Archive for October, 2010

Randy Moss just completed one of the more bizarre post-game press conferences you will ever see. First the receiver, who had only one catch during today’s 28-18 loss to the Patriots, announced that he will not be answering any more of the media’s questions for the rest of the season, and doesn’t care how much the NFL fines him.  Then he proceeded to sing the praises of his former team the New England Patriots and especially coach Bill Belichick, who he referred to as “the greatest coach in NFL history.” It quickly became clear that Moss had an ulterior motive [...]

Brett Favre looked like he might be on the way to leading the Vikings to a comeback win against the Patriots, until he was hit under the chin by a Pats defender and suffered an apparently serious injury.  After Favre was carted off, the Vikings characterized the injury as a chin laceration, but no one who saw it – and no one who saw the image of Favre lying on his side, eyes closed as he was carted off the field – believes it was anything that mundane. Tarvaris Jackson, who many fans thought should’ve started the game in place [...]

Brett Favre may have looked gimpy coming out for the first half against New England, but he ended up playing some of his best ball of the year.  “Best ball” in this case meant handing off to Adrian Peterson a lot, hitting Percy Harvin over the middle and not making any dumb mistakes like trying to force it downfield to Randy Moss who was double-covered pretty much the entire half. Things might’ve gone even better for the Vikings but for a completely crazy bad break:  Madieu Williams appeared to have a pick but the ball went right through his arms [...]

In the end, Brad Childress didn’t have the nerve to pull the trigger.  Moments ago, Vikings.com tweeted that Brett Favre is active for today vs. the Patriots and will start, extending his vaunted consecutive games streak to 292. Speculation ran rampant all week that Childress would give Favre the day off and go with Tarvaris Jackson instead.  Indications from Favre were that he would be very unhappy if Chilly didn’t let him play.  On Friday, Favre was able to hobble out on his gimpy ankle and get in some practice reps. The suspense over Favre had no reported effect on [...]

The Vikings are 2-4 coming off a brutal loss to their biggest rivals.  Their starting quarterback spent most of the week in a walking boot and only got to practice one day.  Their previously dominating defensive line has become something of a question mark.  And now they get to play the 5-1 New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium.  An old line occurs to me right now, something about no rest for the wicked.  But that’s how it is in the NFL:  just when you think things can’t get any harder, you have to go play the Patriots – with Brett [...]

As far as Brett Favre‘s concerned the quarterback question is already answered.  On Saturday Favre told ESPN’s Ed Werder that his ankle feels much better and he expects to start Sunday afternoon against the Patriots. Favre told Werder he wouldn’t have bothered making the trip to New England if he thought he wasn’t playing. As far as I know, no one has asked Brad Childress what he thinks of Favre’s pronouncement.  Childress has said he would wait until right up to game time to decide whether Favre or Tarvaris Jackson will take the field vs. Tom Brady and the Pats. [...]

NFL charities are making a poop-load on the Vikings this week.  A couple days ago, Brad Childress was hit with $35,000 in fines for his remarks about the officiating during Sunday night’s Packer game.  And now, Randy Moss has joined the party, being fined $25,000 for refusing to speak to the media. Chilly gets fined for talking too much, and Moss gets fined for not talking enough.  Oh, and don’t forget about Phil Loadholt who has been fined $20,000 for grabbing a facemask during the Packer game.  The fine was steep because Loadholt is a repeat offender, who was nailed [...]

This week The Viking Age turned to Fansided sister blog Musket Fire to get the lowdown on everything New England Patriots related.  TVA unpaid lackey Jon Merkle aka thevikingpig did the honors by firing off five questions for Jamie Pacheco. TVA:  Randy Moss or Deion Branch… Who would you rather have today on the Patriots and why? Musket Fire:  If it was just based on pure talent, it would be Moss hands-down. However, part of the problem with Moss was that Tom Brady was relying too much on being able to toss the ball up and have Moss come down [...]

Brett Favre was back on the practice field Friday afternoon, gingerly testing out his broken ankle.  Meanwhile, the man who would replace him, Tarvaris Jackson, continues to prepare as though he is going to start on Sunday against the Patriots.  Whether T-Jack actually gets the starting nod is something we likely won’t know until literally minutes before game time.  I have a sneaking suspicion that, if Brad Childress had everything entirely his way, Favre would already be benched and T-Jack would know he was starting.  But, as we know, Favre won’t allow anyone else to decide for him when and [...]

Everyone’s been so busy trying to peer inside the mind of Brett Favre that we’ve forgotten all about our other occasionally prima donna-ish headcase offensive Hall-of-Famer.  And how is Randy Moss doing, you ask?  Just fine, according to Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Per Tom Pelissero, Bevell says Moss “understands why his production has been limited” and “is fine with being a decoy if he’s doubled.”  Bevell continues, “He’s not a guy sitting there saying, ‘Hey, I don’t care how many guys are open, give me the ball.’” So, as far as we know, Moss is not pouting.  He is [...]