For Favre, Old Habits Are Hard To Break

Remember that untimely interception in overtime thrown by Brett Favre back in 2003 that helped to seal an Eagles victory in the NFC Divisional round?

Remember that pick against the Giants in the 2007 NFC championship game that caused Favre to lose what would be his final game in a Packers uniform?

Remember all those teeth cringing across the body throws and lame ducks that had no chance of reaching the intended receiver?

Even though some of us may never forget those plays, apparently when the big moment comes No. 4 still does.

Last Night, the Ol’ Gunslinger was just that, the Ol’ Gunslinger. For as much as anyone may talk about Favre managing the game or this being Old “New” Brett and not the Young “Old” Brett, wasn’t watching the same guy I have been all season.

I saw the same enthusiasm he had in his glory days, the same dangerous throws to receivers with DBs draped all over them, and the same knack for going for the big play rather than settling for what the defense gave him; only this season an emergent Sidney Rice and rookie sensation Percy Harvin turned those big plays into TDs instead of INTs going the other way.

While only throwing seven picks in the regular season for a guy who is usually leading the league in that category is amazing, the odds of a disaster occurring when throwing off balance or into traffic is still the same no matter what your regular season stats may say.

The Vikings had a golden opportunity to win last night, marching down the Saints side of the field with under 20 seconds left to play on the clock with a TIMEOUT remaining.

That should have been enough to at the very least come away with a long FG attempt.

A missed 50-yard Field Goal would not have been worse than going out the way the Vikings did last night.

Brett made his worst decision of the season yesterday by throwing across his body right into zone coverage in the MIDDLE of the field (a cardinal sin for any QB) and it cost him and the Vikings dearly. A seven to 10 yard QB run out of bounds on that play and another one or even two plays might have been possible afterwards to put the Vikings in decent Field Goal range and maybe in Miami.

However that wasn't to be and even though the loss was bitter to the nth degree, Vikings fans and Favre haters should stop to think before ripping Brett.

In all honesty Minnesota would not have played the way it did in the regular season without Favre. A 12-4 record that included a sweep of the Packers and a bludgeoning of the Cowboys in the divisional round would have been higly unlikely with Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels at the helm.

Most importantly, even though Brett’s turnover was the costliest one in the game it was certainly not the only one that ultimately caused the Vikings defeat. Adrian Peterson needs to change his nickname from “All Day” to “Fumbles All Day.” If not for his fumbles he would be the most unstoppable running force in the NFL (and a NFC champion right now) as compared to the No. 2 best back in the league behind Chris Johnson.

In all honesty no team with five turnovers deserves to win a game in the NFL and the Vikings have no one to blame but themselves, not any one individual but themselves as a whole.

At the end of it all despite what Favre said all year at his press conferences about not being bitter and not having anything to prove, you knew there was something brewing inside him all those months that he was playing in the AFC, not being able to screw over the Packers.

This year he got his revenge on the team that could have been renamed after him in the late 90s and he proved that he could still be a Top five quarterback in the league even at age 40.

Most of all though, he proved that Brett will be Brett and that is why he holds virtually every passing record known to man including the one for most interceptions.