We talk about football all the time in terms of what a group of players can do as a collective unit or how a group of 11 players match up against another group of 11. Football is thought by some as the ultimate team game, but in Minnesota, one man has taken the spotlight single-handedly for the last couple of years and will be the singular reason why this team succeeds or fails.
That man is of course, Brett Favre. His annual waffling between retiring and playing one more year played out in front of the public once again this off-season. After three veterans flew to his Mississippi home to convince him to come back one more year, he felt that his injured ankle was well enough to give it “one more go.”
The Vikings simply could not go into this season with Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels as their quarterbacks or else they would go from a Super Bowl contender to a playoff team. At the same time, people should not expect Favre to duplicate his magical season from a year ago. However, Favre still gives them a much better chance of winning than the other two.
There are a lot of question marks though about his receivers after Sidney Rice went on the PUP list due to a hip injury and Percy Harvin has had multiple debilitating migraine attacks in camp that will force him to be questionable for every single game. Bernard Berrian, Greg Lewis and Greg Camarillo represent the rest of the receivers on this team. They tried out Javon Walker in camp and found out quickly that he had nothing left to offer NFL clubs.
The running game is set with Adrian Peterson, but there are two questions that have to be answered this season. First, has Peterson figured out his problem with fumbling the football? He did that way too often last year and will need to cut that out if he wants to continue to be looked upon as an elite running back. Second, how many carries will Peterson get with Favre back? With Favre, the offence revolves around passing.
Defensively, the front seven may be the strongest in football with Jared Allen leading the way at the defensive end position and the Williams’ boys plugging the middle to stuff any running attack. The linebackers are solid and the secondary is improved after the acquisition of Lito Sheppard from the New York Jets to join Antoine Winfield at the corner spot.
Two players to look out for in camp are Bernard Berrian and E.J. Henderson. Berrian will be asked to be the second receiver for the first half of the year after the injury to Sidney Rice. Does he still have enough skill at this point in his career to handle the position? Henderson has recovered so quickly from a broken femur suffered last December. After such a major injury, can Henderson get back to the level that allowed him to control the middle of the field?
2010 Prediction: 12-4