Congratulations to the Saints and Colts, Goodbye Favre

Well let the “will he” or “won’t he” discussion begin. In the aftermath of the Saints overtime victory over the Vikings, the annual off-season debate of whether Brett Favre will retire or return for another season is again upon us.

Strangely similar to the overtime ending of the 2007 NFC Championship game between the Packers and the G-men, Brett Favre threw a horrific interception which changed the game, for both the Giants and the Saints. To be fair, the Vikes don’t sniff the NFC Championship game without Favre, and while you can make argument that Brad Childress sold his soul to the devil to bring in Favre (while potentially alienating the locker room in the process), you can’t tell me that he wouldn’t do it again after out-playing the Saints at the Superdome. But, the image I can not shake after yesterday’s NFC Championship game is how beat up and tired Brett Favre looked at game’s end. I do not think Brett Favre returns to the Vikings or football next season, just throwing it out there.

As for the Colts, nice to see Rex Ryan as subdued, humbled, and quiet, following the Colts victory at home over the upstart Jets. The Colts were the better team, winning behind Peyton Manning’s finest playoff performance of his Hall of Fame career (377 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no picks). Rex and the green-bombers deserve a heap of praise for advancing to the AFC title game this year. And, thanks to Mike Tannenbaum, the building blocks are in place (Sanchez/Greene/Keller/Mangold/Ferguson) for the future, the head-coach is confident and has energized the fan base, and the new Meadowlands stadium opens next year. If not for the potential work stoppage after the 2010 season, Jets fans have a very rosy outlook.

It is worth mentioning that the Vikes other off-season concern should be addressing Adrian Peterson’s continuing and worsening fumble issues. This is a problem that is not going away. Lead running backs do not keep their jobs after losing a league high 7 fumbles in 2009 (ask Steve Slaton of the Texans on that one). Anyway, the point is that the Vikings can not be pleased with Peterson’s continued carelessness with the football. Thoughts of Tom Coughlin entered my head after watching the Vikings treat the football like a Thanksgiving turkey, sharing it with everyone.