GO FOR 2

The way I planned to run-down the NFL season - before my absence was forced for the first 5 weeks – was to give my quick thoughts on some important points from the week’s games. Not everybody gets included, not everything gets mentioned, so if you feel I slighted your team … there’s always next week.

Bengals don’t go down to the wire…it’s a bad thing

So up through week 5 every Bengals game was decided by 7 points or less and came down to the final drive. That streak ended on Sunday, and it didn’t end well for the boys in orange and black. Matt Schaub and the Texans strolled into Cinci and walked away with a 28-17 win. There were no flukes here, either, which is going to leave lingering questions about both teams. The Bengals turned the ball over 3 times, and were outgained 472 to 296 in total yardage…at home. So is the Bengals surprise run over? Are the Texans finally ready to make some noise? Will we ever see any consistancy from anyone?

The saddest team in football

See – you don’t even know who I’m going to put here…that’s how many awful teams there are this year. Well, this space is currently reserved for the Tennessee Titans. Sure, the Rams are winless, the Chiefs are winless, the Bucs are winless, and the Redskins and Raiders are still jokes (Feeling good, right Lions fans? You don’t even get mentioned in this stuff anymore!). However, no team is playing as bad at the Titans, and no team is doing it so unexpectedly. This is almost exactly the same team that went 10-0 last season before finishing up 13-3. Seriously. Very little changed here.

DT Albert Haynesworth left, Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz left…and I’m out. Nobody in Tennessee thought losing these two would be such a huge blow, but 6 weeks deep you just can’t deny it. The Titans gave up 619 yards and 59 points to the Patriots this week – which might not seem so bad – except these aren’t the 2007 Patriots here. The Patriots have only crossed the 30 point line once before this year (against a Giant’s D that doesn’t know what pass defense is), and the Pats were fresh off a 300 yard/17 point effort against the Broncos.

The time to hit the Panic Button has long passed, this team needs work. A new QB and a new defense…oh, some receivers might not hurt … and a better O-line …. looking at the defensive coordinator and secondary coach would be a good idea … enjoy the up-coming rebuilding year Titans fans.

The best team in the league keeps right on rolling

Now you knew what was coming, Saints fans. The Drew Brees machine just handed the G-men a 48-27 beat down (don’t feel too good about the 27 either, Giants fans, a lot of that was garbage time. You earned 17 of those). Drew Brees has so many weapons that its ridiculous. Marques Colston, Lance Moore, and Robert Meachem are all making secondaries look foolish right now. Jeremy Shockey is absolutely, unquestionably back in form. Pierre Thomas can run, and Reggie Bush can do anything when he gets in space. But what makes this team special is the new-found defense. Gregg Williams (you miss him, right ‘Skins fans?) is dialing up some exotic looks and sending serious pressure, and it’s really working, opposing quarterbacks look really uncomfortable facing the Saints. Darren Sharper has joined the Brett Favre/Brian Dawkins ‘who cares if I’m old, I’m still amazing’ club. Sharper has 5 picks, 2 returned for touchdowns, and had another pick six called back this weekend on a roughing the passer call.

This is officially the best team in football right now, and everyone in the NFC can officially worry.

And the runner up…

Sorry Vikings, but right now you just don’t have the resume to top the Saints. That said, this team is going to keep making noise well past week 17. The biggest question coming into the season was: If defenses pack the box with 8 or 9 guys, can Brett Favre take advantage of the man-coverage? 69.7 completion percentage, 12 TDs 2 INTs through 6 games….asked and answered. Apparently all that ‘Favre is injury free’ and ‘Favre knows this system well’ talk wasn’t hollow, this team now the best rusher in football and a legitimate pass attack. As for the defenses struggles against Baltimore in the 4th quarter on Sunday, I’m going to let that go. Baltimore is playing real offense this year with second-year stud Joe Flacco and top 5 rusher Ray Rice. And after losing two in a row, Baltimore was  desperate for a win. So really, the Vikings D was in a tough spot and held up juuust well enough. Besides, with Jaren Allen back there this defense will always be a factor.

My real worries about Minnesota are two-fold. 1) Can Favre stay healthy for the whole season and into the playoffs? I’m inclined to say yes. He isn’t getting hit much this year, he’s playing a LOT of dome games, and the Vikes are being conscious with the amount of work he receives in practice. That said, only time is really going to tell. And 2) Is Brad Childress going to show some killer instinct? This is based largely off that last drive against the Ravens where the Vikes only came away with 3 without even trying to get 7. Sure, its an isolated incident, but it easily could have lost the game. Childress needs to show that he can go for the jugular and use his surprisingly hot pass offense to finish off teams in the 4th quarter…he’s not used to it…but he needs to adjust quick.

Hall-of-Fame quarterback Brett Favre told the Associated Press that he will give his final decision on whether or not he will play next season to the Minnesota Vikings by July 30. Speculation has surrounded Favre joining the Vikings all summer, and he himself acknowldged that, health permitting, he would put on purple and gold next season during an interview on Joe Buck Live (You don’t remember it, because your brain exploded after Artie Lange came out).

I already touched on the Favre saga a couple times, but I’ve neglected to break it down too thoroughly for two reasons. First, more qualified analystics than myself (and Mark Schlereth) have talked about the pros and cons of having Favre as a Viking for months now. Second, there are some pretty self explanatory formulas to describe having Favre on your team.

Healthy Favre + Team With No QB = Postseason

Injured Favre + Team With No QB = 2-1 Interception/TD Ratio, No Postseason

Take the above formulas, assume (correctly) that Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels don’t count as quarterbacks, and the only question left to answer is the same one we’ve had since Favre’s shoulder surgery: Will he be healthy?

I know that hindsight is 20/20 and all, but here’s some advice Favre probably should have followed. You knew you wouldn’t be positive about the status of your arm until the end of the summer, Brett. If the Vikings didn’t need to know right away, you should have given everyone the July 30 date about 2 months ago. That helps everybody, analysts and writers can shut up about the speculation for most of the summer, and it makes Favre look less wishy-washy. Sure, the constant retiring and unretiring has hurt Favre’s image, but the view of him constantly wavering and toying with an NFL team hurts it even more.

Just something to think about for next year, big guy.

On Friday Vikings super-star running back Adrian Peterson was asked the inevitable question that everyone wearing purple must answer:  “How would you feel about Brett Favre joining your team?”  Peterson fielded the question well, saying he would welcome Favre and respect the experience and passion he brought to the game.

“You’re talking about a Hall of Fame quarterback, a guy that I grew up watching. I love just the passion he played with…”

Peterson made a smart move in giving Favre his due respect (yes, even if you have a problem with the endless ‘retirement’ saga, he is still a hall-of-famer, he has a Super Bowl ring, he’s a 3 time NFL MVP, and he’s a 10 time pro bowler). A.D. then made an even smarter move, he deferred to his coach on a personell decision, saying:

“I know our coach is going to do his job, and at the end of the day, his job is having the best team possible to win games”

Now, letting your coach decide who will be on the team, who will start, and – you know – coach, doesn’t seem like that difficult of a thing to do. But Peterson is a serious all-star now, coming off a 1700 yard season (with more than a 1000 yards in 2 seasons as a pro) Peterson essentially is the Vikings offense. If Peterson really wanted he could open his mouth like T.O., or Ochocinco, or even Chris Johnson and use his leverage to try and make decisions he has no business making. But that’s not how ’All Day’ got to be such a big star and respected player. He knows his place, goes out there and works hard and does his job as best he can.

Flickr.com/branditressler (Creative Commons Licensed)

If Favre does show up in Minnesota he’ll be lucky to have Peterson in the backfield for more than one reason. And the NFC North (really the whole league) should be worried, because that won’t be a team of prima donna’s or divas,  just guys who love to play football and go out to do their job everyday. In the NFL, that’s a recipie for championships.

Ted Thompson Has A Purple Sad Face...

This is an article about Brett Favre, what the hell else am I supposed to call it? So, after Favre went on Joe Buck Live and finally just came out and said that, health permitting, he would be a Viking next seaon, it seemed like things in the #4 circus were gonna calm down.

Well, ProFootballTalk found a new Favre theory to toss out there. PFT is hinting that there’s a possibility the Vikings have already signed Favre, and are just waiting to make the announcement. This could be either for strategic reasons, at Favre’s behest, or just to try and get our brains to melt and pour out of our ears.

So if this is the case, when are we common folk going to get the official announcement? PFT is suggesting that July 3 will be the magic day. This makes a lot of sense if the idea is to reduce the unavoidable media storm that follows Favre wherever he goes. The July 4 holiday is almost guaranteed to get rid of some reporters, cameras, and spotlights. Of course, the hardcore guys are still going to be there…and someone is always going to show up when a Favre announcement is made.

Whether the Vikes have already signed Favre is really irrelevant, because his arm is looking like it will be in shape for the start of camp anyway. So maybe Favre is already in the bag, maybe he won’t be officially signed until the future, but no matter what we aren’t getting away from hearing about it. If you really can’t handle the stress (here’s looking at you, Ted Thompson) you could always A) go live under a rock for a few months  B) just cut off your ears and be done with it, or C) follow Deadspin’s suggestion.