Talking to the FOX sports duo of Troy Aikman and Jimmy Johnson via conference call yesterday they felt that the Minnesota-Dallas game would live up to the hype and that the Saints-Cards game could be a shootout for the ages.
Here are some of the highlights:
Aikman on whether Favre has more pressure to perform in the playoffs: “I don’t know that there could be more pressure on Brett as he goes into Sunday’s game than what there was at the beginning of the season with the expectations that were out there for him. He obviously surpassed what anyone thought he would be able to do. Because he has accomplished so much, if the Vikings fail to win the Super Bowl I don’t know that Brett walks away feeling as if he left something on the table.”
Johnson on the remaining games being played in domed stadiums: “Since we’re going to be doing FOX NFL SUNDAY at the site of the NFC Championship, I’m happy that it’s going to be in a dome. It does make it a level playing field and it takes away a little bit of a home field advantage for some of these teams.”
Johnson on Favre and Peterson: “I think the Vikings had the idea that they have this great running attack with Adrian Peterson and they’re going to be able to bring in Brett Favre and it’s going to basically be Peterson running the ball and Favre throwing it. But it doesn’t work like that in the NFL. They have opened it up throwing so much more than what they did in previous years. I think that probably the running game has suffered just a little bit.”
Aikman on which quarterback in the playoffs has surprised him the most with their performance: “The biggest surprise to me would be Brett. Not that I didn’t anticipate that he would come back and play well, I thought that he would. The bigger surprise is the lack of interceptions. Coming into this season, he’s averaged 17 interceptions a year over his 18-year career. Yet, here he is this year, he’s only thrown seven. That’s remarkable. I kept waiting for a four or five interception game. I’ve joked about it. I’ve said if the Vikings don’t have a game like that prior the postseason, I’d get a little nervous. We’ve always seen Brett have one of those types of games and you hope it doesn’t happen in a game like this weekend.”
Johnson on Tony Romo: “The jump that Tony Romo has made in protecting the ball so much better than he has in previous years. He’s gotten over the hump, especially in winning the last couple of Philadelphia games.”
