BrettFavre to Moss: you can't teach an Old Yeller new tricks

BrettFavre to Moss: you can't teach an Old Yeller new tricks
Cold, Hard Football Facts for October 12, 2010

BrettFavre and the Vikings wasted no time playing with their new Randy Moss receiving doll Monday night.

In fact, the Vikings used Moss on the very (and very curious) first play from scrimmage: BrettFavre handed to Percy Harvin on an end-around from right to left. Harvin then handed to Moss, who was racing through the Minnesota backfield from his spot wide left.

Moss, running right, then threw to BrettFavre for what appeared to be a 9-yard-gain. Naturally, something had to go wrong, and it did: BrettFavre was flagged for being an ineligible gunslinger downfield.

The BrettFavre-Moss tandem followed a more traditional approach the rest of the night. On Monday, we looked at the Tom Brady to Moss numbers in New England. They were not good.

We decided to do the same with BrettFavre and Moss Monday night. Officially speaking, the quarterback targeted the receiver 10 times – almost every single one of them deep passes down field. The final tally was pretty good:

4 of 10, 81 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 102.5 rating

But BrettFavre actually threw to Moss 11 times – the receiver was whistled for pass interference on one of the attempts, resulting in an 11-yard-penalty.

Here's the final tally if we include the impact of that play:

4 of 11, 70 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 89.2 rating

All in all, the end results look fairly decent. But the numbers also reflect the traditionally volatile play of BrettFavre: it was all or nothing. The Vikings either got a big result (like a 37-yard TD) or, more likely, came up empty.

You figure somewhere along the way BrettFavre would learn that slow and steady wins the race. But apparently not. Seems you can't teach an Old Yeller new tricks.

Here's the BrettFavre to Moss play-by-play:

First quarter

1 and 10 (4:13) – Pass deep left to Moss. Incomplete.

3 and 8 (3:33) – Pass deep right to Moss. Incomplete.

Second quarter

2 and 5 (4:34) – Pass left to Moss. 7 yards.

Third quarter

2 and 10 at MIN 39 (5:18) – Pass deep left to Moss. Incomplete.

3 and 15 at MIN 34 (5:10) – Pass short right to Moss. 16 yards

2 and 12 at MIN 48 (3:43) – pass short left to Moss. Incomplete.

3 and 17 at NYJ 37 (2:17) – Pass deep right to Moss. 37 yards. Touchdown.

Fourth quarter