At midway, Favre has Packers on top at 7-1

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 11/08/2007

 

 We have reached the NFL mid-season; it’s time to take a deep breath and evaluate where we’ve been and where we are going while getting ready for the stretch run. Locally, the Minnesota Vikings (3-5) are in a deep hole in the NFC North and need to become more consistent if they are going to catch Green Bay (7-1) and Detroit (6-2) in the division.

 Teams earning A’s for the first half are the unbeaten, 9-0, high-scoring New England Patriots, who are averaging 39 points per game. Just behind the Patriots are the defending Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts at 7-1, the Dallas Cowboys (7-1), and the Green Bay Packers (7-1). These four teams have positioned themselves nicely for home-field advantage in the AFC and NFC and first-round byes in the run for Super Bowl XLII, coming up in February in Glendale, Arizona.

 For everybody else, it’s time to get busy — the chase is on. The Patriots have raised the bar in the NFL and could finish 19-0. We have a long way to go, but they are that good and will get better.

 Teams that have earned “B” grades are the New York Giants (6-2), Detroit (6-2), Tennessee (6-2), and Pittsburgh (5-2) pending the result of their Monday night showdown with Baltimore (4-3). Teams that have “C” grades are the Cleveland Browns (5-3), Jacksonville (5-3), Washington (5-3), Tampa Bay (5-4), and Baltimore (4-3) pending their game Monday night.

 Teams with grades of “C-“ are the .500 teams Buffalo (4-4), Kansas City (4-4), San Diego (4-4), Seattle (4-4), New Orleans (4-4), and Carolina (4-4). Teams with “D” grades are Denver (3-4), Arizona (3-5), Minnesota (3-5), Chicago (3-5), and Philadelphia (3-5).

 Teams that are not getting it done and have grades of “F” are Atlanta (2-6), San Francisco (2-6), Oakland (2-6), Cincinnati (2-6), and the New York Jets (1-8). Organizations that have performed so poorly that they need to consider firing their head coaches are St. Louis (0-8) and Miami (0-8).

The state of the Vikings

 For the most part, the Vikings have been in every game this year despite struggling mightily with their passing game and often-injured starting quarterback Tavaris Jackson. The Vikings are rated 30th in the NFL in passing offense.

 Give or take an overtime 20-17 loss at Detroit and a 13-10 loss at Kansas City, and the Vikings would be in better shape. However, Adrian Peterson has been the talk of the NFL. The first-ever NFL rookie to rush for 200 yards or more twice in one season is already over 1,000 yards rushing in just eight games.

 Peterson’s record-setting performance Sunday of 296 yards that included three touchdowns on 30 carries broke Jamal Lewis’s single-game record of 295 yards set in 2003. Peterson’s 315 total yards Sunday helped the Vikings beat San Diego 35-17.

 Peterson has 1,036 yards rushing, which leads the NFL in just eight games, and he has scored nine touchdowns already. Randy Moss’ Vikings rookie record of 17 touchdowns in 1998 is within his reach.

 So is the NFL rookie record of 1,808 yards rushing set by Eric Dickerson in 1983. The NFL record for rushing yards in one season is 2,105 yards set by Dickerson, also in 1984, and if Peterson stays healthy he could break them all.

 This week, the Vikings travel to Green Bay to play the red-hot Packers, winners of 11 of their last 12 games. Brett Favre, the 38-year-old legend, has the Packers on top of the NFC North thinking Super Bowl.

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-recorder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.

 Caption: MVP-candidate Brett Favre, center, at the Metrodome Sept. 30; he will lead Green Bay against the Vikings again next Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Photo by Sam Soulprano