Does Super Bowl season put Brees in Hall of Fame talks?

by | Jan 25, 2010 | Hall of Fame

I just returned home from an NFC Championship game party where I watched my Minnesota Vikings blow yet another opportunity to go to the Super Bowl. While the purple did a pretty decent job of bottling up Drew Brees tonight, he’s coming off back-to-back fantastic regular seasons. And he was The Man last week against Arizona.

During the game one of my friends raised the question of whether or not Brees has put himself into Hall of Fame discussion. While he was mostly just solid in San Diego for four seasons, he’s been fantastic in New Orleans the last four.

He eclipsed 5,000 yards  passing last season and has 34 touchdowns in back-to-back campaigns. He’s been to four Pro Bowls and he’s been a first team All-Pro. And after tonight he’s earned a trip to the Super Bowl.

Brees’ can’t match Kurt Warner, Peyton Manning, Brett Favre or Tom Brady yet in terms of rings. But I was surprised to see that he’s right on Brady’s tail in terms of passing yards and just a couple thousand behind Warner in the same category. And he is right in the mix with them in touchdowns as well. He’s got a long way to go to catch Manning or Favre, both in those categories and in Pro Bowls and All Pro teams. But he would seem to be inching toward the discussion.

What do you all think? Is he on his way to Canton, Ohio? Or, if not, what does he have to do to get there? And will your opinion change if he leads the Saints to a win in two weeks in Miami?

Championship game loss worse for Vikes than Jets

by | Jan 25, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

Just got home from a friend’s house where I watched the Minnesota Vikings once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the NFC Championship game. While it’s not quite as hard to live with as the 1998 debacle against Atlanta this one will stick in the craw of fans and players for weeks and months to come.

If you look back to the picks posted on this site last night the last line said something about how these two teams are evenly matched and how the game will likely come down to breaks and turnovers. The Vikings had a great season. And they did almost everything they had to do to beat the Saints tonight. Everything, that is, except hang onto the football.

They controlled the time of possession. They defended the pass admirably, holding Drew Brees to fewer than 200 yards passing. They had many more first downs. But they committed five turnovers, two of which came inside the Saints’ 20 yard line. Get three points out of either of those drives and this is a different contest.

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Zoneblitz Divisional Round Playoff Predictions

by | Jan 16, 2010 | NFL Gambling, NFL Picks, NFL Random Thoughts

Some people call NFL Divisional Playoff Weekend the best of the football season. This season I think they are absolutely right on.

I love this weekend’s games. I’ve been studying them as time allowed all week and I’ve spent the last hour scouring the Internet and two newspapers looking for information. And I can’t get a good grasp on any of the four matchups.

I’m coming off of a pretty good week though. I hit three of four both straight up and against the spread last week. Hopefully that trend continues. Here are my thoughts:
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Pearson, Foreman spar on Minneapolis radio

by | Jan 15, 2010 | NFL Random Thoughts

As the hype surrounding the playoff game between Dallas and Minnesota heats up much of the talk has centered on 1975.

That’s the year the 10-4 Cowboys came to Metropolitan Stadium to face the 12-2 Vikings in the NFC Divisional playoffs. The Cowboys won the game when Drew Pearson caught Roger Staubach’s “Hail Mary” pass with less than a minute remaining.

The controversy stems from whether or not Pearson pushed off on Minnesota defensive back Nate Wright. As a born and bred Minnesotan I was brought up to believe Pearson did interfere, though in truth I was only about 10 months old at the time.

I have little emotional attachment to the event outside of it involving the team I grew up cheering for and a team I grew up … not cheering for. But that’s not the case for many fans who were a few years older than I was at the time.

The controversy remains entertaining even nearly 35 years later and the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Jim Souhan wrote an interesting account of Pearson’s point of view on the play. Even more entertaining was an interview Pearson did with KFAN-AM’s Dan Barreiro Thursday afternoon. Pearson maintains there was incidental contact but no blatant push.

Former Viking running back Chuck Foreman, who called into the radio station while Barreiro was talking with Pearson, of course believes there was interference on the play.

The resulting conversation was one of the most entertaining interviews I have heard on the radio in quite awhile. Kudos to Barreiro, who knew enough to allow himself to be little more than a side player in the discussion, as Foreman and Pearson tweak each other and banter through a 20-minute or so segment.

And kudos to both players, both of whom obviously still feel very strongly about their team’s points of view from that game but who discussed the issue on the air with a great deal of humor and respect.

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