Thanks snow, you're a day late and the week is FUBAR.


When the schedule first came out, it looked like having to play back-to-back games against the Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys in the final two weeks of the season would be an absolute nightmare for a team that would be struggling to make the playoffs.

Then, it started to look like a division title had been gift-wrapped by Santa himself.

Brett Favre is banged up (again) and didn't appear likely to play, and the Cowboys were down to their third string quarterback after injuries to Tony Romo and Jon Kitna.

Both teams are in complete disarray, and all the Eagles have to do is beat them for a division title and quite possibly a first-round bye. Should be easy, right?

Not so fast.

With the announcement that the game will be moved from Sunday night to Tuesday night, the Eagles are put at several disadvantages. For one, Favre now has a chance to get healthy. And I don't care if you're the biggest Favre-hater (AKA jackass) on the planet, the guy gives them a much better chance to win than the rookie Joe Webb.

And secondly, Andy Reid's team now must face the Cowboys on a very short week.

Football players are creatures of habit, and this is likely to throw them all out of whack. The practice schedule makes a dramatic shift from here, it gives any player injured against the Vikings on Tuesday less time to recover and that's all compounded by the fact that it's a divisional game.

Divisional games are incredibly difficult regardless of how bad one of the teams actually is. Not to mention the fact that the Cowboys would just love to knock the Eagles out of a first-round bye or division title.

We've been looking for a true barometer of this team for a while now, and I believe we'll get it while watching how they handle what will be a chaotic week.
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Romo was abused all game long by the Vikings' defense.


Everyone knew how to stop the Dallas Cowboys, it was just a matter of finding a team who could execute the gameplan properly.

Putting pressure on Tony Romo is basically where that gameplan begins and ends, but thanks to a very good Cowboys' offensive line, that plan is easier said than done. However, for the teams that can accomplish it, it should mean a certain victory.

The Eagles were able to get a little bit of pressure on Romo in the Wild Card game after not even making him flinch in Week 17, but it wasn't enough. The Vikings, on the other hand, were able to get in Romo's face all day and force him to move around inside the pocket.

And "inside the pocket" is the most important part.

Allowing Romo to get outside of the pocket might be more dangerous than not getting any pressure on him. When he's outside of the pocket he's able to look down the field, usually with no one around him, and is also a threat to run. The threat to run then takes a half-step away from the secondary and can lead to a big play.

But the Vikings, with a huge day from Ray Edwards, were able to use their defensive ends to keep him in the pocket, then take advantage of his indecisiveness. The pass rush led to six team sacks, three by Edwards, an interception, and three Romo fumbles -- two of which were lost.

Three turnovers for Romo and six sacks crushed his confidence and had him running scared all game long, which in turn led to good field position and all the momentum for the Vikings. The Vikings offense took full advantage and abused a Cowboys defense with its back against the wall.

In other words, the Vikings did everything that I had hoped the Eagles would do, but inevitably fell short of those goals. The lack of starting-caliber talent at linebacker and the lack of a pass-rushing left defensive end were the downfalls of Birds, but is something that the Vikings clearly possess.

It would have been nice to abuse the 'Boys the way the Vikings did, but if it couldn't be our Eagles, I'm satisfied to see it was a former Eagle in Vikings' head coach Brad Childress. Childress and Andy Reid still speak quite often and keep in touch, so I'd bet that Reid asked Childress to lay it on the Cowboys.

Hence the fourth quarter touchdown pass by Brett Favre to run up the score.

Maybe I'm giving them the kiss of death, but I'm now officially supporting the Vikings to take it all the way and win one for the NFC. If you've been visiting the site for a little while you know that I'm a Favre supporter, so let's win one for the gipper, Minnesota.
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If he wants to stay in purple, he'll keep Favre out of purple.


Brad Childress has done a good job with Minnesota since arriving in the 2006 season. During his time there, the Vikings have increased their win total by two each season (from six, to eight, to ten last year including a division title), and have become legitimate playoff and even Super Bowl contenders.

However, his handling of the Favre situation could kill not only his sustained success in Minnesota, but his job as the Vikings' head coach.

I thought the way he handled Favre during the period of "Favre Watch" and the permanent Hattiesburg, MI assignment of several ESPN field reporters was just fine. He was very vague with the media, which is good for a situation like that, and he threw all of his chips into the pot in an attempt to go after a Hall of Fame quarterback.

While it didn't work out, I think it shows his committment to winning and taking the Minnesota franchise to a place it has been been in several decades. He has Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, but the only people in the country who think they're good enough to take the Vikings to the Super Bowl are themselves. Which is important, but misguided.

Unfortunately the Vikings and everyone else has realized that the quarterback position is a real weakness for the Vikings, as neither quarterback has had sustained success as a starter. Therefore, the pursuit of Favre makes perfect sense. Or rather, made perfect season.

Now, however, it's time to shut and deadbolt the door on a Favre return to Minnesota.

While Childress did a good job of staying noncommittal either way on the Favre story earlier, he has since said that beyond a shadow of a doubt the door for Favre to become a Viking is closed. When a head coach makes such a concrete statement, they have no choice but to stick with it or risk their credibility with the media, and most importantly, the team, being compromised.

I'm sure Childress didn't just make that statement to the media, but to his team and to the quarterbacks he's working with at the moment. I'm sure he gathered them all together either in the locker room or a meeting room and told them that Favre will not be a Viking and told Jackson and Rosenfels that the job will belong to one of them.

To go back on that now would be the very definition of career suicide.

In the world of pro football, all a head coach has to speak for him are his actions. He must always stick to his word with his players because if they do not trust him, the team will suffer on the field. There is no possible way for a team to be successful when the guys are not a cohesive, trusting unit which goes all the way to the head coach, GM, and the owner.

Lying to the media is one thing, and really, I don't have too much of a problem with it. The media will twist and distort most stories anyway, so in some instances they deserve it. For instance, a lot of people are still reporting that McNabb had no say in the Vick signing, when he has made it quite clear that he started the discussion. However, that's not a story like a McNabb-Vick fight.

Based on the comments of the Vikings players it's safe to assume that Childress has told them that the door for Favre is shut and that they're moving on. The quotes of anonymous players are really quite a flimsy source, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but if the quotes are really from players, Childress may already have lost that locker room.

If he wants any chance of keeping his job in Minnesota he must shut down any Favre talks in the locker room, and he must do that by sticking to his word that Favre will not be wearing purple in 2009. If he goes back on his word now, he will lose his job in Minnesota, and may never see a head coaching opportunity, at least in the NFL, ever again.
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This is the Brett Favre that most will remember.


Nearly two months ago when this whole thing started, I said that I did not believe Favre would be playing again in 2009.

Apparently, I was right.

Tom Curran and Jay Glazer are reporting that Favre has called Brad Childress to inform him that he will not be coming back to the NFL, and more specifically to the Vikings, in 2009, and most likely ever again.

Right now all of the sports betting websites are having a huge rush on the "When will Brett Favre change his mind?" question of the day. Not to mention the over/under on the Vikings season without Favre, or how many years Childress sticks around the Minnesota area.

To any of you betters out there, put your money on Brett not making a return. I said this two months ago, and I'll say it again, Favre still wants to play, sure. Most guys retire from the NFL when they still feel mentally capable of playing the game, but Favre also understands that he can no longer rely on his body to hold up for 16+ games.

I've been on record for years saying that I believe Favre is the greatest quarterback to ever buckle a chinstrap, and I still stand by that. Several NFL parlay picks were already in place for the Vikings to make a run at the Super Bowl, so it shows what kind of respect the man has.

Even the people who don't really follow football, but are more into the gambling side of it, know and understand the kind of difference that Favre's presence can make for a football team.

Hopefully now this will end all of the nonsensical talk of Favre as a "prima donna" or whatever else the media is spouting just to create a stir and grab a couple cheap headlines. He wanted to play, he like the Vikings know that he wanted to play, but in the end he made the right decision.

While this is what people think of when they think of Brett Favre right now, in five years (when he's in the Hall of Fame) all anyone will remember were his 16 years with the Green Bay Packers.

In fact, most may not even remember his year with the Jets, or his year with the Falcons for that matter.

Quick trivia to prove a point: What teams did Joe Montana, Joe Namath, and Johnny Unitas finish their careers with?

Now honestly, how many of you know that answers without "Googling" it?
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Reports are coming out now that nothing has come from the meeting between former New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre and Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress.

But no matter what is said or reported, no one seems to believe it. Everyone has their own ideas, but the majority opinion seems to be that he will play in 2009.

No one believes Favre when he says he's retired, which I agree with. But only to a point.

As far as I'm concerned the situations of last offseason and this year's offseason are night and day.

In Green Bay, it was fairly obvious that Ted Thompson/Mike McCarthy wanted Favre gone to make way for Aaron Rodgers. After Favre's obviously sub-par season in 2005 (20 TD's to 29 INT's), he thought Favre would have been gone by 2006, and certainly by 2007.

Unfortunately for Thompson/McCarthy, Favre played too well to warrant getting rid of or benching him.

2006 was not a great year for Favre (18 TD's to 18 INT's), but he led a bad team to a .500 record that year, and set the platform for success in 2007.

The story of 2007 is a well-known one. Favre, at 38 years old, led the packers to a 13-3 record and to the NFC Championship game on his arm and a late-season breakout by Ryan Grant.

Let's not forget that for the first 10 games of the 2007 season, Favre had thrown more passes than any quarterback in the league and the Packers had the most lop-sided run-pass ratio in the NFL. At some points reaching 80%-20%.

Regardless of having absolutely no running game for over half the year, Favre played like he was in his late-20's rather than late-30's.

With 28 TD's and only 15 INT's Favre was in talks for MVP through the entire year, and did in fact earn a few votes.

Unfortunately for Favre, no one remembers the fact that he led a decent team to a year where they overachieved. That was fairly obvious to anyone really paying attention. The only thing anyone remembers was his lollipop interception to seal the loss against the Giants.

All the Favre-haters conveniently forget the fact that he had thrown for five touchdowns to only two interceptions during the postseason with a 99.0 quarterback rating, or the fact that Ryan Grant fumbled the ball away twice in one game.

No, the only thing brought up is the interception. I'm not here to defend the pass, it was a bad pass, but considering the man was 80% of the reason they were there in the first place, I think he deserves some slack for that.

But regardless of the fact that Favre was the biggest reason for the Packers' success, Thompson/McCarthy had watched their golden-boy hold a clipboard for far too long, leading to his storied trade to the New York Jets.

During that well-publicized offseason, the Packers did all they could to make Favre look like the bad guy in order to temper some of the backlash that they knew they would receive if Favre was wearing any colors other than green and yellow.

You must tip your hat to Thompson, the man did his job in that regard.

Favre was made to look like this evil child holding his parents hostage until he decided they were allowed to be let go, and that's simply not the case.

Favre was pressured by Thompson and McCarthy into making a decision, and making it quickly.

The same happened to Marino after the 1999 season when Dave Wannstedt came in with the crazy idea that Marino was washed up and convinced him to retire. Like Thompson/McCarthy, Wannstedt was in no way married to Marino and wanted his own guy (by the way, Jay Fiedler was great).

Favre, like Marino, obliged and came to the decision that he felt was the proper one at the time, and that was to retire.

I believe that when Favre gave his now-infamous retirement speech at his press conference, that he really believed he couldn't take it anymore. He felt as though the pressures of the offseason were simply too much for him to handle any longer.

However, had he been given the time to think and make a decision, he would never have retired, and this would not even be an issue.

Instead, the man who helped bring the Packers back to relevancy for the first time since the departure of Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr, was treated like a scrub who had done nothing for the organization.

However, what was done was done. Brett Favre was now a New York Jet and they immediately became Super Bowl favorites in a lot of football circles.

And why? Because they had Brett Favre. Speaks to the man's reputation a bit, doesn't it? A team that missed the playoffs the previous year is being talked about in the Super Bowl because they brought in this one guy. Not bad.

Once again, Favre had his team overachieving.

Anyone who believes the Jets were a .500 team before Favre arrived is living in a revisionist's history fantasy world.

The Jets had made some improvements here and there and were definitely a better team, but they were a couple years away from being considered legitimate playoff contenders.

But Favre did what he always does, and that's win. If you doubt that, just look at the man's record. Only in one year did he have a losing season, and that was 2005 (4-12) with a putrid team around him. Up until then, the worst he had done was 8-8.

Does anyone really believe that if Kellen Clemens was under center that the Jets would have even sniffed 9-7? Or that Thomas Jones would have been able to have the year that he had?

The answer to both is no. Clemens may be a decent quarterback one day, but he doesn't hold a candle to Favre (never will), and the only reason Jones had the year that he had was because Favre's presence would not allow the defense to stack eight men in the box and focus only on him.

They had to respect Brett Favre.

Jones loved criticizing Favre and running his mouth, but he'll be missing him big time when Mark Sanchez doesn't even make a defense blink and he's brought back down to earth.

But again, even with the Jets, Favre was in MVP talks and everyone was praising Tennenbaum for bringing him to New York, until the injury.

Favre tore a bicep in his arm and wasn't the same for the last four or five games of the season, but how many quarterbacks could be? Elway played extremely well with the same injury, but Elway was an exception and didn't rely on his arm strength in the same way that Favre did.

But in typical Favre fashion, he played through it.

Did you ever hear Favre blame a bad game on his arm? Never. But still there were calls to bench him, and I won't even argue that. I do believe that you allow a player of his caliber to try and work it out because even injured he's far and away better than anything on the bench.

But instead of Mangini catching the heat for deciding to leave him in, Favre caught heat and was called a selfish person for continuing to play.

What?!

He's a selfish person because he's fighting through injury to do everything he can to help his team win? That hardly makes any sense. The case could be mad that perhaps he was hurting the team because he wasn't the same, but that's not his call to make. Any self-respecting football player will never pull themselves out of a game.

That is on the coach to decide.

For example, this year Donovan McNabb was not playing well for a stretch of a couple games. He got pulled by the head coach. He was angry because regardless of how you're playing you never want to be pulled and no player (well, no good player) will ever do that to themselves.

But this offseason, after the injury and getting attacked relentlessly by any writer who wanted a story and wanted to cause a stir, he has decided that it's time to hang up the cleats.

I believe that this is the real deal. Favre has been given time to think about it and come to a decision without any pressure. In fact, new head coach Rex Ryan and owner Woody Johnson said they would have loved to have him back for another season. Apparently, they're the only guys who get it.

If Favre comes back again, he deserves every bit of criticism that the media and fans can lay on him because this team it's all on him.

However, he's made his decision now and I believe he will do just as he told Brad Childress and stay retired.

The point is that Favre played the game simply to play the game. He didn't play for the money or the fame, and he's not this "Prima Donna" everyone believes he is. He's the guy throwing a touchdown in the backyard and carry his receiver around the field for a victory lap on his shoulders.

He should be a guy who's looked at as a role model. A man who had a bout with prescription drugs and alcohol, but he beat it. He overcame his problems and became one of the best quarterbacks, if not the best, to ever play the game.

He put it all on the line, hurt or not. He did whatever he could to help his team win and 63% (his winning percentage, 169-100) of the time it worked like a charm. He was an unorthodox player but the job got done, and it got done extremely well.

Perhaps instead of mocking John Madden (another disrespected football icon) for his admiration of Brett Favre, everyone should follow suit and recognize the man's importance and contribution to not only the NFL, but the game of football.

So to Brett Favre: Stay in Hattiesburg and enjoy your Hall of Fame election in five years. I hear Hattiesburg, Mississippi is a great place to be in October. Well, better than Minnesota at least.

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