Last Meeting(s): The Lions beat Minnesota in overtime in Week 3, 26-23. The Vikings led 20-0 at halftime but managed only three more points. Detroit ran for just 20 yards but Matt Stafford threw for 378 yards and two touchdowns, both to Calvin Johnson. Minnesota’s Jared Allen and Brian Robison combined for five sacks while Detroit had four of their own.
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First of all, Donovan McNabb is one of my favorite pro players. I think he has been a very great professional quarterback. He says the right things. He does the right things. Right now, I wanted to see us go younger quicker.

I told people back before the Vikings made the move, “If you think Donovan McNabb is the answer, he’s not.” You’re going with another old quarterback.

What we have done in Minnesota is delay getting that young quarterback. In Green Bay, they got rid of Brett Favre and went with Aaron Rodgers. They didn’t just win a Super Bowl. They’re set for the next 10 years.

We need to play Christian Ponder. I haven’t watched Christian Ponder play. But you never know until you play him. I would have played him from Day One. You have to play him to see if you have him for your future.

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Fran doesn’t know how to stay quiet, especially when some radio station like 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia invites him to come on the air (via Sports Radio Interviews).  As you might have already guessed, Fran’s remarks about Favre’s failure are a bit on the negative side:

Well before that [interception] I think the Vikings were clearly the best team. They held this New Orleans offense to under 300 yards. They made Drew Brees look ordinary. He didn’t even throw for 200 yards. The guys have been throwing for 400, 500 yards. They were the better team. Their offense turned the ball over five times, the Viking offense. But still if he didn’t make that stupid play at the end of the game they would have won the game. Now you are in Philadelphia, remember a few years ago when Green Bay played you guys for the, I think it was a championship game…I think you guys went to overtime. I mean he throws the ball straight up in the air, freefalls. Do you remember that? I have never seen any quarterback much less, well he is going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback, make plays like that at a critical time. He has done the same thing in the Giants game. He plays at home, has the better team and plays against Eli. He was a young kid right? And he throws the pick… and then he does what he did the other night which was just shameful because great quarterbacks, and he is a great quarterback, they don’t do that. You don’t see Peyton Manning do that.

I was initially inclined to not hammer Favre too bad for that pick, but as the days have worn on, I have gotten more down on him and his bad decision-making (though not as far down as Fran who evidently wants him flogged).  I now think it would be a mistake to bring Favre back next year, not just because I’m tired of the drama, but because he will be 41 and, despite his seeming age-defying physical gifts, there is eventually going to come a point when his body takes one shot too many, and I would rather he be in someone else’s uniform when that moment happens.

I’m all for making a run at Donovan McNabb, and if you can’t get him…um, I don’t know, Daunte Culpepper?

Not Tim Tebow though, or Michael Vick.  For the love of heaven, not Michael Vick.