Fantasy Football: NFL MVP Week Eight

This article was originally published at FantasyPros911.com

Each week, Dan Parzych will take a look at the top performers in the NFL with Parzych’s 2009 NFL MVP, whether they are at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, or tight end. 

Along with the best performers each week, be sure to check out Parzych’s 2009 NFL LVP, in which he covers the Least Valuable Players each week in the NFL.

Here are the results for Week Eight of the 2009 NFL regular season:

 

Quarterback: Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings

In case you’ve been living under a rock the last couple of months, Minnesota Vikings QB Brett Favre made his return to Lambeau field last week, the place he built his legacy in his 17 seasons playing with the Green Bay Packers.

As he ran onto the field, he received a mixed reaction of boos and cheers from the beloved fans who had cheered him on throughout his career. If Favre was nervous about going against his former team on their own turf, it sure didn’t show with the type of performance he had.

To make Packers fans feel even worse about their beloved quarterback playing for their division rivals, Favre finished 17-of-28 for 244 yards and four touchdowns against his former team in a 38-26 win for the Vikings.

Not only was the win a major relief for Favre, but the Vikings improved to 7-1 and remain atop the NFC North standings. Congratulations Brett, we all know how much this win means to you.

 

Running Back: Ryan Moats, Houston Texans

For the record, Tennessee Titans RB Chris Johnson was close to earning this spot with his performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars in which he ran for 228 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries. However, Houston Texans RB Ryan Moats had a career day against the Buffalo Bills, earning him the award this week.

In Sunday’s 31-10 win against the Bills, Texans RB Steve Slaton was benched early on after recording his fifth fumble of the season. As his replacement, Moats finished with 126 yards on the ground and three touchdowns—all of which came in the fourth quarter.

Whether or not Moats will start for the Texans next week against the Indianapolis Colts is still up in the air. However, he showed head coach Gary Kubiak he has what it takes to be the No. 1 starter if needed.

 

Wide Receiver: Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts remain as one of two undefeated teams left in the NFL, and WR Reggie Wayne is a major reason why the Colts have been successful.

Wayne’s 22-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter from RB Joseph Addai ended up as the game winner for the Colts in their 18-14 win over the San Francisco 49ers. Overall, he finished with 12 receptions for 147 yards to go along with his touchdown. 

Once again, Wayne stepped it up for the Colts offense while WR Anthony Gonzalez continues to nurse his injured right knee. In seven games, he’s hauled in 51 receptions for 689 yards and six touchdowns. This isn’t the first time he’s made the MVP list, and there’s a chance we’ll see him on it again before the season ends.

 

Tight End: Kevin Boss, New York Giants

The New York Giants may have been blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles in their 40-17 loss. However, Giants TE Kevin Boss still managed to have a solid game for his team in the losing effort.

While the Giants offense struggled to get anything going against the Eagles defense, Boss lead all wide receivers, hauling in three receptions for 70 yards—including an 18-yard touchdown from QB Eli Manning.

While Boss has yet to record a 100-yard game in 2009, the Giants have to be pleased with the fact he recorded his first touchdown of the season against the Eagles. Hopefully, he can continue to find the end zone over the next couple of weeks for the Giants.

 

Kicker: Matt Stover, Indianapolis Colts

While the Indianapolis Colts struggled to find the end zone against the San Francisco 49ers, K Matt Stover played a major role in the team’s 18-14 win.

Other than Wayne’s touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Colts relied on Stover’s four field goals to continue the team’s unbeaten streak in 2009. He managed to hit field goals from 38, 33, 31, and 41 yards for the Colts.

It’s hard to find a place kicker that stands out from the rest each week. However, it’s safe to say the Colts may be sitting at 6-1 without Stover, which is the reason why he earns the MVP award this week.

 

Defense: Baltimore Ravens

Everyone knew the matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos would be intense. However, the question on everyone’s mind was which Ravens team would show up.

The Ravens defense could not have put on a more impressive performance as they handed the Broncos their first loss of the 2009 season in a 30-7 win. They held the Broncos to a total of 218 yards on offense while recording two turnovers and two sacks.

With the win, the Ravens increased their record to 4-3 and won for the first time in three games. Next week, they look for revenge against the Cincinnati Bengals, who pulled away with a 17-14 victory in Week Five thanks to a late 20-yard touchdown reception from WR Andre Caldwell.

If their defense continues to shut down opposing offenses like they did against the Broncos, the Ravens could climb back to the top of the AFC North in no time.

Dan Parzych is an analyst at FantasyPros911.com

Read more Minnesota Vikings news on BleacherReport.com

Brett Favre and Brad Childress Act Unprofessional In Recent Signing

What’s bugging me this week? How about the whole story behind QB Brett Favre’s return to the NFL.

For the last couple of months, anyone who follows the NFL has been trying to figure out whether or not Favre was going to show up for training camp with the Minnesota Vikings.

After he came out with a statement at the end of July claiming he would stay retired and not sign with the team, it appeared the Favre roller coaster came to a complete halt and we would not have to worry about hearing his name involved with playing in the NFL again.

Wrong!

Favre is similar to those Chuck Norris jokes, where only he is capable of performing tasks that no other human being could perform. In a way, Favre has become the Chuck Norris of the NFL.

Favre may be the only player in NFL history capable of convincing the NFL and the rest of the world that he planned on staying retired, only to come back weeks later and sign a two-year deal worth $25 million—with the division rival of the Green Bay Packers, a team he played for 16 years.

The one thing about Favre and football that no one will ever be able to take away is his passion for the game.

The man has shed tears and played through numerous injuries because of his love for the game. Unfortunately, Favre has one major flaw that has made fans across the country love to hate him—his inability to make a firm decision on whether or not to continue playing football.

The whole issue about Favre never being able to make up his mind may be more of the media’s fault than his own. Still, the future Hall of Fame quarterback has gone from one of the most loved players in NFL history to a guy that nobody can stand to hear about anymore.

It’s hard to deny Favre the right to want to play football one more season. However, with the legacy he established with the Packers throughout his career, signing with the Vikings—who are apparently one of the most hated teams in Wisconsin according to fans—may have turned some of the long-time Favre fans into absolute Favre-haters.

It’s easy to understand Favre’s frustration with the Packers after the way things ended between him and GM Ted Thompson. Before the beginning of last season, Thompson said he didn’t want Favre returning to the Packers after he retired for the first time, simply because he wanted to “move on” and begin the Aaron Rodgers era in Green Bay.

Despite the excitement that has been going on for the Vikings and the city of Minnesota in the last 24 hours with the recent Favre signing, there is still one issue that is not only bugging me, but a lot of players around the organization as well.

According to a report from ESPN‘s Chris Mortensen from Tuesday, Favre decided to sign with the Vikings on Tuesday because he didn’t want to put himself through the two weeks of training camp and sleep overnight in the dorms with the rest of the team.

As a kid who played sports growing up, my coaches always stuck with a policy that if you didn’t show up to practice, you will never play in the game. Apparently, Childress does not believe in this type of policy.

So while the rest of the players have busted their butts for the last two weeks while trying to make a name for themselves on the Vikings’ squad, Favre gets to show up when he wants and misses arguably one of the most intense parts of the season. Not to mention that he does all this and still gets the privilege of being named the starting quarterback for the upcoming season.

From the non-stop stories on ESPN Tuesday, it seems as if Favre and Childress knew that this was how the situation was going to go down. If this is the case, then no players must feel worse than Vikings’ QBs Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels.

The Vikings traded for Rosenfels in the offseason in hopes that he would give Jackson some competition for the starting job. Now that Favre is on the roster, it appears the Vikings will shop Jackson around. It would be foolish to trade for Rosenfels since his contract guarantees him $3 million.

Before Favre signed with the Vikings, Rosenfels was hoping to finally receive a chance to be a starter, after playing the backup role in Houston for so many years. Now that Favre is on the squad, that dream will have to wait a little longer.

However, one can’t help but feel bad for Rosenfels if Childress knew Favre was going to sign with the Vikings the entire time. All this time believing that the coach is finally giving you the chance to shine as the starting quarterback—only to find out that it was never really going to happen.

After today, it’s safe to say that Favre may be judged for purposely waiting until now to sign with the Vikings, all so he could miss out on an intense two weeks of training camp. As far as Childress is concerned, if he did know about Favre’s plan the entire time, he may be facing some trust issues with his players and staff.

Minnesota Vikings are Taking Advantage of Brett Favre for Preseason Ticket Sales

What’s Bugging Me is a weekly column posted by Dan Parzych at FantasyPros911.com

Last week, Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell traveled to Hattiesburg, MS, to watch Brett Favre perform a workout to determine how well his throwing arm was after shoulder surgery.

According to a report by Ed Werder on ESPN.com, Favre performed a workout that consisted of him throwing at least 100 passes.

The report also stated that Favre told Bevell and Vikings’ head trainer Eric Sugarman that he wants to play for the Vikings this upcoming season. However, the decision will come down to whether or not he can manage to stay healthy to play a full 16-game season.

For the second year in a row, the NFL offseason was filled with an overwhelming amount of rumors surrounding whether or not Favre would come out of retirement and return to the NFL. The only difference this time is that he may be returning to play for the Vikings, instead of the New York Jets.

The talks surrounding Favre’s possible return seem to be discussed more by the media than Obama’s plan to get the country out of the current economic recession. No matter how many important headlines were going on in the sports world, SportsCenter would always find the time to make at least one update every day about the Favre situation.

The constant updates on whether or not Favre is returning to the NFL to play for the Vikings would be a great topic for this week’s edition of “What’s Bugging Me.” However, this week’s topic has to do with the team trying to convince him to return: the Minnesota Vikings.

According to reports from The Pioneer Press, there were rumors circling that Favre and his wife Deanna placed a $30,000 deposit on a condominium near 50th and France in Edina. If this rumor is true, it would be pretty obvious that Favre is planning to return to play for the Vikings. However, this still isn’t what’s bugging me this week.

What’s bugging me about the whole Favre-Vikings situation involves ticket sales. If Favre would return to play for the Vikings this season, he would play the Green Bay Packers twice in 2009, the same team he played 16 seasons with and built his legacy around.

In the same article by The Pioneer Press, Charley Walters also reported that the announcement of Favre to the Vikings is expected to come before single-game tickets go on sale July 20. Does this seem like a coincidence to increase ticket sales? It does when you hear about the only way to see Favre play his former Packers’ team.

Apparently, the Vikings are requiring anyone who purchases a single-game ticket to the Vikings home matchup against the Packers on Oct. 5 (Monday Night Football) to also purchase a ticket for the preseason matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs on Aug. 21.

Obviously, the Vikings-Packers game will be one of the most anticipated games of the 2009 season if Favre ends up playing this season. It’s not even a debate this game will sell out faster than XBox’s Halo series on the first day on the market.

This requirement by the Vikings means they will be one of few teams in the NFL who actually sell out one of their preseason games. For most fans, preseason games are not nearly as exciting as regular season games. Therefore, it’s rare to see die-hard fans to go out of their way to attend a preseason game for their favorite team.

From a business perspective, this is a genius move by the Vikings to make some extra revenue in ticket sales for preseason games. However, this should not be a move necessary for the Vikings to make some extra revenue.

Before last season’s home-playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Vikings had a streak of 114 sellouts in a row at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, a streak that has lasted since 1998. Obviously, the Vikings should not worry about ticket sales for their regular season games.

However, it’s unfair for the Vikings to take advantage of their fans by requiring them to purchase tickets for a preseason game, just to see one of the most anticipated games of the 2009 season.

We are currently part of a recession where money is tight for just about anyone living in this country. It’s already going to be tough for some of us NFL fans across the country to be able to afford tickets to watch our favorite teams play live this upcoming season.

The fact that the Vikings are forcing their dedicated fans to purchase two sets of tickets in this state of the economy just, to see the game against the Packers, is nothing short of ridiculous.

Considering all of the hype surrounding a team that finished on top of the NFC North last season and the success of ticket sales since ’98, there is no reason not to believe the Vikings will have any issues selling tickets this upcoming season.

Still, the Vikings and the rest of the other teams in the NFL realize how hard it’s to sell preseason tickets compared to regular season tickets.

Did the Philadelphia Eagles require their fans to purchase a ticket to a preseason game when single-game tickets went on sale against the Dallas Cowboys so they could see Terrell Owens? Of course not.

Like I stated earlier, it’s a smart business move for the Vikings to require their fans to purchase preseason tickets against the Chiefs, if they want to buy tickets for the Packers game.

From a die-hard fan’s perspective, this just seems like an expensive investment with no guarantees.

How will the fans react if Favre fails to make his decision before the start of single-game tickets on July 20? Better yet, how will the fans react if Favre ends up staying retired because his body can’t handle another 16-game season.

No matter what happens with Favre and the Vikings in the next couple of weeks, one thing is for sure; it is unfair for the organization to require fans to purchase tickets for a preseason game against the Chiefs when they really just want to attend the game against the Packers.

This article was originally posted on FantasyPros911.com

Dan Parzych covers the Eagles for www.NFLTouchdown.com and is a columnist at www.FantasyPros911.com.

You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Eagles_FanVoice.