The moment Brett Favre has been waiting for since Ted Thompson crapped in his cereal over 12 months ago is vastly approaching.

The Vikings host the Packers tonight at the Metrodome and Brett will no doubt be fired up to try to stick it to Thompson, as he so amply put it when the GM traded him to the Jets last year. (The fact that Favre put Thompson in a bad position with his fickle changing of the mind is still lost on Brett, but that’s a story for another time.)

The question becomes, will Brett beat Thompson’s Packers tonight?

Like most weeks, the Vikings will try to establish the run with Adrian Peterson in hopes of opening things up in the passing game. The Packers have a solid secondary, so Brad Childress would be foolish to take the ball out of Peterson’s hands early in the game and start forcing the action with Favre in the passing game. It would behoove Childress not to get wrapped up in the Favre-vs-Green Bay death match and just keep things simple with AP.

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For those who couldn’t tune into Monday night’s game between the Cowboys and the Panthers, you didn’t miss much.

The Cowboys were sloppy, the Panthers were sloppier and thus Dallas won the ultimate snooze fest 21-7. Victories are hard to come by in the NFL, but if I were Wade Phillips or Jerry Jones, I wouldn’t be breaking out the party favors and bubbly after this one.

The Panthers are bad – real bad. And it’s not fair to pin all of their problems on Jake Delhomme, who threw two more interceptions tonight to run his season total to 407. Delhomme has been bad, but he’s hardly the only reason why Carolina is 0-3 right now and has little to no chance of repeating as NFC South champions.

The Panthers might as well cheat and set up speed bumps on every play, because their run defense is horrible. The Cowboys rushed for 212 yards tonight on 32 carries (6.6 YPC) without Marion Barber as Carolina made Felix Jones and Tashard Choice look like Bo Jackson and Marcus Allen.

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I’ll get to the greatness of Peyton Manning in a second, but first I’d like to know what the hell the Dolphins were thinking on the final series of their 27-23 loss to the Colts on Monday night.

For three and a half quarters, Miami’s game plan was executed to perfection. They ran the ball well, grinded out the clock and kept Manning and the Colts’ potent offense on the sidelines.

But once Manning led Indy on one of his vintage drives late in the fourth quarter to put the Colts up 27-23, Tony Sparano and his coaching staff didn’t make any adjustments. The Dolphins played their final offensive series like it was their first drive of the game. They ran the ball, they wasted time by not getting to the line of scrimmage quickly and on least two occasions, they called play action passes.

Now why, in the name of all that is holy, would you run play action in an obvious passing situation? Did offensive coordinator Dan Henning think that he would get the Colts’ safeties to bite on the run with 36 seconds left and Miami needing a touchdown to win? It’s wasted time for Pennington to mimic a handoff to his running back when he could have used it to find open receivers. He should have been in the shotgun or at the very least in a five or seven step drop so he could survey the entire field. Play action doesn’t do Pennington any favors in that situation.

And I’m sorry, but if Ted Ginn Jr. wants to be a No. 1 receiver in this league, then he’s got to come down with that pass in the end zone on 3rd and 10. It wasn’t an easy catch by any means, but he out jumped the defender and Pennington put the ball in only a place where Ginn could get it. I know he had a good night (11 catches, 108 yards), but Ginn has to come down with that ball and give his team a chance to win.

I don’t have the numbers, but I’ve never seen a team win in the NFL by only running 35 total plays like the Colts did tonight. For the Dolphins to execute their game plan for 58 minutes and lose in such a way at the end should piss Sparano off. And if it doesn’t, then maybe Bill Parcells made the wrong choice for head coach a year ago.

As for Manning – he’s a freaking machine. The way he read what Miami was trying to do on that 48-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garcon was pure Peyton. I love watching Tom Brady play in a tight ball game, but I don’t think any quarterback is smarter than who the Colts employ under center every week.

Running back LaDainian Tomlinson rolled his ankle in the first quarter of the Chargers’ 24-20 win over the Raiders on Monday night. He returned to the sidelines, but watched as teammate Darren Sproles scored the eventual game-winning touchdown with 18 seconds remaining.

Many thought before the year started that LT would be a candidate to rebound this season, although “rebound” is a relative word seeing as how he still rushed for 1,110 yards and 11 touchdowns in ‘08.

But regardless of his ankle injury, it now it appears that he and Sproles are going to get equal amount of time in the offense. It’s apparent that age has caught up with LT and that Sproles is more of a weapon in the passing game. I assume that San Diego will still split the amount of touches that both backs receive, which means that LT’s 300-carry seasons are over.

As for the game, the Raiders played inspired football and actually looked better than the Bolts for much of the contest. If Richard Seymour is upset about being traded to Oakland, he didn’t show it last night because he lived in San Diego’s backfield.

JaMarcus Russell still has major issues with his accuracy. It’s not that he’s susceptible to throwing a ton of interceptions (although he did throw two last night), it’s just that he misfires badly and usually winds up throwing passes 10 feet over his receivers’ heads. Still, he showed flashes of promise and should have had two touchdown passes to his credit last night instead of just one, but receiver Louis Murphy dropped a pass in the end zone towards halftime. (Although it wasn’t a clean drop; officials called it a touchdown and then overturned the ruling when they saw Murphy didn’t hang onto the ball all the way down to the ground.)

- FANHOUSE has the details about Cyborg’s TKO victory over Gina Carano. TONYBLOGS has the video.

- DEADSPIN describes the chaos at a Saints’ preseason game when there was some…um…confusion over the new tickets.

- PRO FOOTBALL TALK reports that the Titans’ owner plans to pay Vince Young big bucks. That’s right…big bucks.

- SHUTDOWN CORNER comments on the addition of Jon Gruden to MNF. Things are looking up.

For Monday Night Football telecasts, it’s out with TV personality Tony Kornheiser and in with former head coach Jon Gruden.

Former Super Bowl-Winning Coach to Team with Tirico and Jaworski in MNF Booth
Gruden replaces Tony Kornheiser, who has decided to step down after three years in the Monday Night Football booth.

Kornheiser added: “I am totally grateful for the MNF opportunity that I truly enjoyed the last three seasons. I feel we got better each year. My fear of planes is legendary and sadly true. When I looked at the upcoming schedule it was the perfect storm that would’ve frequently moved me from the bus to the air. I kept looking at the schedule the past month and wanted to find a way to quietly extricate myself. If I could handpick a replacement of a football guy, I would cast a net and drag in Jon Gruden. He is the two things you most want — smart and funny — and has the two things I don’t — good hair and a tan. I love PTI and am looking forward to continuing to yammer and yodel with Wilbon until the end of time.”

Gruden was an analyst for the NFL Network during the draft and he did a nice job. He didn’t blow me away with his commentary, but he was solid nonetheless.

The brains behind MNF need to get it together. I realize they’re trying to appeal to a broader audience and that’s why they’ve tried comedians and other personalities like Kornheiser and Dennis Miller, but just freaking stick a football guy between Tirico and Jaws and call it a day.

Football fans want to hear the broadcasters discuss the game – not some irrelevant stat or story that is force-fed to Kornheiser by the producers. It seemed that most of Kornheiser’s jokes were written for him and they wound up being a distraction at times. He played his role perfectly (i.e. someone that tried to bring up different topics during the game), but again, I’d rather have a football guy like Gruden in the booth who obviously has knowledge of the game.

The question is, how long before Gruden returns to the sidelines? I’m assuming he’ll only be unemployed for a year and that means MNF will have to find another replacement again.

Anybody catch the Panthers’ 38-23 win over the Buccaneers on Monday night? If you didn’t, you missed ESPN’s Monday Night Football crew waxing poetically about how Carolina could wind up being the No. 1 seed in the NFC. (Seriously, I know it’s their job to create storylines but I thought the trio of Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser and Ron Jaworski were going to fall out of the booth trying to make love to the Panthers.)

Carolina’s win over NFC South Division rival Tampa Bay was impressive. They ran the ball extremely well (like, 299 yards well) against one of the best defenses in the NFC, Steve Smith made big plays and for the most part, the defense was solid.

But before we even remotely toy with the idea that the Panthers will leapfrog the New York Giants in the NFC, maybe we should slow down and take dose of reality.

Yes, the Panthers’ win over the Bucs to capture first place in the NFC South was imposing and dare I say, dominant. But NFC South teams are now 0-10 on the road against other NFC South teams, so while Carolina’s victory was a nice statement, it wasn’t necessarily shock.

Tampa has often struggled on the road throughout this season. If it weren’t for double-digit come from behind wins against Kansas City and Detroit, the Bucs would be 7-6 right now. They’re currently allowing close to 24 points a game on the road this year, compared to just 12.6 at home. For as good as Monte Kiffin’s defense has looked this season, it’s simply been a different unit on the road than it has been at home.

But let’s get back to Carolina. The Panthers are currently atop the exciting NFC South at 10-3 and are home against the Broncos this Sunday, then at the Giants and at the Saints to end the year. Those are three winnable games, but a daunting final stretch to say the least. Assuming they can beat the Broncos this week (which won’t be easy coming off a short week and with Denver trying to clinch the AFC West), does anyone see this team beating both the Giants and Saints on the road? New Orleans might be knocked out of the playoff race by then, but they would certainly love the opportunity to play spoiler against a division rival.

The Panthers are definitely a playoff team and one that could make noise when the postseason starts. They have a veteran quarterback, an unbelievable playmaker in Smith and a running game that could shred any opponent. But let’s relax a little on the idea of them earning home field advantage throughout the postseason. The Giants are still the best team in the NFC (if not in the league) and the Bucs and Falcons still have a shot to upend Carolina in the division. And teams can look vastly different from game to game in the NFL.

They’ve only played one half of football in Cleveland, but so far Derek Anderson is rewarding Romeo Crennel and the Browns for sticking with him as their starting quarterback. DA is 11 of 16 for 225 yards and a touchdown at the half, and outside of a couple of misfires on their first drive of the game, he’s played flawless.

Anderson found Darnell Dinkins for a 22-yard touchdown pass before half and Cleveland has built a rather shocking 17-14-halftime lead. The deficit should be more, but the Browns continue to shoot themselves in the foot with penalties, including one that negated a fumble recovery that eventually led to a Plaxico Burress 3-yard touchdown reception.

One thing to note is how well Cleveland has played defensively to this point. Shaun Rogers has been a beast in getting pressure on Eli Manning, while Brodney Pool came up with a huge interception when New York was driving for a score in the first quarter.

It’ll be interesting to see if Anderson cancels out his first half performance with a second half collapse as Cleveland fans cry out for Brady Quinn. If the Browns can’t hold on to the lead, surely Crennel will have played into it somehow.

If the clock strikes Noon on Tuesday and Saints’ kicker Martin Gramatica still has a job, I’ll be shocked. Not only did the elf-like kicker shank a 46-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter to aid the Vikings in their 30-27 victory over New Orleans Monday night, but the guy also had one blocked and returned for a touchdown in the first quarter because he didn’t get enough air under the kick.

In fairness to Gramatica, the Saints made a ton of mistakes in the loss, including racking up 102 yards on 11 penalties and turning the ball over four times. But considering M-Gram missed a FG earlier in the year that could have won a game in Denver, the guy has to be out of chances to play in this league. Morten Anderson may be 100 years old, but he proved last year that he’s still accurate – maybe Sean Payton needs to pick up the phone and give the ageless one a call.

Of course, if it weren’t for Gramatica’s missed field goal, the real buffoon from this game would have been Minnesota head coach Brad Childress. This genius allowed his punter and special teams coach to kick to Reggie Bush not once, but three times on returns, two of which were returned for Saints’ touchdowns. The Vikes had a 10-point third quarter lead evaporate when Bush took a 71-yard punt return to the house, cutting the deficit to 20-17. Two punt returns later, Bush returned another kick for a touchdown, this one from 64-yards out. And both times Minnesota punter Chris Kluwe kicked a low line drive to give Bush plenty of space to make a return. Now maybe I’m casting the blame on the wrong person, but Childress is the man in charge. How the hell could he allow Bush the opportunity to make multiple momentum shifting plays on special teams? Just dumb decisions all he way around.

And how about Ed Hochuli’s crew blowing another call? That was a brutal missed call in the first half when Bush fumbled, but clearly had his facemask yanked by a Vikings’ defender. He wasn’t the one that missed the call, but Ed has had a rough start to the year.

On a less critical note, Gus Frerotte was gritty Monday night. He took a vicious hit in the fourth quarter but still managed to stay in the game and squeeze a 33-yard pass into Bernard Berrian despite two defenders in the area to tie the game at 27 all. Childress at least deserves praise for going to the veteran Frerotte a few weeks ago, because he has given the Vikes’ passing game a much-needed boost.

It was a tale of two halves Monday night in Pittsburgh as the Steelers slipped past the Ravens 23-20 thanks to Josh Reed’s 46-yard field goal in overtime.

Baltimore took a 13-3 lead deep into the third quarter but following a Nate Washington 8-yard reception on a 1st and 10 play from Pittsburgh’s 33-yard line, LB Jarret Johnson was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty that set up the Steelers at the Raven 44-yard line.

Up until that point, Pittsburgh was lifeless and Heinz Field resembled a morgue. The Steelers wound up scoring three plays later on a Santonio Holmes 38-yard touchdown reception, which trimmed Baltimore’s lead to 13-10. Then on the Ravens’ first play following the kickoff, Pittsburgh LB James Harrison crushed rookie QB Joe Flacco, causing a fumble that was scooped up by LaMarr Woodley at the 7-yard line and taken into the end zone for a Steelers’ touchdown. Suddenly, two and a half quarters of solid play went out the window for the Ravens and they found themselves trailing 17-13.

After the Steelers pushed their lead to 20-13 on Reed’s second field goal of the night with just under 10 minutes to play, Flacco led Baltimore on a nine-play, 76-yard drive which ended with Le’Ron McClain scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 20. It all went for naught, however, as the Steelers forced the Ravens to punt on their opening possession of overtime, then won the game seven plays later on Reed’s third field goal.

Baltimore flat out blew an opportunity for a big win. Before Johnson gift-wrapped momentum for the Steelers thanks to his penalty, Pittsburgh looked lost. For the second straight week Ben Roethlisberger was playing like crap, they had no running game and outside of finding some success running the no-huddle, the Steelers’ coaching staff appeared befuddled on how to move the ball on the Ravens’ nasty defense. But that’s why teams have to play all 60 minutes, especially when they’re on the road and playing in a tough environment. There’s no doubt Baltimore will look back at this game and think about what could have been.

Side Note: Is it just me or did anyone else get the impression that ESPN commentator Ron “Jaws” Jaworski was flat out rooting for the Ravens during the game? I know Tony Kornheiser mentioned that Jaws’ son went to Delaware (same school as Flacco), but man, most of his comments seemed aimed at how good Flacco is/could be. I like Jaws, but he seemed a little biased tonight.

Also, it was great to hear that Andre Frazier was up and walking around the Steelers’ locker room after the game. Frazier was taken from the field on a stretcher after injuring his spine on the opening kickoff of the game.