Favre Doesn't Deliver For Vikings

Brett Favre's effort to take the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl came up short yesterday mostly due to Favre's inability to avoid costly turnovers. All the elements seemed to be in place for the Vikings to win on the road in a noisy Superdome.

The Viking defense slowed down the high powered Saint offense limiting them to 257 yards of total offense. New Orleans averaged 380 yards of offense during the regular season and rolled up 418 in their previous playoff game against Arizona.The Saints could only muster 68 yards on the ground and converted on only 3 of 12 third downs. Add to that a strong running game led by Adrian Peterson who had 122 yards and 3 touchdowns and all the elements of a win seemed to be in place.

The only piece of the puzzle missing for Minnesota was their quarterback taking care of the football in clutch situations. Instead Favre turned the ball over 3 times. He fumbled an exchange with Peterson late in the 1st half inside the Saints 5 yard line taking sure points off the board. He was also picked off twice. The second interception cost the Vikings a chance to try a possible game winning field goal. Favre was lucky to avoid a third interception when Saints defender Jabari Greer droppped a Favre throw that hit him right between the numbers.

Favre's unspectacular performance wasn't all that surprising when considering his recent playoff history. It wasn't the first time he has under performed in the post season. Since the 1998 season Favre is only 4-7 in playoff games. In those 11 games he has thrown 20 interceptions, not to mention some fumbles along the way. He had a 6 interception game against St. Louis in 2001 and a 4 interception game against his own Vikings in 2004, so his 3 turnover game yesterday should come as no shock.

Teams have put up with Favre's prima donna act for the last several years on the premise that he can deliver the goods that other QBs can't when it matters the most. For the most part he has been unable to hold up his end of that bargain. When Favre retires( for good) he will quickly take his place in the Hall Of Fame where he rightfully belongs. He has done more than enough throughout his career to put him in that class. He has accomplished feats few QBs in this game ever have. Unfortunately for Brett and his team mates he hasn't accomplished them in the post season often enough.

NFL Playoffs Lack Excitement

As we head into the Conference Championship round of the NFL Play-offs there have been a couple things lacking from my perspective. Those things would be drama and excitement . A total of 8 games have been played through the 1st 2 rounds so far, and only 2 of those provided good entertainment value for 4 quarters. The remaining 6 games have been completely 1 sided, which is no fun to watch unless it's your home team on the giving end of the beat down.

The problem is that most fans aren't watching their favorite teams in these games. Sitting through the second half or 4th quarter of a game that has already been decided is not the experience that fans are looking for when the settle in to watch the play-offs. Outside of the Green Bay- Arizona shootout that was decided in overtime and the New York- San Diego game that wasn't decided until the final minute the games have lacked excitement.

5 of the 8 play-off games have been decided by 17 points or more. If we remove the the G.B.-Arizona and N.Y.-S.D. games from the mix that leaves us with 6 games decided by an average margin of 21 points. Not exactly the kind of stuff to keep you glued to your seat, is it? To be fair about it, I realize every game isn't destined to become an instant classic, but I do expect to see a little better brand of football than I have seen so far. Some of these teams have performed as if they don't belong in the play-offs at all.

So here's hoping that the Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl can pick up the slack and have our pulses pounding late in the 4th quarter this coming weekend. Hey, I'm a Browns fan. I haven't had a lot of exciting Sundays in recent seasons. If I can't get my fix during the play-offs I'm going to be in serious trouble.

Rethinking The NFL MVP Award

First I would like to congratulate Peyton Manning on winning his record 4th NFL MVP award. Having gotten that out of the way I would also like to say that it's time to rethink the MVP Award altogether. A look at this years voting , and at the historical record of the award, indicate that some changes could be beneficial.

A look at the voting this year shocked me a little I must confess. Why, you ask? Allow me to explain. Quarterback was the only position to get any votes. That in and of itself isn't completely shocking. But running back Chris Johnson being shut out completely by voters tells me we need to redefine this award. In case you missed it Chris Johnson posted the 5th highest rushing total in league history and broke the record for total yards from scrimmage in one season. He became the 1st player to accumulate more than 2,000 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving in one season. This to me represents one of the great seasons in league history. There were 4 quarterbacks that received votes, and yet not one vote for Johnson.

I believe the reason for this is that the Q.B. position has become so critical to a team's success in modern day football that the position has elevated itself to a level of importance above and beyond any other position in the sport. Let's face the facts, it is almost unanimously agreed upon that if a team loses it's starting quarterback it has little chance of winning.

When Wes Welker , the leading receiver in the NFL , went out with a season ending injury in their final regular season game there was no panic from the Patriots. They felt they could over come it by spreading the ball around to some other receivers. If it had been Tom Brady going out ask the Patriots how they would have over come that. And look what happened to the University of Texas when senior Q.B. Colt McCoy left the BCS Championship game with a shoulder injury. Talk about taking the wind out of a team's sail.

Since the position of quarterback has clearly separated itself in importance from the other positions I think it's time quarterbacks have an award of their own. Major League Baseball has the Cy Young Award for pitchers, which is also a unique position and the most important one in it's own game. It's time for the NFL to do something similar. Considering that 21 of the last 30 seasons the MVP has been a Q.B., and that other than an occasional running back no other position ever gets consideration I think it's about time.

The Associated Press started their MVP voting in 1957. In that time only 2 defensive players (Lawrence Taylor 1986 and Alan Page 1971) have won it. We hear coaches and analysts say over and over that it's defense that really wins championships. If defense is so critical to success explain to me the lack of defensive MVP winners. Jerry Rice was the only receiver ever to win. To be fair there have been several running backs to win it , but a large majority of the time it's been the Q.B.s.

Chris Johnson did win the Offensive Player of the Year Award , which I felt he was obviously deserving of. But that just accentuates my point. He was clearly the best individual offensive player this season and still finished behind 4 quarterbacks in the MVP race. The reason is simple, the quarterback position supercedes all others in importance.

This year's vote was proof positive for me. When 4 quarterbacks that have had good but not great seasons can get votes, but Chris Johnson who had a historically significant season can't even get one I believe the writing is on the wall. If the 4th best QB in the NFL is considered more valuable than a running back who had a record breaking season than it's time to set the QBs aside from everyone else. Call it the Unitas Award or the Most Valuable Passer. Call it what you want to, but the time for the NFL to create an award for the best quarterback , similar to baseball's Cy Young Award, has come in my opinion.

Favre Up To His Old Tricks

A heated discussion on the sidelines between Brett Favre and his head coach Brad Childress during Minnesota's 26-7 loss to Carolina has led to further revelations. According to recent reports Childress privately blasted Favre behind closed doors after the game, and has allegedly considered removing Favre from several games earlier this season. It seems that Farve has been disregarding the coaches instructions and disregarding the offensive game plan at times. This doesn't surprise me in the least. I have subscribed to the theory that it isn't Favre's aging body that would be the Viking's biggest problem, but his over inflated ego and sense of entitlement. The writing has been on the wall for a few years now about Favre's attitude. For the last few seasons Favre has left teams hanging in limbo during training camp while he decides whether or not he would like to come out and play, oblivious to the fact that teams are actually trying to put together N.F.L. offenses while he is at the fishing hole. Favre's constant pre-season stalling may have been a ploy to skip the majority of training camp, which I'm sure was not appreciated by his dozens of teammates laboring in the summer heat. The Vikings were willing to roll the dice on Favre and may have lost. It seems that Favre has spent too much time reading his own press clippings. Yes, Favre is a great player with a giant mountain of stats to prove it, but Favre's need to make himself bigger than the coach and the team over the last few seasons is more destructive than his arm is productive. Favre believes he is entitled to play by a different set of rules because of his past success. If he can't get his teammates and coaches to buy into that philosophy the Vikings will be in trouble down the stretch of the season. A true leader puts the team first and down plays distractions rather than creates them. Correct me if I'm wrong.