MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — It was the two hits.
That was what made Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress smile. It wasn’t so much his team’s 17-13 victory over the visiting Kansas City Chiefs that made him happy as much as it was watching his new quarterback’s ability to take a hit. That’s what gave Childress reason to declare Brett Favre was ready to make some noise in purple this season.
Most coaches wouldn’t want anyone near the team’s prized quarterback, especially in a pre-season game, but on Friday night at the Metrodome, the head coach of the Vikings had no problem with it at all. In fact, when Chiefs linebacker Corey Mays picked up Favre and bodyslammed him to the Metrodome turf in the first quarter, it removed all the concerns that a 39-year-old quarterback could no longer take the physical brutality of the NFL anymore.
“He did tell me nobody’s tackled him off his tractor (at home in Mississippi) so it was good to get hit, knocked on his rear end .. to experience that,” said Childress, during the post-game news conference. “Would I rather have him upright? Yeah, I’d rather have him upright. He’s going to get hit, it’s football. But he’s put together well and he takes good care of himself. He’s strong. He’s built pretty well, he’s not a guy who spent the off-season sitting on the couch eating chocolates.
“Getting hit is part of the game.”
Friday night at the Metrodome, 62,782 fans showed up, cameras a’ flashing, to watch the debut of Brett Favre, the long-hated quarterback of the Green Bay Packers who this week, showed up in Minnesota, signed a two-year, $25 million contract and was on the practice field by 1:30 Tuesday afternoon.
After two and a half days of practice, Favre started Friday night’s pre-season game against the Chiefs and while he didn’t set the world on fire in the two series he played — he went one-for-four for four yards and was drilled twice — he did start to get a feel for Minnesota’s offence.
And, to be fair, that’s all Childress expected.
“Small victories there,” Childress said. “The centre-quarterback exchange and handing the ball off. We sat out (Bernard) Berrian, my decision, so he didn’t have a full complement of receivers.
“He’s practised two and a half days. Based on my experience, for a guy to get comfortable with his receivers, comfortable with our terminology, comfortable with the entire offence, it takes about two weeks. He’s pretty good with those kinds of things. Still, it’s something you have to build toward.”
For Favre, Friday night’s pre-season debut was a relief. Even though Mays and Tamba Hall, hit him pretty hard, he came out of the game none the worse for wear. In fact, he was actually pleased with everything that took place, from the buzz in the crowd, to the buzz in his belly, to his contact with the turf.
“In the meetings, and before the game, I started having butterflies,” Favre said. “I was really nervous. Somebody said to me, it’s good for a quarterback who is nearly 40 to get nervous.
“I’m trying to purge myself of [the pressure],” Favre said. “Because with all of the attention it is kind of hard not to feel like you have to live up to all this hype. Not that I don’t want to do that, but the most important thing is to lead this team to victory, somehow, someway. I didn’t want to get off to the wrong start by fumbling snaps. I wanted to call the plays right, get in and out of the huddle and be as smooth as possible. Based on the facts — two and a half days — I consider that to be a small victory tonight.”
Favre said that he expects to play at least a half of the Vikings’ next preseason game, a Monday nighter on Aug. 31, at Houston. Childress said Favre will have all of his receivers this time and will be given every opportunity to get his timing “and his legs underneath him.”
Favre, meanwhile, just wants to play.
“Getting this over with tonight is a good thing,” Favre said. “Preseason is tough anyways, but this week has obviously been a little bit hectic.
“It was nice tonight to play with live bullets. I know that after Brad saw me get hit the first time he really didn’t want me to go back in, but that’s part of the game. I need to get hit. It’s football. I’m back to business as usual. Now I just want to make sure I help this team win.”