Mel, I knew that would be the first comment on this board about the Vikes game. I think you’re going to fit right in. Did you notice when the Houston QB’s had time the deep recievers were wide open. The Vikes DB’s don’t look any better this year. If their DT get the 4 game suspensions that defense is going to struggle.

Oh, you’re right, that does mean he’s not our all time leading passer. My mistake.

I looked up the Cowboys all time leading rusher, expecting to see the name “Emmett Smith,” but there was an asterisk indicating they erased all his stats as soon as he went to the Cardinals. (And something about how he was “dead to us now.”) And Jim Taylor isn’t our leading rusher anymore, nor James Lofton our all time leading receiver since they ended their careers somewhere else.

In fact, I found out most NFL teams keep their record holder’s name on a chalkboard now, for easier erasure.

I agree, Roy, he looked Ok, especially if you consider he’s been there, what, two weeks? His best pass was the fade to Harvin that Harvin didn’t quite get to, but he made some nice plays, was efficient and didn’t turn it over, which is about what they want out of him at this point, I suspect.

Whether he can hold up for a season at this point is anyone’s guess.

Thought of Punk/Larry last night during the broadcast. It was early and one of the announcer’s commented on how Favre looked like Elway at the end of his career, because Favre was doing so much handing off. The more I think of it, Larry, you’re probably right, he wants to have that last smile before going into that last good night.

All I know is with former ABA star Ben McAdoo coaching the tight ends we should see some real action when one of our tight ends scores a TD and dunks the ball over the goal post.

Yeah, iccy, but then I’m on the “done a good job” side. See there’s the quandary I’m in. I’m willing to pay Wells 2.5 but not a QB, and that on the face of it doesn’t make sense. But pull back the facade and I think Wells has more value. ie; I think he gives us a lot more high quality options if someone goes down. And sometime, throughout the season, somebody in the interior of the OL will sit down. FB, RB, and S cuts I can live with but dislike losing any of our LBs. Some other GM is going to make TT an “offer he can’t refuse”, because in the last five years we haven’t been as stocked. But then, thats the downside of rebuilding thru the draft; you end up losing guys you just hate to part with after you’ve put in all the time, training, and patience developing them. On the other hand it makes you stronger in the long run. When it happens this blog will jump at how un-characteristic of TT it is, but in reality he hasn’t had much to deal with either. This all started in ’05 with Rodgers, Collins, Murphy (excellent choice, terrible ending), Underwood (+-), Poppinga, and Montgomery.

Should we really be concerned about MIN? Start w/ Div champs last year. 1) The QB that got them there isn’t playing. 2) Why would you “wildcat” w/ Brett Favre wide? 3) Would you throw a crack-back w/ a cracked rib (if you’re into the rib story)? 4) Would you even call a play like that if your QB had any kind of a injury? MIN caught the Bearse D injured, like us, and with no QB or WRs. Ditto our D and our “musical chairs” OL. Their coach tells Jackson he’s the future and then brings in Rosenfels. He then tells Jackson he’s the starter and brings in Favre. Then in a meaningless Pre calls that kind of play w/ a forty year old QB. One might think Childress needs a week or so of rehab.

If the GM job was just drafting, TT has done a good job. But like Wolf pointed out(after hiring 2 second rate head coaches) there’s a lot more to the job. He’s also got to use trade and free agency to fix areas of need( if he can identify what those areas are). It’s a tough job competing with sharks like the Pats for the limited talent. So I wish him well, also hope he can trade some excess players for future prospects this week.

P_B, with all that, MIN split with GB and CHI after we both started piling up the injuries in the 2nd half of the season. They lost to IND, ATL, TB, and TEN. My point was that Childress is a lousy coach and cannot get the most out of the talent he has. They lost to PHI in their only playoff game after beating a weak Bearse team by one game in the Div. I think you are overrating them on the field too. With the best back, the two best DTs, the best DE (share w/ Kampman last yr) they should have done better outside the Div. Enter Childress, this year depending on a rookie to be their best WR, a decent TE, but then that downright lousy secondary. I wouldn’t wanna be a Vike fan.

Oh, p_b, you’re so close to becoming a believer. We were a better team than MIN last year; I don’t care what the record shows, and I realize that ten years from now it will still show we only won (6) games. But, the ever loving BUT, I keep saying last year was an anomaly, and here’s why: TB, a loss true, coming off that horrible game in DAL, at TB. TB held us to (28) yds rushing and (8) first downs. (10) points against due to turnovers; see what I mean about anomaly? TEN we beat everywhere but on the score board. Harrell played better than Haynesworth in the only good game he ever had. They beat us w/ a FG in OVT. ATL, another (3) pt loss that we’re either ahead or tied w/ (2) minutes to go. This team is stocked with twos that can replace ones w/o any fall-off. Take the Fab5(6) any could start, LB (6) deep w/ Chillar/Bishop as good as the ones at either inside or outside. Williams could start at CB and we now have a TE that can go deep. I think Jolly could start and Raji could start at NT. Weakness maybe at Safety and I could feel more comfortable at QB. As to their new QB; he’s doing just what I predicted several posts ago. Dink, dunk, flair, screen, and handoff to #28. His long ball is now a 50/50 gamble but leave it the Childress to try. C’mon, p_b, start drinking out of the top half of the glass…!

Quote PB:”Ted’s still largely unappreciated because 1 playoff appearance in 4 years doesn’t get any streets named after you in Green Bay.” That’s funny stuff! Now two playoff appearances in 5 years might get the first letter of his name on a street.

Is there still an SI cover jinx? Of course, the worst thing about being touted(for playing great in games that don’t count) is the players might get overinflated. If the coaches can show them how the Bears beat us 4 of the last 6 maybe that will pop their balloons. The opener is going to be tough. I only wish we played them this Sunday so this junk won’t go another week.