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A Weekend In the Trenches.

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

After a weekend of watching football, basketball and hockey and, for the most part, it was quite enjoyable. Then, on Monday, the sports world hit the proverbial fan. So to speak.

From Mark McGwire to the Green Packers and from bad announcing to a general load of mainstream media bullcrackers, it’s been quite a few days.

Let’s review and discuss…

1) On Monday, Mark McGwire, the new hitting coach of the St. Louis Cardinals and the man who saved baseball in 1998 sent out a release saying that he used steroids during his big league career.

Wow! Who knew?

I wrote a lot about Mark McGwire’s use of Androstenedione in 1998 and was told quite clearly by a Winnipeg Free Press editor that I should leave the man alone. Funny, how the mainstream media mob changed after people realized that andro was, indeed, a steroid precursor and a pretty solid stacking agent.

These scoops just keep on coming.

2) Monday, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers played down the alleged facemask penalty that was missed (what else is new?) during his overtime fumble, the one that cost the Packers the game.

While a group of Packers fans threatened to sue the NFL for the non-call, Rodgers said his team had a couple of chances to win that football game, but the defence didn’t have an answer for the Cardinals offence.

Meanwhile, it was still a penalty and it was missed (or ignored). But what else is new in the NFL?

3) My old friend, Bruce Dowbiggin had a great item in his Usual Suspects column in the Globe and Mail on Monday. Dowbiggin wrote: “Why we’ve missed Joe Theismann, Master of the Obvious. ‘When you don’t have a field-goal kicker who can make the kicks, it’s so deflating for everybody.’ Deflating. We know how that feels. ‘It’s so important to get into the visual sight of the quarterback,’ the former CFL QB told us Saturday. Yeah, that invisible sight is a real beyatch.”

I tend to watch a lot of football with the mute button on. I have no problem with the play-by-play guys. Jim Nantz, Joe Buck, Don Criqui, Gus Johnson, they’re fine. It’s the colour analysts that drive me nuts.

Thiesmann is bad, Jon Gruden is like fingernails on a chalkboard. But Darryl Johnston and Phil Simms take the cake. They just talk for the sake of talking. Or cheerlead for the sake of cheerleading. And by the fourth quarter, they’ve contradicted half the things they said in the first quarter. After awhile, it just gets silly and annoying.

Thankfully, we have a mute button.

4) Received this from my good friend, Fort Rouge Ted on Sunday:

“PLEASE I NEED YOUR HELP. Does anyone know how to cancel an e-Bay bid?

“I put in a bid for a ‘Mickey Mouse Outfit,’ and now it seems I’m only six minutes away from owning the Toronto Maple Leafs.”

I know it’s cruel. But it IS funny.

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Favre Spectacular. Rice Wonderful. Defence Solid. Vikings Ready for Post-Season.

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS — While the Indianapolis Colts were blown out again and the New Orleans Saints lost their third straight, the Minnesota Vikings prepared for the NFL post-season by destroying the New York Giants.

A final score of 44-7 is one thing. The surgical beauty of Sunday’s evisceration of the Jints was even more impressive, now that the post-season looms.

And there is no doubt that the Vikes are ready for the post-season. On Sunday, Favre completed 25 of 31 passes for 316 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and an eye-popping 148.7 passer rating. He was replaced by Tarvaris Jackson with the Vikings leading 41-0 with 4 minutes, 39 seconds left in the third quarter.

The four touchdown passes tied Favre’s season high, and it was the sixth time he’s thrown for 300-plus yards this season. Since the end of the first half at Chicago last Monday night, Favre put up 71 points in a little more than four quarters. He completed 46 of 62 passes for 601 yards, six touchdowns and no INTs.

Funny, but it appears the mainstream media has forgotten the bullshit story it created two weeks ago, suggesting there was dissent in Minnesota. The big numbers have chased the fiction away.

Meanwhile, Favre’s brilliance — along with the brilliance of Chester Taylor, Visanthe Shiancoe, Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian, the offensive line and a defence that appears to be adjusting to the loss E.J. Henderson –  provided the Vikings faithful fans, the 65,000 that sell out Mall of America Field at the Metrodome every single week, with something to get all giddy about.

Now that’s professional sports.

There was no coaching scared, no worry that precious Brett might get his undies dirty. This wasn’t the candy-assed approach of the lily-livered Indianapolis Colts (have they returned the ticket money from Week 15′s dishonorable debacle yet?). Vikes head coach Brad Childress sent the playoff-bound Vikings out to win a football game on Sunday and he got all $12.5 million worth out of his 40-year-old quarterback.

“It would appear that we picked up right where we left off (in the second half in Chicago),” Favre said during his post-game news conference. “I thought that what we did at the start of the game was what we needed to do. I think it’s proof of what we are capable of doing. For whatever reason we have been inconsistent at times. I think there were 20 first downs in the first half and 22 in the second half of last week’s game. That’s 42 first downs in a game or so. Not that you would expect that all of the time, but that’s what we are capable of doing.”

Nobody is quite sure what some of the other playoff-bound teams are capable of doing. The Colts, the team that threw Game 15 and allowed the New York Jets to eliminate the Houston Texans from the playoffs, were just brutal for the second straight week. Fact is, the Colts were  lucky to get past such powerhouse teams as Jacksonville (the Colts beat the Jags 14-12 and 35-31), Miami, Baltimore, New England and San Francisco, it’s hard to imagine they’ll be ready for anyone in two weeks time.

In fact, by the time the Colts play a post-season game (on Jan. 16 or 17), they will not have won since Dec. 17.

Of course, it could be worse. The New Orleans Saints have lost three straight and when they play again on Jan. 16 or 17, they will not have won a game in five weeks. The Colts and Saints will essentially be starting a new season (and not just in the hyperbolic sense) when they play their next game.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Arizona were dreadful this week, but while Arizona played nobody in the butt-kicking they took at home against Green Bay, the Eagles went all-out in the 24-0 shellacking they received in Dallas while the Bengals played all their stars in that 37-0 whooping they suffered in New York.

Right now, the best teams in the NFC are Minnesota, Dallas and Green Bay while the best teams in the AFC are San Diego, Baltimore and the Jets.

And if anybody suggests even for one second that the signing of Brett Favre was a mistake — no matter what happens in the playoffs — then that person knows absolutely nothing about football or professional sports. Favre is spectacular and the Vikings are great to watch.

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How Good is This Guy?

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

I knew it when I declared back in July that Brett Favre would indeed sign with the Minnesota Vikings (which, of course he did), but I must admit, after Sunday afternoon’s performance against the Seattle Seahawks not even I thought he’d be this good.

Sunday at Mall of America Field, Favre completed 22-of-25 passes (88 per cent) for 213 yards, no interceptions and four TDs as he led the Vikes to a 35-9 shellacking of the Seahawks. Those numbers are beyond remarkable. Eighty-eight per cent is the highest single-game percentage in Favre’s career. He threw touchdown passes to four different receivers — Sidney Rice, Visanthe Shiancoe, Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin.

NFL.com reported that Favre’s previous career high was an 85.2 percent completion mark against Detroit on Sept. 20 of this year. But, amazingly, he has only completed at least 80 percent of his passes in a single game, two other times in his previous 18 seasons in the league.

Having had the opportunity to interview Favre (albeit in news conferences and scrums) on a number of occasions this season, I’ve concluded that the 40-year-old quarterback has reached a stage in his career in which every down is a bonus. As a result, he’s become more likable, more respected (if that’s possible) and perhaps even more skilled that he was when he was leading the Green Bay Packers to the Super Bowl.

In fact, on Sunday, Favre set an NFL record with his 22nd career game with at at least four touchdown passes. He and Dan Marino were tied at 21 each.

When Favre’s achievement was announced to the sellout crowd during the fourth quarter at the Metrodome on Sunday, he received a standing ovation and yet looked like a guy who had no idea what he’d done.

One gets the sense he no longer cares. At 40, he’s playing on perhaps the best team he’s ever seen — let alone been part of. In fact, if you base greatness on the number of weapons a team has, then Favre’s Minnesota Vikings might be the greatest team in the NFL today.

Frankly, it’s extremely unlikely even the unbeaten New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts can claim to have seven of the most potent weapons in all of football, but Bret Favre can. In fact, does any team have more great offensive players than Minnesota: Favre, Harvin, Rice, Berrian, Peterson, Taylor and Shiancoe. No team in the NFL can touch that group.

The post-season is going to be fantastic.

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The Insanity Continues. And the Local Media Proves How Hypocritical It Is Once Again.

Posted on November 14, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS — If the Minnesota Vikings win the Super Bowl, it won’t be because they were threatened in their own division.

I mean, how good do the Vikings look after both the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers were clobbered last Sunday and then the Bears lost again on Thursday night?

Well, we’re here in the Twin Cities to watch the Vikings pummel the Lions at Mall of America Field on Sunday and then we’ll be back to watch the Vikings beat the Seahawks next weekend and the Bears on the 29th. Three straight home games against inferior talent should have the Vikes at 10-1 by the end of this month. And that means the Vikings could have the NFC North sewn up and their ticket to the playoffs punched.

It’s been a fun week in Winnipeg, made even more fun by Winnipeg drivers who need a little NASCAR fix and the local mainstream media who just can’t stop taking out all their frustrations on the only person who has the guts to call them what they are — belligerent, obnoxious, childish, ignorant and thin-skinned.

1) Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly made them all crazy again, just by saying he’ll be back next season. They whined and moaned and cried and bitched. Even the ones who have never, ever interviewed Kelly, screamed for his firing.

Then the hypocrisy of the local media mob reached comical levels.

Remember when the Bombers got to 7-9 and suddenly the local media made Manny Matzakis the darling of the masses. According to the tall foreheads with the cameras and microphones, Kelly had nothing to do with the team’s resurgence and it was all Matzakis.

Then, after the Bombers were drilled in the final two games of the season, Matzakis suddenly got a pass. The lousy offence wasn’t his fault, it was Kelly’s. Nowhere in the local media was Matzakis even mentioned as a culprit.

The smartest thing anyone in Winnipeg can do is this: Don’t believe a thing you read in a newspaper. They’re just making it up.

2) I love NASCAR for plenty of reasons, but this is the biggest: There are no turn signals on the cars. In Winnipeg, turn signals are the most frightening things you can give a driver.

Seems that in this town we have two types of drivers: the ones who turn on their signals and then never make the turn and the ones who don’t turn on their turn signals until they’re in the middle of an intersection, backing up traffic for blocks.

No wonder Manitoba Public Insurance pays out hundreds of millions of dollars in claims each year.

3) This is why I love it when the Green Bay Packers lose. The franchise is run by a heartless GM and an ignorant, heartless head coach…

According to the Associated Press: “A maintenance employee who’s worked for the Green Bay Packers for more than two decades was fired after making a comment to head coach Mike McCarthy.”

WTMJ radio then reported on Friday that 53-year-old Mike Wood was sitting in a maintenance cart in a stadium tunnel a few days before the Minnesota Vikings visited Lambeau Field. As McCarthy talked to members of the ground crew, Wood says he yelled out to McCarthy to “get the boys ready to kick some butt this weekend.”

A few days later, Wood was fired from the franchise he loves.

Wood says his supervisors thought he told McCarthy not to lay an egg, or something similar which Wood says was a lie. McCarthy said he didn’t fire the maintenance worker, but my insiders say he told the maintenance department to run the guy out of the organization.

Can’t wait to watch that paranoid Packer organization lose again. Those clowns need to worry a lot more about their offensive line and a lot less about the maintenance department.

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Thoughts And News From a Crazy Sports Weekend

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

From Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson battling it out in Atlanta to Brett Favre’s brilliant comeback at the Dome to Jimmie Johnson’s win at the Monster Mile to the Bombers home victory on Saturday night to the Lions first win in 19 games, it was a wild and woolly weekend.

It’s Tuesday morning. Monday Night Football was a dog and our 92-CITI-FM radio show was highlighted by the announcement that we are “An Official Station of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Radio Network.” So  here’s what’s left in my head…

1) Favre was magnificent on Sunday afternoon, hitting Greg Lewis with a 32-yard touchdown pass — a 32-yard bullet, by the way — with two seconds left to beat a very good San Francisco 49ers team.

Yesterday, wherever I stopped in Winnipeg, people were jumping up and down with enthusiasm over Favre’s final drive. Many were happy that they were going to next week’s Monday Nighter between the Vikes and Packers at the Metrodome.

It was a truly great moment in football history, a 39-year-old veteran who has retired twice, once again doing what he’s always done throughout his marvelous career — bringing a team back in the final seconds. On Sunday, Favre earbned his paycheque and Vikings head coach Brad Childress earned the respect he might have lost by encouraging Favre to come out of retirement — after training camp had ended — to play another year (or two).

If you get a chance, go to http://www.kfan.com/pages/psn_paulallen.html and listen to Vikings play-by-play star, Paul Allen’s call. It was almost as exciting as the fact Favre threw the pass about 40 yards on a line.

2) Jimmie Johnson, the three-time defending Sprint Cup champion, won the AAA 400 at the Monster Mile at Dover on Sunday, but once again 50-year-old Mark Martin was second and, as a result, Martin remains 10 points ahead of Johnson in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

It was Johnson’s fourth win at Dover, his second at Dover this year, and he’s now just eight consistent races away from a fourth straight Sprint Cup title.

I love Mark Martin, but if Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knauss keep it together, Johnson should take home the Cup once again. And what an incredible feat that would be.

3) My beloved Detroit Lions won on Sunday, 19-14 over Jim Zorn’s (he’s a former Bomber, you know) confounding Washington Redskins.

It’s funny, but all six people in my NFL pool picked the Lions to win (it was one of my few victories this week) and that suggested that nobody, not anybody, thinks the Redskins are a threat.

The Lions won’t likely win more than two or three games this season, but right now there are six winless teams (and the Redskins aren’t one of them) after three weeks — St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Kansas City, Tennessee and Cleveland. And three of them — St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Cleveland — don’t look like they’ll win a game. In fact, if you look at every schedule, there is a reason to think all three could go 0-16.

4) Despite his win on Saturday night, Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike Kelly is still despised by plenty of Bomber fans. I know, I get the e-mails.

However, to be fair, Kelly could be Bart Andrus, a guy who has lost the Toronto Argonauts’ locker room and who has turned the Argos into a 3-9 last-place team. No matter how bad you might think Kelly is – and I’m not so sure he is that bad – it could always be worse.

Yesterday, another veteran has been sent packing by Andrus as the Argos traded cornerback Byron Parker — who has more interceptions for touchdowns in his CFL career than the entire Argos defensive backfield has interceptions — to the Edmonton Eskimos for a fourth-round pick in next year’s Canadian draft. Nice deal.

There is a chance Parker, who was cut by the Philadelphia Eagles to make room for Michael Vick, could suit up for the Eskimos when they play 4-8 Winnipeg at Canad Inns Stadium on Friday night.

If he plays, Parker could be a difference maker in that game so I guess if the Argos can’t beat Winnipeg on the field, they can make someone else better and hope that team beats Winnipeg.

5) Finally, I was able to announce on 92-CITI-FM this morning that our radio station is now “An Official Station of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Radio Network.”

That’s tremendous news, but it also means that 92-CITI will carry Canada’s games, plus the medal round of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic men’s ice hockey tournament.

Here’s the schedule and every game is on 92-CITI-FM in Winnipeg:

Tuesday, Feb. 16: 7 p.m., Canada vs. Norway

Thursday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Canada vs. Switzerland

Sunday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m., Canada vs. USA

Tuesday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m. Qualification Game (Canada is not likely to play in this game).

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Quarter-final game.

Friday, Feb. 26, 2:30 p.m., Semi-final No. 1

Friday, Feb. 26, 9 p.m., Semi-final No. 2 (Canada would likely play in this game if Team Canada qualifies).

Saturday, Feb. 27, 9:30 p.m., Bronze medal game.

Sunday, Feb. 28, 2:30 p.m., Gold medal game.

There is nothing better than Olympic hockey. And there is really nothing better than having Olympic hockey on 92-CITI-FM.

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Favre Does Everything Childress Wanted in Debut.

Posted on August 22, 2009 by Scott Taylor| 1 Comment

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.”

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Crowd Aflutter All Day. Waiting for “Their” Brett.

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Brett Favre will wear No. 4 for the Minnesota Vikings tonight when the Vikes meet the Kansas City Chiefs at the Metrodome.

The myth that “most” Vikings fans don’t want Favre to be their favourite team’s quarterback appears to be just that: a big, giant, stupid myth.

“I’m going to watch Brett throw seven or eight touchdown passes against the Packers this season and wallow in it,” said Doug Spooner, who has been tailgating outside the Metrodome since 7 a.m. “I hated him in Green Bay, but he’s not in Green Bay anymore. Professional football is a business. It’s kind of like marriages. He had 15 or 16 years married to the Packers and good for him. But he’s divorced from the Packers now and after a brief fling with the Jets, he’s married to us. We love him. And to Packers fans I say, ‘Enjoy Aaron Rodgers.’ This isn’t personal, it’s a business.”

Or a marriage. Or whatever.

Tonight, Favre will make his debut in Minnesota and fans are hoping for two things to happen (a) that he starts and (b) that head coach Brad Childress introduces the offence before the game so the fans can cheer their lungs out for their new hero.

It was suggested earlier today, by an older fan tailgating in front of the Dome, that he would have liked to see Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels get a chance to be the team’s WB, but when it was presented to him that the Vikings don’t have a chance to go to the Super Bowl with Rosenfels or Jackson at the helm and at least they have some chance with Favre, he relented.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said. “this could be a really good team.”

In Minnesota this year, with the signing of Brett Favre, it’s already being billed as “Mission: Miami.”

That’s because, with Favre, alongside Chester Taylor, Adrian Peterson, Bobby Wade, Bernard Berrian, Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, Visanthe Shiancoe and that monster defence led by Jared Allen and Antoine Winfield, the Vikings have a legitimate chance to get to the Super Bowl.

And it all starts tonight.

We’ll have reports throughout the evening.

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Vikings Waiting to Sign Favre

Posted on June 9, 2009 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

It took two days of telephone calls, but it now appears that the Minnesota Vikings are waiting for Brett Favre’s decision. That’s it.

If Favre, 39, decides he will play a 19th season in the National Football League, it’s all but guaranteed that he will play in Minnesota. In fact, my sources tell me that the only reason the Vikings haven’t extended the contract of safety/halfback Antoine Winfield is because they’re waiting for Favre to make a decision. Sources at WCCO radio in Minneapolis told me yesterday that Favre will cost the Vikings at least $10 million dollars a season and if the quarterback is healthy enough to play, he’ll probably want a two-year deal plus an option on a third season.

A report at espn.com this week suggesting Vikings head coach Brad Childress demanded that Favre decide this week whether he will join the team, “is probably not accurate.”

“The coaching staff would like Brett to take part in some kind of off-season workout with the club,” said my source in Minneapolis today, “but there were no demands made.”

Favre, who wanted to play for Minnesota last season, but was unable to do so because of his contract with the Green Bay Packers, is now free to sign with anyone. He retired at the end of last season and was subsequently released by the New York Jets (the team to which the Packers traded him). Now that he’s free, it’s likely he will try to get his injured right arm in shape and play for the Vikings in 2009.

Both the Vikings and Favre would like to know if last week’s shoulder surgery has repaired the problems that negatively affected his ability to throw last season. Family members have reported that he has been passing the football since last week’s surgery, but there are no reports as to whether his throws are at an NFL-calibre level.

Meanwhile, his family has booked 30 rooms at the Midway Motor Lodge near Lambeau Field so they can be in Green Bay when the Vikings and Packers meet on Nov. 1. If the family is getting excited about the quarterback’s return, one suspects the Vikings are, too.

And based on everything that’s happened over the past three days, it’s clear that if Brett Favre is healthy, fans will be able to buy their purple No. 4 jerseys before the season opener on Sept. 13.

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Vikings really need a quarterback.

Posted on November 11, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Leave a comment

The Minnesota Vikings won a thrilling 28-27 decision over the Green Bay Packers at the Metrodome last Sunday and at the end of it, all I could ask myself was “How good would this team be if it had a real quarterback?” 

Gus Frerotte is a solid backup, but he’s a lousy starter. Sunday’s game would not have been close if the Vikings had a legitimate starter. In fact, 17 of Green Bay’s 27 points came directly off Frerotte interceptions.

Minnesota’s defence is so good, the only way Green Bay was close this week was because Frerotte made three game-changing passes right to the wrong team. Green Bay didn’t score an offensive touchdown, Aaron Rodgers was hounded by Jared Allen and Co. all day and yet, the Pack lost by only a point. 

Fact is, without that defensive line and Adrian Peterson, the Vikes would be battling Detroit for last in the NFC North. It’s almost impossible to believe, but Bernard Berrian didn’t catch a pass last Sunday. That would never happen with a real quarterback. 

Wow! How good would Minnesota be with a quarterback?

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Favre says he “feels like a Jet.” So much for 16 years in Green Bay.

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Scott Taylor| Comments Off

Thanks to the NFL Network for telecasting Saturday night’s battle between the New York Jets and the Washington Redskins. It was worth the watch.

 

Granted, it wasn’t worth the watch after the first quarter, but, hey, that first 45 minutes as we got to witness Brett Favre in a New York Jets uniform was certainly worth the time commitment.

 

Our man Flava Favre told the New York media that he was “having fun again,” and one can certainly understand why. The Jets will be a pretty good football team with Favre’s competitive fire and quick release at the helm.

 

It also doesn’t hurt that his offensive line is at least decent, if not actually quite good.  

 

During the post-game news conference, Favre said he asked Jets head coach Eric Mangini to let him play some more. When the first quarter was over, Favre was done, but in his own mind he felt like a rookie trying to get a shot at the clipboard-carrier’s job. He was like that 23-year-old sixth-round draft pick right out of Southern Mississippi Wesleyan Agriculture, Teaching, Military and Firearms College. He wanted to play an entire pre-season game. That’s nuts. That’s Favre.

“I asked him if I could play some more and he (Mangini) said, ‘Let me think about it,’” Favre told the media. “As he turned away, he turned back and said, ‘I thought about it.’”

Favre didn’t play again. But he looked pretty comfortable when he did play.

Ol’ Flava Favre had obviously learned the better part of his new playbook. He went five-for-six passing for 48 yards and threw a four-yard touchdown strike to Dustin Keller. When he left the game, the Jets were ahead 7-0 and Favre, only 10 days removed from the Packers, was the best player in a Jets uniform.

“It worked out better than I thought it would,” Favre said at the news conference. “Not that I thought it would go badly.”

Admitting that it was all just “a little weird” to be suited up in Jets green while playing at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, Favre lasted 14 plays and according to the Associated Press, Mangini said Favre had between 30 and 40 plays to work with.

Favre is going to be just fine in New York and the Jets just might give the Patriots a bit of an argument this season. 

In the meantime, the San Francisco 49ers massacred Favre’s old team, the Green Bay Packers, 34-6, on Saturday night. Aaron Rodgers went nine-for-16 for 58 yards, Brian Brohm went four-for-nine for 33 yards and Matt Flynn went five-for-six for 33 yards. Rodgers was sacked four times and the 49ers finished the game with six sacks in total.

At this stage, Packers GM Ted Thompson looks like a moron. He’s the guy who drafted Rodgers, he’s the guy who refused to trade for Randy Moss, he’s the guy who wanted Favre out. The Packers might never recover from Thompson’s ego and idiocy.

Meanwhile, the Jets and their fans are wandering the streets of the Big Apple loving every minute of Favre’s exile in New York.

I wonder if Packers coach Mike McCarthy ever looked in the mirror and said to himself, “Am I better off with Brett Favre as my No. 1 quarterback and Aaron Rodgers as my No. 2 or with Aaron Rodgers as No. 1 and Brian Brohm as No. 2?”

Guess not, because if he did, he wouldn’t have made that silly statement that Brett Favre “wasn’t in the right frame of mind” to play for the Packers. 

Poor Green Bay. All by themselves, they made Detroit and Minnesota the teams to beat in the NFC North. 

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