So Brett Favre Doesn’t Need Camp?

Listen. I’m a glass is half full kind of guy and there were some good things to take away from this game. Let the record show I’m expecting a good season out of this team. But still, we lost 14-9 in what was a sluggish game for a team that supposedly had been waiting months to inflict revenge.

Tony Dungy at the end of the game stated that Vikings fans should be concerned about this team on it’s passing game. He later went on to talk about how Favre looked tired in the second half and how his body language was terrible. Favre may be 40-years-old coming off of a great season and knows this offense better than anyone including Brad Childress. But now that this game is history you can’t change the fact that the Vikings WRs finished with 4 receptions for 56 yards. Looking at the Box Score you’d think that Brad Johnson was playing QB.  The 2006 version.

And really, should we be surprised? Favre skirts into Winter Park the second week of preseason, Sidney out from hip surgery, Berrian seems uninterested (1 catch for 3 yards, what is wrong with this guy?), Percy misses nearly all of camp with migraines, Camarillo was just traded for, Lewis (with the exception of one miraculous catch) isn’t the kind of receiver who will win you games and these are the results folks. We also had a much easier schedule last year starting with Cleveland-Detroit who in 2008 combined for a whopping 4 wins. You can’t exactly “wing it” against the defending champs on their own turf.

On a good note, the Vikings defense did an excellent job holding the Saints to 14 points in spite of being on the field for 34 minutes. Also throw in the fact that the Vikings had 9-minute drive in the 2nd quarter and it’s shocking that Pat Williams didn’t need to be on a ventilator. Drew Brees threw for a pedestrian 237 yards and Pierre Thomas had 19 carries for 71 yards with one TD. Not exactly video game numbers for the leagues most prolific offense of 2009. Adrian Peterson also showed flashes of his beastly form and held onto the football.  Hopefully he only improves off of his 87 yards performance.  Visanthe Shiancoe as well continues to shine, but this isn’t an offense where a TE carries the load.

Moving along we now have 10 days to lick our wounds, get everyone on the same page and host the Miami Dolphins in what should be a much quieter match-up. Wait did I as a Vikings fan just say that? That’s it for tonight. One game is in the books, hopes of a 19-0 season have been shattered, but all is not lost for 2010.

Jon Merckle may be followed on Twitter @thevikingpig