Jim Souhan: Have your cake and eat it ... with ice cream

When Favre and Peterson play on the same field, fans can sit back and watch two of the NFL's best.

By Jim Souhan, Star Tribune

Last update: November 10, 2007 - 12:47 PM

Today, you don't have to choose. You get paper and plastic, steak and fish, unleaded and diesel, Coke and Pepsi, Comedy Central and Fox News, Bruce Springsteen and Toby Keith, country and western.

Today, on the somewhat chilly tundra of Lambeau Field, you get the legendary quarterback and the wunderkind back, the game manager and the gamebreaker, the wise head and the fresh legs, the geometrical precision of the perfect pass and the improbable physics of the really fast self-propelled human.

Today, Minnesotans and Wisconsinites get Brett Favre and Adrian Peterson, and unless you move to Boston, you might not see two better football players on the same field for a while. This will be the best clash of NFL titans in, oh, seven days, since Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Randy Moss starred in The Game To End All Games.

Favre is second in the NFL to only Brady in passing yards, and if it were not for the undefeated Patriots, Favre probably would be front-runner for NFL MVP.

Peterson leads the NFL in rushing by 268 yards. Four weeks ago, he set the Vikings record for rushing yards in a game; last week he set the NFL record, and if it were not for Brady and the Patriots, he might be the frontrunner for NFL player of the year.

Today, Favre and Peterson will appear together, but if you had to make a choice, who would you rather watch?

"I'm a quarterback, and I usually favor quarterbacks, but when you've got a rookie who's doing what Adrian's doing, it's just amazing," said the Vikings' Kelly Holcomb. "You've got one guy who's a living legend and another who can do unbelievable things on a football field. I've never seen anything like Adrian.

"I haven't played with Brett. I'm playing with this guy right now. He's one of those special guys who doesn't come around often, and when you see the cuts he makes and the speed he's got and the strength he's got, he's a freak of nature."

Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell has played with both.

"I'd take Adrian," Longwell said. "I've seen Brett play for years, and Adrian is really exciting and fun to watch, so that's easy, for me."I'm over here, so I'd have to say Adrian," said Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who coached Favre in Green Bay. "This is going to be a great game to be a fan, to be able to watch both guys. They both bring energy. They both bring excitement. At any moment Adrian can take it the distance and Brett can make that big-time throw. As a fan, I don't know what more you could ask for."

Big plays aren't just the most captivating moments in football; they are the most important.

The Vikings are 2-0 when Peterson breaks an all-time rushing record, and 1-5 when he doesn't. They are 3-0 when Peterson scores on a play of 60 yards or more, and 0-5 when he doesn't.

The Packers are a stunning 7-1 and 11-1 in their past 12 games, and during that time Favre has seemingly gone from over the hill to king of the hill. He won an overtime game at Denver two weeks ago with a 79-yard touchdown and has had passes of 40 yards or more in each of his past four games.

"He is still playing wide open, and he has no conscience," Vikings coach Brad Childress said. "You don't see him hold back -- everything from hard snap counts to throwing it through the eye of a needle."

A year ago, Peterson was a supposedly injury-prone junior at Oklahoma and Favre was again being taunted and tempted by the prospect of retirement.

Vikings receiver Robert Ferguson caught Favre's passes last year and blocked for Peterson's record effort last week, but asking him who he'd rather watch is pointless.

"Most of the time, I don't get to see what Adrian does," Ferguson said. "I just feel the wind as he's running by."

Jim Souhan can be heard Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon on AM-1500 KSTP. • jsouhan@startribune.com

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