Favre led the Vikes to a 30-23 win on Monday Night Football, throwing for 271 yards and three scores against his old team. But in terms of scope, Favre's comeback to the NFL had nothing on Terrence Johnson's comeback this weekend in the NESN Fantasy Football League.
With Cole Wright's team "I MEAN BUSINESS" holding nearly a 30-point lead on Johnson's "Crooked Lettas" entering the Monday night game in the Twin Cities, Wright wrote the following on the league message board:
"Yo, Big T … like Puffy said, 'Don't knock me for trying to bury … seven zeroes over in Rio de Janeiry!!!' I MEAN BUSINESS, SON!!"
Messages left with Wright asking him to explain what he meant went unreturned.
Still, Johnson responded: "Hmm … [I'm] down 29.35 with a quarterback [Aaron Rodgers], No. 1 receiver [Greg Jennings] and a good [Minnesota] run defense going [on Monday night]. Cole, you better call in sick tomorrow if I come back."
And though he benefited immensely from Rodgers' 384 yards passing, Johnson did more to channel his inner No. 4, staging a Favrean comeback to claim a vital 113.4-99.75 win.
Interestingly, Wright was not in the office on Tuesday. Was it a simple day off or could he have been dodging the media? Once again, messages left with Wright's agent went unreturned.
On Tuesday, Johnson left a gift on Wright's office computer (seen in the image below): printouts of the before and after fantasy box scores, photos of Rodgers and Vikings defensive end Jared Allen (who had 4 1/2 sacks on Monday) and the following message:
As famed recording artist and star of the former UPN series Moesha, Brandy, softly put it … "Almost doesn't count!!"
I know giving up a near-30-point lead in one night is painful, but you didn't have to not show up to work. It's not that bad. That being said, here's a little something to remember my squad by.
As humbly as you can be after a comeback,
The Crooked Lettas
With his third straight victory, Johnson remained tied on top of the Eastern Division with another Week 4 victor, your humble NESN.com associate editor, whose "Gray Cutoff Hoodies" narrowly escaped with a 154.15-96.6 win over Heidi Watney's "Favre Forever" squad.
The Cutoff Hoodies' motto all season long has been "I cut the sleeves off because it looks awesome!" But Heidi tried to get the trash talk going early, saying — despite plenty of evidence to the contrary — that "The cutoff sleeves do NOT look awesome!!!" It was a questionable maneuver to be sure, and it turned out to be just the bulletin-board material the dangerously stylish Hoodies needed to get even further amped up.
Led by huge days from Chicago Bears Jay Cutler and Matt Forte and an astonishing 39 points from the San Francisco defense, the Hoodies posted a season-high total in Week 4.
"I expected big days out of Cutler and Forte," the front-runner for NESN Fantasy Coach of the Year told NESN.com, "but the 49ers haven't scored that many points since the days of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Heidi probably overstepped her bounds, but my team made it clear that I'm not here to kiss her rings. I came to win."
Heidi was understandably reticent following the game but put her third straight loss into perspective.
"Favre Forever started strong in Week 1," she said, "but has been a big disappointment since. Let's hope the Angels underperform in the ALDS like my players are doing on the fantasy field."
Also earning a huge victory over a Western Division squad was Naoko Funayama's "UNITAS" team, which pounded John Chandler's "More Cowbell" 141.7-90.9.
"Finally over 100 points!" exclaimed an excited Naoko after improving to 2-2 on the season. "That is all I cared about this week."
She took advantage of big days from Giants wideout Steve Smith, Chargers tight end Antonio Gates and Ravens QB Joe Flacco, who, despite losing to the Patriots, still managed to put up 23.4 points. Chandler, on the other hand, got below-average totals from former fantasy stars LaDainian Tomlinson (1.4 points) and Braylon Edwards (zero catches for 0.0 points). Outputs like that are hard to overcome against powerhouses like UNITAS.
"We'll take a look at this and assess what direction our team needs to go [next] week," said Tuesday night's SportsDesk host. "While our team policy is not to discuss our team policy in any way, I can tell you that Braylon Edwards will probably be suspended for being a complete moron."
He's strict but fair. He's also 1-3 on the season.
In the weekend's final matchup, John Carchedi's "Italian Ninjas" eked out a 97.7-85.0 upset win over Kathryn's "Tappenators."
Carchedi could have thanked Tom Brady for his valuable 24 points in Week 4, but he instead saw fit to toot his own fantasy horn.
"Being God's gift to fantasy football is never easy," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "There are times when I scare myself. I say, 'Self, it's scary how good you are.'
"But then I think, 'We all have gifts, and this happens to be mine.' And then I weep a little, because it would be much more profitable if I was gifted at something else. … Like the stock market, or television broadcasting."
We should all be so lucky.
Enjoy your Week 5 fantasy action, and be sure to check back next week for further commentary and analysis.
