Favre: Mangini Should Have Benched Me

by Gonzo on Sep 10, 2009 6:06 PM CDT in Vikings 2009 Season Comment 30 comments

"Absolutely. I was receptive to (sitting) last year," Favre said. "When we finally did an MRI and found out I had a torn biceps last year, I felt like, with about four or five games left, that even though I was making some pretty good throws and some decent plays, I felt like I was doing the team more harm because I was missing on some throws."

Now, there are two different ways to potentially view this. There's the cynical view that says "Sure Favre can say that now. . .he still currently has the streak, his play went down the toilet at the end of last year, the Jets collapsed," and so forth.

And then there's the view that says, "Damn. . .that Eric Mangini is an idiot."

Seriously, like Anthony said in a previous story, Mangini is. . .at best. . .doing an impersonation of Brad Childress doing an impersonation of Bill Belichick. Keep in mind, Favre wasn't even listed on the Jets' injury report during the last five weeks of 2008, which was when he was nursing his bicep injury. Mangini, in his efforts to be all "secret squirrel" about his team's gameplan and trying to play "mind games" with opponents, was not only in direct violation of the NFL's injury reporting policy, but also proved to be pretty clueless all the way around.

Of course, if one were to look down the bench and see that your other two options at quarterback are Kellen "Holy crap, I'm awful" Clemens and Erik "Good lord, I'm so bad I can't even beat out Kellen Clemens" Ainge, you'd probably be pretty reluctant to bench Brett Favre, too, I suppose.

Now, with that in mind. . .I know he's Brett Favre and everything, but if a point in time comes during the season where #4 is hurt and simply can't go and is hurting the team as a result, Brad Childress absolutely, positively MUST have the testicular fortitude to tell Favre that he needs to take a seat in favor of either Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels. I don't want this team to start 8-3 and finish 9-7 and out of the playoff picture in the NFC. They're too talented for that.

Will Chilly have the guts to bench the guy he's chased after for two years? Here's hoping that we don't have to find out at any time during 2009.

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I’m going to go out on a limb and trust Favre that he can play the whole season and (maybe/probably) the playoffs.

"He didn’t call me or anything. It was an accident, but a lot of people would have called to see how someone is doing after they got hit in the head. Especially if they had to go on the DL." — Morneau on pitcher Ron Villone after an April 2005 beaning.

by Gonzo2 on Sep 10, 2009 7:18 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

As long as he doesn’t take stupid hits (like standing in the pocket too damn long) he should have plenty of arm to last the season and deep (?) into the playoffs. Handing the ball to AP 30 times a game should cut down on the wear-and-tear Favre endures.

by HiWayRobry on Sep 10, 2009 7:30 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

30 Really?

What About Chester’s Carries?

As The Play Snaps, One Dream, One Team, One Head Coach will be on top! Will It Be The Vikings?

by UnBannedVikingholic on Sep 10, 2009 7:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Haha!

by chaosg on Sep 10, 2009 7:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

30 times?

Are you serious? I’m all for giving Peterson the rock, but 30 times a game is a bit much. That would be 480 carries by the seasons end. He’d be broken down for the playoffs. Our offense needs to find a nice balance so Favre doesn’t have to throw 30 times and Peterson doesn’t have to carry 30 times.

The Minnesota Vikings - Undefeated in the Playoffs at Lambeau Field!

by BaldViking on Sep 10, 2009 9:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Carries

Peterson – 20-25
Taylor – 6-15
Harvin – 2-5

That should take a lot of pressure off of Favre.

by Cobra312004 on Sep 11, 2009 3:49 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whoever is carrying it,

mostly AP of course, the game plan needs to aim at 8 to 10 more rushes than passes per game. That’s enough passing to keep the defenses honest; very few teams successfully move the ball with an offense any more run oriented than that, and we should not need to pass any more than that.

If we’re way ahead in the 4th then the run ratio will go up, and vice versa if we’re behind. But that should still be the game plan going into every game.

by Migrant lurker on Sep 11, 2009 8:04 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Sounds just about right to me. And the respective yardages will be roughly 160, 50, and 40 :)

by ericj69 on Sep 11, 2009 9:47 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would be MUCH more worried about the wear and tear on AP than the wear and tear on Favre.

by Bjorno on Sep 11, 2009 9:50 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Gonzo – your nickname for Ainge actually made me LOL.

Well done, sir!

by JasonAve6413 on Sep 10, 2009 8:39 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

12 games

Favre only needs 12 games to break the record. So if we are 9-3 or 8-4 and Favre looks like he is struggling, I’m confident Chilli will pull him. 7-5 it is questionable. 6-6 and Favre should have been pulled a long time ago.

by Tuba on Sep 10, 2009 9:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think the headline is a little misleading -

He didn’t say Mangini should have benched him, he said he was willing and brought it up. If you read Tannenbaum’s (Jets GM) comments today, he said they all talked about it and in the end decided they were better off with Favre with a torn biceps than they were with one of their backups – and Favre was in on that decision.

I really think the only reason he brought this up was to reassure Vikings fans (and press) that if he’s hurt or not playing well, that he is not going to fight getting benched if it’s in the team’s best interests.

It is interesting to find out, though, that they didn’t just know he had a ‘sore arm’ which is what we heard for the first time at the end of last season, but that they knew he had a torn biceps tendon and still decided to let him play. And they didn’t put him on the injured list (and may be facing a fine now for not doing so).

The fallout from that was that Favre ended up taking all the blame for their falloff at the end of the season, when the GM and all the coaches knew all along exactly what he was going through.

by Migrant lurker on Sep 10, 2009 10:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

It's not clear exactly what happened

But one thing that is clear to me, whatever it was, Brett should not be talking about it. He is dissing the Jets, who (other than this thing, if it is true), were pretty good to him. Possibly getting them penalized. Why is he doing this? Your theory to “reassure Vikings fans he will sit if he’s not able to get it done” makes a little bit of sense, but … it is a big price to make the Jets GM pay for the little gain he’d get here in MN. No, it doesn’t add up.

by puddnhead on Sep 10, 2009 11:58 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

No, the Jets didn’t seem so good to him. Sure, they released him, but only after drafting Sanchez. If they hadn’t, Favre would likely still be on the team. Not to mention the fact that they all tossed him under the bus for the failed season. He took a pretty big beating from the New York media and if I remember correctly, no one from management stood up for the guy amid Thomas Jones’ hypocritical rant.

by Frost on Sep 11, 2009 6:53 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Jets, from what I've seen,

are facing a 10 thousand dollar fine or maybe a little more. That’s chump change to an organization. Even if it’s five times that it’s not a huge deal. And quite frankly they deserve it as Tannenbaum has pretty much acknowledged. It wasn’t just a ‘sore arm’; they had done an MRI and knew exactly what the problem was, which has never really come out until now.

As it was, they never mentioned to anybody that Brett had any problems whatsoever. The NFL is pretty strict about that stuff. Beyond violating the rules, the whole perception of those last five games would have changed completely if it was known that Favre was injured. And in the end they lost four of those five games and were lucky to win the one they did. It didn’t help the Jets one bit.

He mentioned the problem at the end of the season, and the New York (and other) press largely dismissed it as making excuses. If he was concerned solely with his reputation he would have told the whole story a long time ago.

by Migrant lurker on Sep 11, 2009 8:11 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Right. So, in a roundabout way, you are agreeing with me. If Brett was gonna mention it, to spare his reputation, he should have mentioned it last December/January. When it woudl have done his rep some good. It doesn’t do his rep much good talking about it now (in fact it may do overall harm). So … why even bring it up now? Seems unnecessary and dumb.

by puddnhead on Sep 11, 2009 1:14 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, get used to it.

Favre does like to talk. Sometimes he’s funny, but more often than not he says something that he thinks is innocuous and ends up in the headlines of sports pages the next day.

This won’t be the last time.

by Migrant lurker on Sep 11, 2009 1:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I Agree

The guy throws people under the bus as quick as T.O. so the be prepared people.

by bleedingpurplesince74 on Sep 12, 2009 12:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Uh, what?

I mean seriously, name me the teammate he ever threw under the bus. And give some actual facts please.

by Migrant lurker on Sep 12, 2009 8:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

jets should have never lied in the first place

and brett was just being brett ‘honest sometimes he doesn’t know what the consequences might be it’s not his fault they lied and then covered it up.

by clinton p on Sep 11, 2009 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Carries...ideally

Peterson: 22 at 5 ypr= 110 per game
Taylor: 10 at 5.2 ypr= 52 per game
Harvin: 5 at 6 ypr= 30 per game
Young: 5 at 4.5 ypr=24 per game

Team carries 42. Team yards 216. Team yards per rush 5.1. That’s the formula for a super bowl victory.

by NMVike on Sep 11, 2009 9:54 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Except that would mean Peterson gets the same yards he had last season, and being the greedy fan that I am, I want to see him do even better.

by Kabuki on Sep 11, 2009 10:13 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Tony Dungy

was quoted as saying he thinks AD will go for 2200 this year. Heard it on the Dan Patrick show so don’t harrass me for links and such.

by Jepp The Viking on Sep 11, 2009 10:17 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I'll vouch for you

Also heard it on the way into work today.

by ericj69 on Sep 11, 2009 12:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Links or

it didn’t happen. :D

by KC612 on Sep 11, 2009 10:29 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

HAha

God I hate when people put that line down when not in jest.

by Jepp The Viking on Sep 11, 2009 11:41 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I heard someone say

that Peterson could be the first to break the 3,000 yard mark.

Link? What link? ; )

"Skol pa fiskande"

by NobleSavage on Sep 12, 2009 4:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

That would be the 2,000 yard mark.

by chaosg on Sep 12, 2009 5:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Umm

It was a joke ; )

"Skol pa fiskande"

by NobleSavage on Sep 13, 2009 12:32 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Williams Wall

Fresh off the wires, Federal Appeals Court says the NFL CAN’T suspend the Williamses for violating the NFL’s anti doping policy. The article says that clears the way for the Williams Wall to play the entire season.

by GonzoDad on Sep 11, 2009 11:09 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs