trying to decide whether to purchase a big flat screen TV. The first one had the salesmen talking about people who just can't seem to make a decision and Favre saying how he hates those kind of folks. He then declares he'll take the TV and immediately shakes his head and changes his mind. "I don't know."

Well, last night I saw a new one for the first time. Farve is still standing in front of the TV trying to decide as the sales clerk goes off to conduct business elsewhere, goes to lunch, dinner, and finally offers Favre a ride hope as the store is closing for the day. It ends with Favre still standing there rubbing his chin as the clean-up crew vacuums the store with nearly all the lights and all the TVs turned off.

Cracked me up.

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Speaking of "old guys"... Do any of you remember George Blanda? Hell of a QB and kicker back in the day. Even when he played for the Oakland Raiders (*spit*) when they were really good and dirty, I would have to root for the old man. (Except when they played my Jets.) Now there was a guy who seemed willing to play forever...and damn near did. "Oldest person to play in an NFL game: &0000000000000048.00000048 years, &0000000000000109.000000109 days" according to the Wiki page linked above. "He is the placekicker on the All-Time All-AFL Team, and was one of only 20 players to play all ten years of the AFL, as well as one of only three who were in every AFL game their teams played. Blanda was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981, his first year of eligibility."

Favre has a long, long way to go to match that longevity. And, not being a place kicker, is unlikely to do so. One thing Favre might do that no one else has ever done is win a playoff game while over the age of 40. Maybe this December.

1 comment:

constant gina said...

The only QB to beat every team in the NFL?? Congratulations Mr. Favre..!!