Ugly Win for the Saints but Uglier Game for Favre

Many expected the Saints and Vikings to light up the scoreboard, instead we were given sloppy football by both teams. Brett Favre was all out of sorts against the Saints. HE was inaccurate and missed open receivers. It didn’t help that his number one target WR Sidney Rice will be out for six weeks following knee surgery. Favre completed 15 of his 27 passes for a mere 171 yards; he threw one touchdown but was also intercepted once. He played like his age, 40-years old, after a strong first half in which he completed 11 of 15 attempts.

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Don’t worry though; Favre will get his legs back in a couple of weeks. It wouldn’t be surprising if Favre’s usual rhythm is back in Week 2. He just underwent ankle surgery so let’s give him the benefit of a doubt.

Maybe we’re putting too much into Favre’s performance. It’s just one bad game after all and the Vikings were within striking distance of the defending champs until RB Pierre Thomas scored on a 1-yard run in the second half. Favre wasn’t roughed up as much like in last year’s NFC title game.

“It is different without Sidney,” Favre admitted. “But Sidney had a handful of catches last year, none down the field. … Their style of defense last year was the same tonight. They’re not going to give up an outside big play”.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, Adrian Peterson also had a bad day. He gained a measly 87 yards on 19 carries and failed to score a touchdown.

It’s not like his counterpart, Drew Brees, played every bit the part of reigning Super Bowl MVP. Brees played good enough to beat the Vikings. He started strong by connecting with Devery Henderson for a 29-yard score. He finished the game completing 27 of his 36 attempts with one touchdown.

“We’re not used to 14-9 victories, but we’re used to winning,” said Brees. “So we like the W.”

The Saints would’ve won by 11 points if kicker Garrett Hartley didn’t shank two field goals.

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At least we know that both teams are capable of playing great defense against explosive offenses. New Orleans employed a 3-4 defense that Minnesota didn’t expect.

“To hold a team like that with a damn good quarterback and probably the best running back in the league and a really good offensive line, we did some special things,” said Saints defensive end Alex Brown.

There’s one thing the Vikings can take out of this loss. They held one of the defending champs to only 14 points compared to the 31 points they gave up last year in the NFC title game.