Wednesday Morning Starting Five: The Brett Favre Take Your Ball and Go Home Edition
Look, the NFL has to do a better job of marketing young Black quarterbacks (Thanks Anthony McClean). With their collective winning records in tow, Jason Campbell and Tarvaris Jackson are in danger of losing their jobs. Jackson’s ineffectiveness aside (they did lose to a better Eagles team by a damn eyelash), what the hell is the difference between Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Campbell, Cutler and Jackson. When the Vikings asked Jackson to pass more than 30 times they usually lost. I’m not saying Jackson is a better quarterback, but why the hell are people saying this team is a Super Bowl contender waiting to happen if only they had a better quarterback? The same with DC. Do you know how many teams both would have to leapfrog to become an elite team? So, you ask an aging quarterback with a million interceptions to his credit and with an arm that STILL needs surgery to come in and make Minnesota an elite team?
GTFOH.
Stop swinging…What is this Brett Favre attraction? What will be the answer if Favre comes in and the Vikings suck? Who will be to blame? There’s always someone to blame right? Isn’t that how this works?
On a more serious note, US airstrikes killed “dozens” of Afghan civilians this week. (BBC)
Congrats to Dave Bing for winning Detroit’s special mayoral election. (Freep)
Police are snooping into the records of Paul Pierce and other stars? (Boston Globe)
Black America’s discomfort with mental illness. (Ebony/Jet)
Old Dirt Dog to be immortalized in documentary. (Reuters)
Stacked like a Tupac vocal…
Those killings in Afghanistan were clearly intentional.
The US military budget is larger than every nation on the planet — combined.
The US has the greatest technology in the world and they never make mistakes. Or at least, that’s what they’d have us believe.
I wonder why they saw fit to kill women and children. Perhaps they want to infuriate the Taliban and ramp up the fight in Pakistan.
Always business, never personal. Truly gangster. Truly evil.
Umm, as a Minnesotan, I don’t want Brett Farve anywhere near the Vikings let alone the QB. PERIOD!!!!
And don’t even get me started on the NEED for BLACK QBs.
You know these NFL owners and coaches would rather have an ailing, old, white, man QB, than a healthy, black, talented man. Can’t have the niggra acting smart and calling dem plays.
Run niggra, Run! Rant over!
I’m glad you didn’t link to ESPN on the Favre story.
As an aside, I peeped it out (Ed Werder wrote it.) The article is written to make Frerotte look good and to make Jackson look like a buster.
Werder did not note that Minnesota’s most impressive win of the season was authored by Jackson — in the desert in Arizona — where he threw 4 first half touchdowns. He did note that Jackson was QB when the Vikes lost to Philly.
It’s all fair in love and war.
The Vikings will surely get what they deserve after they sign Favre. I hope they do it. I suspect they’ll win 10 or 11 games and get summarily dismissed from the playoffs in their first matchup. The Vikings defense is solid and they have Berrian and Harvin and AP, but Favre is still Favre and he’s guaranteed to give up the rock when it gets tight.
I’m sure the Packers and Bears aren’t worried one bit.
Jason Campbell had to deal with his ‘football’ character being challenged by the Redskins and received some kudos for handling the situation with class, but now Minnesota’s Tavaris Jackson has to deal with Brett Favre trying to hijack his starting QB job–again.
Jackson made progress in 2008, and led the Vikings into the playoffs with big wins over the Falcons, Giants and Super Bowl bound Arizona Cardinals, and did rather well against the Philadelphia Eagles, but for the THIRD YEAR QB, (Judas, excuse me head coach Brad Childress) keeps trying to undermine Tavaris’ progress…implying there is no QB controversy in Minnesota…
I had applauded Childress for selecting Jackson, but pressure from his own coordinator, pressure from the ESPN old school media, pressure from local fans who have a disdain for dual-threat QBs has finally gotten to him…and that’s a shame..
Mr. Homewrecker (Favre) himself came to New York as a savior with the ‘perfect’ team to resurrect his career, but it ended up missing the playoffs after an 8-3 start where’s the leadership?
People in the media didn’t want to question Favre, but Jets’ teammates did–including Thomas Jones and Kerry Rhodes.
“We’re a team and we win together … but at the same time, you can’t turn the ball over and expect to win,” Jones said
“If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game,” Jones told Hot 97 FM. “You’re jeopardizing the whole team because you’re having a bad day.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3804004
Tavaris has a 9-8 record as a NFL starter and is in the process of learning the Childress’ West Coast offense, but his under-handed way of doing things is unsettling and if goes through with giving Favre the starting job..how will it affect the team as a whole? Most support Jackson! Childress’ gamble to me will end the same way Eric Magini’s tenure ended in New York– getting fired… TRUST TAVARIS! He deserves to have a coordinator he trusts as well (having Favre’s former coach blowing whispers to Vikings’ management is two-faced…)
And in an article written in September 2008, Jackson talked his time of being lied to at Arkansas when Matt Jones was the starting QB ahead of Jackson (yes the same crack-head Matt Jones who gets the ‘white-pass’).
Is Favre better than Jackson? A better game manager right now?
http://www.mspmag.com/features/features/112575_3.asp
>>>K. C. Joyner is espn.com’s “Football Scientist.” A stat geek for whom the standard NFL numbers are inadequate, Joyner is sort of football’s counterpart to baseball’s Bill James. He watches reels of game tape from his couch in Orlando and compiles his own Moneyball–type metrics. Joyner’s two most important stats for quarterbacks are “bad decisions” and “yards per attempt,” the latter broken down into “short,” “medium,” “long,” and “bomb” categories. “Tarvaris’s ‘bad decision’ percentage was 2.3 percent,” Joyner says, ranking Jackson ahead of Favre, Peyton Manning, and Derek Anderson. Jackson rates even better with YPA, which accounts for pass interference penalties as well as traditional yardage. Jackson ranks number one overall on “medium” distance passes. “Those are often the toughest passes to complete because they’re down the field—eleven to nineteen yards,” Joyner explains. “>>>>>
Minnesota’s Tavaris Jackson has to deal with Brett Favre trying to hijack his starting QB job–again.
Jackson made progress in 2008, and led the Vikings into the playoffs with big wins over the Falcons, Giants and Super Bowl bound Arizona Cardinals, and did rather well against the Philadelphia Eagles, but for the THIRD YEAR QB, (Judas, excuse me head coach Brad Childress) keeps trying to undermine Tavaris’ progress…implying there is no QB controversy in Minnesota…
I had applauded Childress for selecting Jackson, but pressure from his own coordinator, pressure from the ESPN old school media, pressure from local fans who have a disdain for dual-threat QBs has finally gotten to him…and that’s a shame..
Mr. Homewrecker (Favre) himself came to New York as a savior with the ‘perfect’ team to resurrect his career, but it ended up missing the playoffs after an 8-3 start where’s the leadership?
People in the media didn’t want to question Favre, but Jets’ teammates did–including Thomas Jones and Kerry Rhodes.
“We’re a team and we win together … but at the same time, you can’t turn the ball over and expect to win,” Jones said
“If somebody is not playing well, they need to come out of the game,” Jones told Hot 97 FM. “You’re jeopardizing the whole team because you’re having a bad day.
Tavaris has a 9-8 record as a NFL starter and is in the process of learning the Childress’ West Coast offense, but his under-handed way of doing things is unsettling and if goes through with giving Favre the starting job..how will it affect the team as a whole? Most support Jackson! Childress’ gamble to me will end the same way Eric Magini’s tenure ended in New York– getting fired… TRUST TAVARIS! He deserves to have a coordinator he trusts as well (having Favre’s former coach blowing whispers to Vikings’ management is two-faced…)
And in an article written in September 2008, Jackson talked his time of being lied to at Arkansas when Matt Jones was the starting QB ahead of Jackson (yes the same crack-head Matt Jones who gets the ‘white-pass’).
Is Favre better than Jackson? A better game manager right now?
http://www.mspmag.com/features/features/112575_3.asp
>>>K. C. Joyner is espn.com’s “Football Scientist.” A stat geek for whom the standard NFL numbers are inadequate, Joyner is sort of football’s counterpart to baseball’s Bill James. He watches reels of game tape from his couch in Orlando and compiles his own Moneyball–type metrics. Joyner’s two most important stats for quarterbacks are “bad decisions” and “yards per attempt,” the latter broken down into “short,” “medium,” “long,” and “bomb” categories. “Tarvaris’s ‘bad decision’ percentage was 2.3 percent,” Joyner says, ranking Jackson ahead of Favre, Peyton Manning, and Derek Anderson. Jackson rates even better with YPA, which accounts for pass interference penalties as well as traditional yardage. Jackson ranks number one overall on “medium” distance passes. “Those are often the toughest passes to complete because they’re down the field—eleven to nineteen yards,” Joyner explains. “>>>>>
Please Brett….It’s been fun but the street lights are on and it’s time to go home.
Brett Favre should take a hint from last year, and realize that no one is going to last forever. Sage Rosenfils definitely isn’t the answer. But, Childress isn’t even giving Tavaris a real chance. If he wants to see the Vikings torn apart like the Jets were last season, the quickest way might be to go after Favre.
As far as Tavaris, I feel like Tavaris has handled the qb situation in Minnesota with more class than the organization has. He could have used the fact that this son has had a couple of pacemakers as an excuse for bad play early in the season, but he hasn’t. Speaking of which, if a white qb was in the same situation, wouldn’t the Big Disney have had a couple of heart-tugging stories headlining Distort-center about it by now?
Brett Farve is like Norma Desmond and lives in a delusional world of his own and sportscasters fantasies. Outside of 2007 Farve has had a losing record and he has been the reason those Packer teams struggled, Would you have thought if the Vikings “really, really “needed a quaterback they would have went after Cutler who would have made sense instead of “Team Divider” Farve who I think is worse than T.O.
Obama may nominate up to three new U.S. Supreme Court justices during his first term. Some have suggested that the next pick would be a Hispanic. However, an African-American woman may get stronger consideration from my home state of Georgia—Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2009/05/01/leah_ward_sears_supreme_court.html
However, Hillary Clinton’s name is receiving some buzz. She has never been a judge, but has an activist, legal background. (And Bill would be happy about Barack nominating her, and it would cement the Clinton political legacy forever.)
Eric,
I believe there would a team mutiny within the Vikings if Favre is allowed to muscle his way onto that team.
Favre is a homewrecker, plain and simple.
Tavaris’ football teammates respect Jackson (and believe he can win games) and Childress is foolish to go through with this. I really believe the engine behind this is Darrell Bevill, Jackson’s traitorous offensive coordinator. Bevill needs to be replaced!
Temple you are totally right about Afghanistan and our actions and Patrick, I think Farve is a more divisive teamate than Terrell because for all of his screaming and throwing QBS under the bus Owens feels like the team wins when they get the ball in his arms and you know he loves the game and wants to win, I think Childress, Wolf and Bevill are under the illusion that Farve is the player of 2007 and the Minneasota defense is the Ravens and the Steelers and all they need is a QB and it’s off to Miami.
Conservatives (led by Chief Justice John Roberts) are attempting to use New Haven’s reverse discrimination case as precedent to overturn affirmative action.
We do have a African-American president, but application of affirmation is still needed in this country. As many of you know, the political climate can change in a heartbeat and a Second ‘Reconstruction’ period could begin.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-affirmative5-2009may05,0,4391145.story
>>>…”Opponents of affirmative action hope the U.S. Supreme Court will use a Connecticut case to prohibit cities from making even modest efforts to promote racial diversity in their workforces. The justices shouldn’t let the peculiar facts of the case force them into a rigid decision….”>>>
Another possible candidate for replacing Souter may be current Massachusetts governor, Deval Patrick.
Gov. Patrick has strong qualifications, and I am wondering how he and Clarence Thomas would view issues of race.
>>…”In 1994, Bill Clinton nominated Patrick Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, subsequently confirmed by the Senate. As the head of the Civil Rights Division, Patrick worked on issues including racial profiling, police misconduct, fair lending enforcement, human trafficking, prosecution of hate crime, abortion clinic violence and discrimination based on gender and disability. He led what was (before the September 11, 2001 attacks) the largest federal criminal investigation in history as co-chair of the Task Force investigating the arsons of synagogues and African American churches in the South in the mid 1990′s. He had a key role as an adviser to post-apartheid South Africa during this time and helped draft that country’s civil rights laws…”>>
Gov. Patrick would be a solid choice as well (in my opinion)…
Patrick:
Great job on Tavaris Jackson. I actually have had a bit of correspondence with KC Joyner over the years. He’s very cool and accessible. He’s also objective as hell — I think. He watches games and he doesn’t reach — he just lays it out there. His metrics are tight and very revealing.
Jackson can play. If you really watched the Eagles game and saw what he had to work with, you’d have to conclude that he played well enough for the team to win. They just didn’t have the weapons and were overmatched.
I watched the Philly game several times on NFL Replay. He made one bad decision of note in that game and surrendered an INT touchdown to Asante Samuel, but on the next drive, he came right back and led his team down the field for a touchdown. Peterson ran it in from close. The Vikings had the game within reach…and who knows what happens if they have more than Bernard Berrian on the field.
“If you really watched the Eagles game and saw what he had to work with, you’d have to conclude that he played well enough for the team to win. They just didn’t have the weapons and were overmatched.”
AMEN TO THAT BROTHER TEMPLE!!!!
The poor man just doesn’t have much to work with. Berrian is a #2 making #1 money and giving #3 production. Shiancoe is the best recieving threat on that team but he’s limited physically and therefore easy to contain.
Sadly Tarvaris doesn’t have the backing and confidence of the organization to downright demand some help.
Oh and we don’t need Favre.
Brett Favre can’t retire. 6 months after he is forced to really do it, his wife is going to leave him and we will all read about his battle with painkillers.
Brett Favre just won’t go away. And it won’t end well for him. Why was there so much conjecture about Michael’s return supposedly sullying his legacy and yet there’s none about Brett’s? I honestly wished MJ had stayed away (always leave ‘em wanting more, as Johnny Carson said – and apparently Barry Sanders learned that lesson) but Brett seems a lot more desperate. Thing is, if the sports media would not have coddled him so much when he was younger, he might not seek their plaudits and re-enforcement quite so much. Honestly, his ego muddies the water in GB, he forces Jeff Garcia to go down to Miami when the Jets abandon sanity to sign him – and guess who got the last laugh in that one. Really, Brett is surrounded by sycophants and people who just can’t tell the man he needs to quit. Not to mention Minny doesn’t need him.
I don’t know what drugs y’alls on but T Jack is not a good Qb. First off be did not lead the Vikes to the playoffs. He started the season 0-2 looking like he did not belong in the Nfl. He then came back after we were already in position to make the playoffs and had a couple good to very good games. But let’s be honest about the Arizona game that was not the same team that went to the superbowl. They had just secured their playoff spot the week before and were still hungover. Hell T Jack only had to throw the ball 17 times. Also we lost to Atlanta and barely beat the giants who rested true starters after the first quarter. Then went and laid an egg against the Eagles. He had a chance to make it his job forever with that game and what did he do? He went 15-35 with 0 tds and an int. Remeber that game was at home.
I agree with you on Cambell. He would look great in Purple, much better than a 39 year old ex Packer. But come take ylour head out yo but TJack is not a starter in the Nfl.
Ed with all due respect…and thanks for coming on the site…but the Vikings haven’t done shit since ’98 and are the sudden considered a SB contender. It’s the scrutiny that slammed TJ against the wall on draft day that bothers this site. Where’s the learning curve?
The Eagles were arguably the hottest team in the league at that point. Minny was not winning that game no matter who the hell the qb was.
Why doesn’t Jimmy Johnson get credit for a stellar defensive game plan?
What is this Vikings slurping in the absence of a successful track record.
Do something first.
I totally agree with the learning curve. When tjack was drafted everyone said he was talented but he was raw so what do the Vikes do? The name him starter after his rookie year.
However the vikes went to the Nfc championship in 2000 and had the runner up in the MVP voting in 02 with Daunte. Once we got rid of Moss we fell off. However last year we had the #1 defense and the #1 rushing offense. The only thing missing is a solid Qb. Look at the teams that have been in the SB in the last few years, they all have above average QB. To think we wouldn’t have gone farther with better play from the QB is just dumb. As far as a track record we have had a top 5 defense 3 years in a row and the best running offense 2 years in a row, plus we have had poor play from our QB three years in a row. That sounds like a track record to me.
Yes the eagles were very good last year but even they could not get past great play from a great QB in Kurt Warner.
The Eagles lost to the Cardinals because they didn’t have Larry Fitzgerald lining up. He was the MVP in that game. Way too much credit given to Warner. He’s had a bevy of superior receivers during his NFL career that most would faint over.
The Vikings were blown out in 2000…hence the non mention. Crew Pop (media stack until a local story becomes national) got Daunte traded. Public relations is a bitch.
What have they really done record and playoff wise to merit SB consideration. You can give me stats all day and it wouldn’t mean a thing.
I think most fans look around the league for trends and think those same trends will translate to their particular team. That is almost never the case.
Again before Tavaris was drafted, what have the Vikings accomplished to merit this outstanding consideration?
This needs to be explained before we get into what exactly is the problem there. Seriously.
You also have a unproven head coach. Trust me, as a Eagles fan I know.
Make a decision on qb and stick with it.
What is going to be the stock response if Brett comes in and continues his meteoric interception rate?
Who will be to blame then? Tavaris because he sent in the wrong signals?
Come on. QB play isn’t the only problem there and it’s obvious.
Childress and the front office have been way too impatient and listen to the fans and press way too much.
Grow some and live with it.
Minnesota is about to get exactly what they deserve.
Favre was almost always a mediocre performer in Minnesota. The Vikings held him to under 200 yards passing in EIGHT of 16 career games: HALF. Favre was only 6-10 vs. the Vikings and has averaged an INT/game in on the road. He had five games with 300 yards passing; but he had five games where he failed to throw a TD pass.
Who knows. Maybe Brett can pick his game up at age 55 (or however old he is.) In any event, I would not be surprised to see him flounder for most of the season. He’ll have a few outstanding games — he always does, but he’s not the answer — and hasn’t been since 1997.
I tend to disagree the Vikings have everything in line to make a playoff run except QB. There is a reason that QB is considered the most important position in the NFL. And yes Kurt Warner has had some great wide recievers but how good has ST louis been without him. A great QB can make a Wr great but very seldom does a great Wr make a QB great. Plus a great QB can make a coach look good too. I have disagreed with slot of what childress has done especially when have gave the starting QB job to an unproven raw young tarvaris Jackson when the rest of the team is filled with veterens that are ready to win now.
And if you are wondering why the Vikes merit SB consideration, because they have as much talent as any team in the NFC. What had the Giants done in the playoffs before they won it all or the Cardinals for that matter. Just because you don’t have a great track record does not mean they can’t win it all. That was then this is now. With the talent they have they could compete for a title what’s holding them back is the play of the QB. Farve is not the answer, TJack is not the answer, and God forbid helicopter Roesenfels is not the answer. That is the most depresing fact of being a Viking fan.