Jared Allen had a career game last night, as the Vikings beat divisional rivals the Green Bay Packers at the Metrodome. As hyped as this game was, I was expecting it to be tense, but not particularly exciting . . . I was delighted to be wrong: it was a high-scoring game with lots of drama. Allen sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers four and a half times, and added a forced fumble and a safety. Rogers had a miserable time, being chased all over, sacked eight times, but still managing to throw for 384 yards.
As Jim Souhan tweeted, “Rodgers is going to be dreaming about Jared Allen all week. How’d you like to be haunted by that mullet?”
Photo detail from the Star Tribune
Brett Favre had downplayed the confrontation with his former team all week, and he played very well indeed. His timing with wide receiver Bernard Berrian was everything he could hope for, unlike last week’s game, including a beautiful TD pass. His numbers for the night were 24 of 31 passes for 271 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and an impressive 135.3 passer rating.
Adrian Peterson had a much less satisfying experience: the Packer defence bottled him up after the first drive, and he lost a fumble which was run back for a Packer TD by rookie Clay Matthews. His numbers for the game were a very un-Peterson-like 25 carries for 55 yards, with one (short) TD. He also appeared to injure his leg on the play, although he did return later in the game.
Favre got another record in this game:
Monday’s victory means Favre has now beaten all 32 NFL teams. The Vikings’ 4-0 start is their best since beginning 6-0 in 2003 and with a game Sunday at winless St. Louis (0-4) their chances to remain undefeated appear to remain strong. Childress also now has two consecutive victories over the Packers after starting 0-5 against them — Favre was the quarterback for four of those Packers victories.
There is little doubt at this point Favre appears to be a very solid $12 million investment. “I’m trying to not be surprised because it’s what we expected,” owner Zygi Wilf said. “I’m happy to say from last week to this week shows us that you can never be surprised. He’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. We’re just going to enjoy this win and move on to the next game. We have larger, bigger goals ahead of us and that’s what we’re going to strive for as a team.”
