What Happens When a Starting Quarterback Misses an Entire Off-Season?

His team loses its season opener.  Because Brett Favre refused to participate in training camp and instead spent his third straight offseason being a drama queen, the Vikings lost to the Saints in Thursday night’s NFL opener.  Okay, maybe the defending Super Bowl champs had a little bit to do with Minnesota’s loss, but to say Favre was rusty would be a huge understatement.

With the exception of tight end Visanthe Shiancoe, Old Man Brett looked out of sync with all of the Vikings’ pass-catchers.  He overthrew and underthrew Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian.  He was able to hook up with newcomer Greg Camarillo on a nice connection of 20 yards but came right back and threw an awful ball in Camarillo’s direction on the same drive.

Favre finished the game 15-of-27 with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.  His inability to throw the ball accurately down the field forced the Vikings to become one-dimensional and painfully predictable, relying on Adrian Peterson and short passes of less than five yards.  As The Big Lead points out, Favre was 4-for-12 on passes intended for his wide receivers and completed less than half of his passes that were beyond three yards down the field.

If New Orleans blew the Vikings out — as it appeared they were going to do after the opening drive — I’d be willing to brush the poor play of Favre aside a bit more.  However, Minnesota’s defense was completely locked in after the opening drive of the game and Drew Brees was unable to get comfortable beyond the first quarter.  Had Favre spent the off-season with his teammates and put in some more time familiarizing himself with his receiving corps, you’d have to assume the Vikings could have strung together another touchdown drive.

For those of you who think Brett Favre makes the Vikings much better, you’re absolutely right.  Last night just happened to be a prime example of how his selfishness can cost the team.

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