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Green Bay, where it looked like it did when Favre played for them, only different. Mike Vandermause in the Green Bay Gazette with this:

Favre showed exactly why Packers General Manager Ted Thompson refused to trade him to the Vikings last season. The 40-year-old gunslinger still possesses magic in his arm and is helping the Vikings run away with the NFC North Division title. To Thompson’s great dismay, Favre found his way to Minnesota anyway, and the Packers general manager’s worst fears have been realized. Favre came into the Packers’ sacred house, the place he once called home, and carved up his former team with impressive efficiency (128.6 passer rating) and eluded the defense’s furious attempts to generate pressure. “He did a good job of recognizing where the pressure was coming from before it even came,” lamented Packers cornerback Al Harris. “But we’ve got to come up with it. It doesn’t matter if he recognizes it or not, somebody has to beat somebody one on one. Somebody has to do something to make whatever it is work.”

Harris’ frustration was evident, and for good reason. Unless someone starts making plays, the Packers will continue to struggle. This is a team talented enough to subdue the stumblebums on their schedule (Lions and Rams and Browns, oh my!), but not capable of keeping pace with an elite opponent like Minnesota. “That’s what we are,” said Charles Woodson. “Right now we can’t win the big game.” The blame for that must ultimately be laid at the feet of Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy. The longer this team hovers near the .500 mark after a subpar 6-10 record last year, the more it looks like the Packers’ 13-3 mark in 2007 was an aberration. That remains the only season the Packers finished above .500 under Thompson and McCarthy. Both bear responsibility for ending Favre’s relationship with the Packers, a move that will be debated endlessly but ultimately was based on sound football principles.

It was, but as much as I have been annoyed with the Favre will-he-or-won’t-he retirement stuff, I can’t forget that it is ultimately Ted Thompson’s fault that it came to that. And this. It’s one thing to decide you want to roll with Aaron Rodgers (a decision that clearly made sense for the long term). It is another to decide to roll with Aaron Rodgers AND also try and force Favre into a retirement he clearly didn’t want or to be a back-up, something that he clearly is better than. What should have happened that would have spared everyone several years of Favre related retirment shenanigans? Thompson decides to go with Rodgers, and grants Favre his release to continue his career elsewhere. But since Thompson was too big a puss to do that, we have had the machinations of the last 18 months.

At any rate, Favre can clearly still play and wants to play, it is not Aaro Rodgers’ fault that Green Bay is coming up short in big games, and Ted Thompson is a douche. My scorecard is clear.

In Minneapolis, they are so bored with the Brett Favre story this morning that Sid Hartman devotes his column space to the homerun draft picks that were Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin. In Harvin’s case, the worries of off-field troubles that caused him to slip in the draft to a grateful Minnesota seem quite distant.

Revenge. Dished cold and all that. The talking heads are on that and other things this morning. To the chatter:

—Don Banks, leading it off as usual, with Snap Judgements and this on the Cowboys’ day:

Believe it or not, the Cowboys’ 38-17 home-field destruction of Seattle on Sunday sets up next week’s NFC East first-place showdown at Philadelphia, with 5-2 Dallas testing its new-found mojo against the 5-2 Eagles. To the winner goes the undisputed grasp of the division’s top spot at the season’s mid-point, no matter what the floundering Giants (5-3) do next week at home against San Diego. Honestly now, a month or so ago, with the Cowboys 2-2 and in a bit of disarray coming off that humbling loss at Denver, did any of us see a first-place battle in the Cowboys’ not-too-distant future? Yes, I see that hand, and you can put it down now, Mr. Jones.

To be sure, the Cowboys didn’t play their best game in trouncing the fading Seahawks (2-5). They left some points on the field, and gave up a good chunk of yardage defensively (Seattle had 308 total yards). But you can also see a team that’s starting to believe in itself, and the Tony Romo-led passing game is finally humming at early 2007 (or better) levels. Dallas scored five touchdowns, and four came from the previously maligned receiving corps: Sam Hurd, Roy Williams, Miles Austin and Patrick Crayton. True, Crayton’s score came on an 82-yard punt return, sealing the deal in the third quarter, but the important point is that the Cowboys’ playmakers are taking turns making plays. And that’s when an offense starts to take off. Romo finished 21 of 36 for 256 yards, and three scores, but the best part of his day was completing passes to 10 receivers, with none having more than Austin’s team-leading five receptions for 61 yards. Gone are those bad old days of the T.O. era, when Romo looked tortured if he didn’t get the ball to No. 81 early and often. Romo is now content to find the open man, no matter who it is, and keep moving the chains. He has gone three consecutive games without an interception, the first such streak of his career.

Yes, that’s a nice run. But let’s be somewhat real here, it’s not December yet, and Romo is in the middle of his November comfort zone. The questions with Romo and Dallas will not be answered this month. Still, wins are wins, and the flaws with New York visible for all to see, no reason why Dallas cannot figure it has as good a shot for the NFC East as the Giants or Eagles.

—Clark Judge at sportsline.com with Judgements and this note amongst others:

Don’t tell me Eli Manning’s sore foot isn’t affecting his passing. He looks like a different quarterback, and while he insists the plantar fasciitis isn’t interfering with his play (“It feels great”) he seems to have trouble stepping into his throws. Manning doesn’t agree, and that’s OK. I wouldn’t expect him to. But his coach at least admits it’s possible. “I’ve seen that a couple of times on the practice field,” Tom Coughlin said. All I know is the guy who was bulletproof the first five weeks has gone in the jar the last three — completing 49.6 percent of his passes, with six interceptions and no passer rating above 61.0. In his first five starts, he hit on 64.4 percent of his passes, with two interceptions and four passer ratings of 104.1 or better — including one perfect score of 158.3. Something is wrong, and Eli needs to get it fixed.

Ah yes. The foot. Had forgotten about that. Week one of the foot injury was the beatdown of the Raiders. The following weeks of the foot injury were against NFL varsity teams. And that’s when the issues have been. So, foot? Or playing varsity defenses? And IF it is the foot, well, what up, Tom Coughlin? Didn’t the Giants used to have a running game? What of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw? If you quarterback is playing dinged, can’t you protect him and control the game by running? Issues all over the place for the Giants. They owe a debt of thanks to the Yankees this morning for distracting the local populace a little with some goodness…

—John Clayton at espn.com with Last Call and this note:

Ravens solve Broncos: The Ravens were the first team to unravel the mystery of the Denver Broncos, who had their six-game winning streak snapped in a 30-7 blowout in Baltimore. In many ways, the Ravens’ defense had a perfect game plan. Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton doesn’t throw the ball long. Entering the game, he had only 16 passes that went longer than 21 yards in six games. The Ravens kept one safety deep in coverage and designed their pass defense to keep Denver’s receivers in front of it. “We blitzed a lot more with a safety playing high,” Ravens cornerback Domonique Foxworth said. “It puts pressure on the secondary but it also put pressure on the quarterback. The way to beat that is screen and hitches, but we did a good job of coming to the ball.” Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis said the key was keeping receivers Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal in front of the defensive backs and rushing three and four defenders to stop them. It worked. Orton passed for only 152 yards; according to ESPN Stats & Information, Orton completed only 4 of 10 passes for 17 yards when the Ravens brought extra pressure. On offense, the Ravens negated the ability of Denver’s defense to make second-half adjustments by coming out in a no-huddle and working at a tempo that wore down defenders. Joe Flacco completed his last 14 passes for 159 yards.

Yeah, nice gameplan from Baltimore, although I think this one boils down to something simpler. Baltimore needed this one desperately to avoid falling to 3-4 and kissing the division goodbye, while Denver at 6-0 and three plus games clear for San Diego, didn’t need it so much. Desperate good teams will be beat non-desperate good teams more often than not. As for Baltimore’s defense being “back” as I am sure I will here a lot of this week in locally here in Baltimore, we’ll see. In their next four weeks they have a return engagement with Carson Palmer, as well as games against Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers on the slate. Those quarterbacks will get the ball downfield more than Cutler did yesterday.

—Bucky Brooks at nfl.com with capsule looks of the week and this note:

The Panthers’ success on the ground against the Cardinals, who entered as the league’s top-ranked rush defense, was a surprise when considering how Jake Delhomme had struggled. With that in mind, the Panthers faced steady diet of eight-man fronts designed to stop DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart early on. However, the tactic failed miserably as Carolina rushed for 270 yards on 44 attempts and dominated the game. The key to the success was the use of a slot formation against Arizona’s eight-man front. By placing both receivers on the same side of the formation, the Panthers were able to draw a defender outside of the box on the two-receiver side due to the threat of a pass to Steve Smith. With fewer defenders able to commit to stopping the run, Stewart and Williams found soft spots when running to the tight end side.

What the hell, Arizona? Just as I was buying into the “new” Cardinals, you unleash that? It’s one thing to lose to Carolina, it’s another to do it while letting the Panthers run all over your previously number one against the defense run defense. I will chalk this up to “overlooked them” after the big win against the Giants, but, yuck. You can thank the football deity you hang out in the execrable NFC West for allowing you to get away with crap performances like that.

As for my thoughts, trademarked ntyc, here they be:

—I feel bad for Packers fans this morning. This whole thing came about because of their front office’s stubborness, really. But it had to be a craptacular feeling watching Favre return and throw four touchdowns for the Vikings. If Favre stays healthy (a big if), still no reason to see Minnesota as anything other than a Super Bowl contender in the NFC.

—Browns fans owe Buffalo a note of gratitude. I am still not certain how Buffalo lost that game to them a few weeks back, but it may be what keeps Cleveland from 0-16. And that’s including me acknowledging the games Cleveland has left with Kansas City, Detroit, and Oakland. Of all the lost franchises in the NFL right now, Cleveland may be the most puzzling. They have had a boatload of high draft picks over the years, and have hit on so very few of them. Organizational failure from the top down. And, while we’re here, the insistence on continuing to start Derek Anderson? Now it’s weird. It made sense to give him a look a few weeks back, but he’s been historically awful since. Unless he’s playing the Bengals (who he for some reason just loves lining up against), he should be in the locker room. They need to go back to Brady Quinn, if only to make certain they should be drafting a qb next April early.

—Big “quiet” win for Houston yesterday in Buffalo, in exactly the kind of game they usually lose. On the road, against a team they should beat in November, has in previous years been a recipe for failure. Perhaps Gary Kubiak is finally pushing the right buttons for that team. His benching of Steve Slaton after a Slaton fumble was bold, and Ryan Moats ran like his hair was on fire when given a chance in Slaton’s stead. At 5-3, they are going to be Wild Card relevant late into the season. 10 wins remains a possibility for them, and they own an important head to head tie-breaker over Cincinnati.

—So the Titans re-discover Chris Johnson and get a win? I have always thought Jeff Fisher an outstanding coach, but his misplacing Johnson after week two this year was as big a reason the Titans were 0-6 before yesterday’s win as anything else. If he will keep feeding Johnson, Tennessee will win several more games this year, even with Vince Young being the one handing the ball off.

—The Lions, still the cure for what ails teams, non-Washington division. The Rams, playing to avoid 0-16, frankly, did what they had to do, which was ride Steven Jackson to a win. At the least, now St. Louis can play without worrying about the history books. As for Detroit, they would probably like to get everyone healthy and o the field at some point this year. Finally got Matt Stafford back, and still can’t put Calvin Johnson with him.

—The Chargers are still only Wild Card relevant at this point, and I am having a hard time buying them for that, when they continue to struggle with teams like the Raiders. Eight point wins at home over Oakland are puzzling for a team with San Diego’s talent.

—As for tonight’s game, Atlanta needs this one fairly badly, as a loss would give them three and put them into the Wild Card scrum with Chicao, Green Bay, and most of the NFC East. They may be desperate, but New Orleans is simply better. Saints 31 Falcons 24.

As in, he turns on a dime. At least, his opinions do. At least, his opinions do when it comes to his former-BFF, Brett Favre.

A reminder:

Peter King on the day after Favre came back (without telling King first):

Vikings make mistake with Favre

Peter King this morning after Favre goes 13 for 18 last night for 142 yards and a TD:

Two Wildcat direct snaps to rookie phenom Percy Harvin … 11 rushes for 117 yards by Peterson … 2.7 yards per opponents’ rush, thanks to Kevin and Pat Williams stuffing anything that ran … and Favre ’s 13-of-18 passing in seven Viking series. That’s what Favre needs to be: a good, complementary player who doesn’t turn it over and who moves the chains, and who, occasionally, make one of the old Favre-type plays.

Now, America, can you see why Brett Favre wanted to play for this Minnesota team so much?

Well, yes. But most of America knew why this was going down, and didn’t lose our collective pantaloons when it came to pass that Minnesota was “making a mistake” with Favre.

So, on behalf of America, stick your weird explanatory “I told you so” somewhere dark, Peter King. Or remember that there is an archive feature for your stories on si.com.

The NFL’s foremost such queen says he has a cracked rib.

Brett Favre is expected to heroically soldier on tonight anyway.

I hope he wears a purple dress.

Yesterday I noted in the obligatory Brett Favre post that espnews’ two doofus’ on Wednesday night were acting like the word “schism” was something so exotic that people would not know what it was. Going so far as to put up the Webster’s definition on the screen.

This morning, Eric Kasilias (an attorney for fuckssake) and Mike Golic (Notre Dame graduate) were both yukking it up over that word, claiming that each did not know what it meant, and that there was no way that any football player in any NFL clubhouse would use it.

I refuse to believe that the word “schism” is that unusual. I refuse to believe that Eric Kasilias did not know what it meant and had never heard it. As much as the Golic-is-stupid thing is played as part of his persona, he’s not, and I refuse to believe he doesn’t know what the word means. I am starting to wonder if there is some orchestration at ESPN to downplay the less happy parts of Brett Favre’s pussified comeback.

Again, as I asked yesterday, is it really that hard to believe that there might be some Vikings who are less than thrilled with Brett Favre wussing out of the summer program and training camp only to swoop in for the hoped for good times on Sundays in the fall? So whoever that was used the word “schism”, why is that word choice such a big fucking deal? That certain ESPN folk are choosing to hone in on that word and giggle like tools over “smart words” seems like a weird tact to take, a denial mechanism with regard to the potential unhappiness. And Kasilias and Golic, at the least, ought to be better than that. Their audience (on Mike & Mike) isn’t full of illiterates. Stop acting like it is.

As for the Vikings, some of them are taking the same approach to the report, professing ignorance as what “schism” means. At least in their case, I get it. It’s a way of defusing the media questions over it while they try and assimilate the pussy onto their team. Favre (Southern Miss) with this:

“I’ve got no reaction,” Favre said when asked about an ESPN report Wednesday that cited anonymous sources as saying some Vikings supported Tarvaris Jackson and others felt Sage Rosenfels should start. “I’m just doing what I can do, hopefully help this team win, and just trying to fit in. I’m not worried about that. That’s for you guys to have some fun with. Once again, I have no idea what that means. I’m assuming it’s controversial.”

Told the word schism refers to a division — one definition is “a separation or division into factions” — Favre shot back, “Well, good.” He wasn’t smiling.

Jared Allen (Idaho State) took it a step further, claiming he thought “schism” was an STD.

Sigh.

I will assume the professed ignorance in those cases was the aforementioned deflection of the issue.

As for Kasilias and Golic’s yukking it up over a pretty fuckin’ common word, they have no excuse.

So, he’s in Minny, and all are not happy, if Mike Florio at pft and Adam Schefter (now of espn) are to be believed. Schefter going so far as to quote one “informed source” as saying their is a “schism” in the locker-room. That last part lead to the rather high comedy of espnews last night providing a Webster’s definition of “schism”. Apparently the average espnews watcher is stupid.

At any rate, the inevitable pushback from Vikings world is underway today. Per Sporting News:

The reality is far different, based on conversations with players on the record and off the record. There’s nothing to suggest there’s any split. Coach Brad Childress and RB Adrian Peterson said they didn’t sense any widespread undercurrent of emotion in favor of Jackson. Jackson has friends on the team who want to see him succeed and have a productive career. That’s to be expected because Jackson is entering his fourth year and has relationships with teammates. But there’s a difference between friendships and business. The players are on board with Favre, whose leadership and knowledge of the West Coast offense give the team its best chance to win.

Oh.

Nothing to see here then.

Because it is soooo inconceivable that there might be resentment from Vikings players who just put in a full off-season of work followed by the training camp grind toward Brett Favre being a giant pussy who doesn’t want to work that hard at this point in his life but just wants to float in for the glory of games on Sundays?

Right.

1 for 4 for 4 yards. He was hit more often than he completed a pass. Oh, and the one pass Favre did complete was into double coverage and rather ill-advised.

So, there is work to do.

It’s almost as if Brett Favre has not practiced with the team…weird that.

Jim Souhan in the Minny Star-Tribune dutifully tries to put words to the scene. He finds Favre in purple odd. But that he had a “presence”, so he’s got that going for him.

Now, if he only still has “skills”. We shall see.

Per WCCO (Mark Rosen) in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Favre will sign with Vikings today.

Three quick thoughts if this finally comes to pass:

1. Favre’s a pussy for doing all of this to skip training camp;

2. The Vikings are a legit Super Bowl threat in the NFC; and

3. Jay Glazer of foxsports.com and CBS rules all he surveys. Seriously, Chris Mortenson and John Clayton et al are his collective bitches.

As we continue to cycle through getting a quote from evey human being with regard to the perpetual Brett Favre 2009 cock-tease, Jared Allen, potential future teammate is up. Quoth the Allen on Favre:

“If we get Brett, then that’s a bonus,” the All-Pro defensive end said in a phone interview. “But let’s either get it done and get moving on with it or let it go. It’s not so much that it’s a distraction because we’re professionals and don’t really buy into that. But it’s annoying.”

True dat.

Good lord, not you too. In the midst of an otherwise really good read in the Jackson Clarion Ledger about Andrews’ crusade to try and reduce injuries to teenage athletes (stop with the curve balls already), he lets loose with this:

“I’m not supposed to say anything but Brett kind of let that cat out of the bag on that HBO show,” Andrews said. “I did his shoulder (arthroscopic) a few weeks ago. I visited him in Hattiesburg two weeks ago. He wants to play and he wants to play for the Minnesota Vikings. He wants to end his career on a high note and I hope he can. He’s a tough guy, a great guy. I’m pulling for him. He wants to play. He just wants to make sure his shoulder and arm are healthy enough.”

Man, doc. Just because Favre’s talking doesn’t mean you should too. Shuddy.