Thoughts from today

*Someone prove to me the myth of "the running game opens up the passing game." Adrian Peterson had 180 yards today; Favre threw for 110. Remember how all those 8 and 9 man fronts (and by the way, the only 9 man front the Vikings have seen recently was in goalline situations) were supposed to open up the Vikings' offense? In actuality, the Vikings' passing game hasn't been this closed (that would be the opposite of open, right?) in a long time. Even the most anemic performances from Johnson, Holcomb, Bollinger, Frerotte and Jackson usually produced more than 110 yards (less, if you subtract the 4 sacks Favre took today). I will say that Favre didn't throw any of patented oh-my-god interceptions. But what did Favre do today that Rosenfels or Jackson couldn't have done? Not a damn thing. And we waited all off-season for this guy and gave him a $25M contract. I don't think that was done so we could throw for 110 yards against the Cleveland Browns.

*Now you might be thinking, well Favre just doesn't have his timing down with his receivers. And you know what? That's true. He threw a fade to Sidney Rice today that may as well have landed on Mars, it was so far off. But guess what? That was his choice. He could have signed in May, recovered from his arm surgery and then taken part in all of training camp and pre-season. He chose to sit out until the middle of August. So I don't want to hear it. When you think you're so damn good you can sit out all of training camp and still perform in the NFL, you have to prove it no questions asked.

*Jake Delhomme has gone from an average QB who can give Steve Smith opprotunities to make plays to a terrible QB who can give the other team opprotunities to make plays. And frankly, I've been blindsided by it. I was never under the impression Delhomme was great, but he was okay and he worked for Carolina. Now Carolina has a huge mess on their hands.

*I don't know how Cincinnati went 3 quarters and 14 minutes without scoring a single point against Denver, but I'm just going to make the blanket statement that Marvin Lewis needs to go. I almost talked myself into Cincinnati as a sleeper team, until I realized they're the freaking Bengals and coached by a guy who "saved" his job by going 4-11-1 last season. Only in Cincinnati is 7.5 games below .500 considered a save; Bruce Coslet used to do the same thing back in the 1990s. The Raiders may be dysfunctional, but at least it's in a fun way. The Bengals are just sad, and Carson Palmer's entire career is going to waste because of it.

*I wish I could hop in a DeLorean and go back to the Browns' offseason meetings when it was decided that Josh Cribbs, Mike Furrey and Robert Royal were acceptable secondary passing options to Braylon Edwards, just so I could knock them all over the head with a chair. Brady Quinn had to try to make plays throwing mostly to RBs and Robert Royal. Braylon Edwards, in typical fashion, had a chance to make a big sprawling catch and dropped it. I just can't believe an NFL team was constructed like this. At what point in the offseason do you say, Cribbs, Royal, Furrey, we're good here? And yes, I realize they were counting on Donte Stallworth until his off-field incident. Like he's so good it would make a difference. I actually felt bad beating the Browns with these players. It's like beating on a handicapped kid.

*Vanderbilt is a mediocre SEC program, and yet the Bears have three offensive starters from that school (Cutler, Earl Bennett, Chris Williams). That may be a fact that only interests me but seriously...Vanderbilt?

*Just for the record, Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden have a combined four Super Bowl victories, and two other losses by Holmgren. Marty Schottenheimer has 200 career victories. They are currently without jobs. Brad Childress, Dick Jauron and Marvin Lewis have zero career playoff victories and are gainfully employed.