Tonight, It's All About the Quarterbacks

There are two, and only two, players that will receive the spotlight tonight: Brett Favre and Tarvaris Jackson.  Everyone else will be overshadowed by the quarterback position when the Vikings take the field.

What's there to watch for in Favre's performance?  The better question might be what isn't worth watching for.  We'll want to get a feel for his arm strength.  We'll want to see how in-sync he is with his receivers -- after just a few days of practice.  We'll want to see if he starts figuring out who his favorite target(s) might be.

For T-Jack, this is his big audition.  The overwhelming opinion around the league seems to be that he's the odd-man out in Minnesota, and the team will thus explore its options for letting him go.  If the Vikings want to see T-Jack's trade value get bumped up at the last minute, tonight is his opportunity.  An impressive performance could give the team enough momentum to find him a new home via the trade market. 

Tonight, T-Jack needs to hit a higher percentage of his passes than he did in Indianapolis, and he needs to keep the overthrows to a minimum.  Those were his two big stumbling blocks last week: His poor completion percentage and the amount of throws that the intended receiver simply didn't have an opportunity to grab, much less get a hand on.  When he did hit his target, he averaged barely five yards per completion.  That needs to improve as well.

Sure, there are other things to pay attention to.  Percy Harvin will make his Vikings debut tonight, and he's expected to get work on special teams as well as in a variety of offensive roles.  We'll be paying close attention to how he is utilized, as this coaching staff's plans for him remain a virtual mystery.

But otherwise, it's all about the quarterbacks tonight.  Favre will only be on the field for a handful of plays -- what can he show us in that limited amount of time?  What can T-Jack show other teams around the league?  Those are the two burning questions heading into this game -- and we're about to get some answers.