Is He Back

No name need be said when it comes to the NFL in August. For years the talk over the summer is will he come back. Will he play with the Pack, the Jets or the Vikes? Where he plays the team is better. Granted the Packers and Jets replaced the legend with viable replacements. As a matter of fact an All-Pro replaced the Hall of Famer in Green Bay. Even with All-Pro credentials the QB position is big on mental play and age works in the favor of the quarterback.

The QB needs to read defenses and make split second decisions. This does not require a 4.5 second 40 yard time or a 38 inch vertical leap. Slit second decisions require experience and recognizing the defense that is being thrown at you or the habits of a Defensive back that the quarterback can use to take advantage of the defense and put some points on the board.

At the age of 40, a grandfather, he is the key to the Minnesota Vikings success. The Vikings have talent throughout their roster on both offense and defense. The offense is spearheaded by Adrian Petersen, one of the best running backs in the NFL behind a talented and physical line. Petersen can run through you, around you and eventually away from defenders. He is the big play guy on offense. But the man under center is the one recognizing defenses and calling the plays. Recognizing a pass defense can open up more big runs for AP all day long. This is why grandpa is so necessary for the Vikings success.

Viking receivers in 2009 were all-world. It's not like Sidney Rice just got good. He got great in 2009 behind the arm of grandpa. Percy Harvin just a rookie was fortunate to have grandpa throwing passes to him as opposed to a unestablished Tavaris Jackson or Shea Rosenfels.

The defense relies on the QB also. When a defense is getting tired the QB has been around and knows that holding onto the ball for a couple of first downs is necessary to give the defense a rest and knows enough to take what he can get to get more snaps.

So before the detractors say grandpa needs to hang it up they cannot underestimate grandpa's value to the Vikings. Sure grandpa is beat up, his body has taken 18 years of speeding linebackers hitting him from the blindside. For 290 plus straight games grandpa has been knocked down by big behemoth men who have piled on him in an attempt to break grandpa down. But grandpa is a tough old bird. He is hurting but he also loves football and with a chance to win one more Super Bowl ring with a serious contender is just too much of a tease for grandpa to ride off in the sunset just yet. It's time for football and grandpa is lacing up his spikes as week speak getting ready for one more year on the gridiron and we should all be so lucky to witness more of grandpa in action.