Henderson came a long way to save a season

Brett Favre, frowning and shaking his head, denied a report that he declined to meet with NFL security officials. Randy Moss left the locker room in a huff, refusing to speak with reporters.

Even with Moss playing in the Metrodome for the first time since 2004, the Vikings offense spent most of the afternoon moving sideways like a drunken crab. Then Brad Childress compared his team to migrant workers.

Imagine what the Vikings' mood would have been if they had lost.

We'll never know, because E.J. Henderson won a game and maybe even saved a season Sunday. His two interceptions doubled his team's season total and led to the winning field goal in the Vikings' gotta-have-it, 24-21 victory over Dallas, a victory that should make his team the logical favorite in the backsliding NFC North.

Ten months after shattering his femur, Henderson moved well enough to rescue an offense that has developed a severe limp.

"I'm not surprised by it," Favre said of Henderson's recovery. "He's really the quarterback of our style of defense ... .

"He does it as well as anybody. He never complains. That's one of the good stories in this league."

On a day Favre threw for only 118 yards and fumbled a handoff exchange and the offense managed just one drive longer than 36 yards, Henderson's hands became more valuable than Moss'.

"That was one of the best plays I've ever seen," linebacker Chad Greenway said of Henderson's second interception.

"Ah," Henderson said, "that's just Chad exaggerating."

Maybe not. The score was tied at 21. The Cowboys faced a third-and-2 from their 22 with less than eight minutes remaining.

As Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo called signals, Henderson crept toward the line of scrimmage. Romo took the snap, looked over the middle for his favorite receiver, tight end Jason Witten, and let fly.

"Yeah, I gave them a little fake blitz and came back to plug," Henderson said. "He was looking for 82 [Witten] all day. I thought he would do that. Usually, he likes 82 over the middle. We game-planned for that, and I got one.

"I think that confused him a little bit. He didn't know where I was, and by the time he threw it, it was too late."

His second interception required savvy. His first interception required springs, as he leaped above a group of players to catch a deflected pass. It was quite a leap for a player whose injury last December was so gruesome that even NFL players turned away from him in revulsion.

"I feel good right now," he said. "I think with reps, with game reps, playing against these types of athletes, I think I'm starting to warm up."

At the time of his injury Henderson was emerging as one of the best linebackers in the game. He's looked less explosive this season, for obvious reasons.

Henderson said Vikings head athletic trainer Eric Sugarman and assistant trainer Tom Hunkele discovered that there was no protocol for rehabilitating a football player with a broken femur. So they created their own. The name? "E.J. Henderson femur fracture rehab," Henderson said.

His brother, Erin, also a Vikings linebacker, was dressing in the next stall. "Call it Wolverine," he said, apparently in reference to the action character with metal hidden beneath his skin.

"Yeah," E.J. said. "You can use that."

So on a day when he became only the 10th linebacker in team history to intercept two passes in a game, Henderson took more pride in a more unique achievement.

"Hopefully no one has to go through that again, but it was amazing that we couldn't find a rehab protocol for a femur fracture anywhere in football," he said. "It feels good to be the first one."