Weekend Highlights: Sports Edition

William Sorriano:

Favre Back in Lambeau

Welcomed with boos, and departed with tears. Brett Favre returned sunday evening to Lambeau field, to face the team he served 16 seasons for, the Packers. After announcing his second retirement in 2008, B. Favre shook the NFL world by joining the Minnesota Vikings. Understandably Packer fans were outraged, but secretly everyone pulled out their calendar to see when the Vikings were gonna visit Lambeau. The day was November 1st, and boy was it a good one.

Well the second half was a good one, the first half was the same as their first meeting in Minnesota. B. Favre lit up the Packers, throwing 17 of 28 for 244 yds, and his 21st game with 4 or more touchdowns. Tying him all time with Dan Marino. The Vikings defense were all over Packers QB A. Rodgers, sacking him 6 times, and completely blowing by Green Bays offensive line.

Second half however was a different tale, A. Rodgers had only 78 yds in the first half, but he came through in the second half of play. Ending his day with 287 yds off 26 throws, as well as 52 yds on 5 carries, and 3 TD’s. The Packers fought back in the 2nd half, but ultimately Favre and the Vikings were too much.

Even though Brett was the main story, the side show was the rookie receiver P. Harvin. The quickster had 5 catches for 84 yds and a TD, but he wasn’t done. The rookie from Florida returned a packers kickoff for a TD in the second half. RB A. Peterson carried the ball 25 times for 97 yds and one score, he also had one reception for 44 yds.

When the game was set and done, B. Favre was all smiles and shouts. After defeating his former team 38-26, the QB commented “What I’ve done here speaks for itself. What I was a part of was awesome. That will never change.” Favre got emotional towards the end of the interview, and left Lambeau a winner with tears. The Vikings improve to 7-1, and in control of the NFC north, the Packers drop to 4-3.

Coach Mike McCarthy said “Hopefully, we’ll have another crack at these guys down the road.”

Ravens End Denver’s Perfect Record:

The Broncos were one of 3 undefeated teams on sunday afternoon, when they traveled to Baltimore to face the Ravens. In recent years the Ravens were known for their suffocating defense and punishing hits. However, the Broncos came in with the leagues #1 scoring defense, allowing an average of 11 pts per game. Along with the best 3rd down defense.

The Ravens defense had lost the last two games, and the worst part was their running defense. In the two losses, they let A. Peterson, and C. Benson rush for 100+ yds. Something they didn’t allow all last season, but when the game began, it was clear who had the best defense, and who had the most intensity.

2nd year QB J. Flacco had a fantastic game, throwing 20 of 25 for 175 yds, and 1 TD. However, it was the Ravens defense that controlled the game. Baltimore held the high powered Broncos offense to 200 yds, and out scored them 24-7 in the second half. It all started with the opening kickoff for the second half, L. Webb took the kickoff back 95 yds for a special teams TD.

” All 10 guys got their body on someone, I just saw a hole and I ran.” Said L. Webb.

The Broncos only TD came on an 86 yd drive, which ended with a 1 yd run by rookie tail back K. Moreno for the score. Denver QB K. Orton was very efficient throwing, but had no TD’s, throwing 23 passes for 152 yds. The Broncos will try to rebound from their first lost next week, when they battle the Steelers. Should be a good one.

For the Ravens, they will travel to Cincinnati where they will avenge a loss from 2 weeks ago. Maybe this time they’ll stop C. Benson.

Mighty Oregon Ducks

Oregon seems to be a death trap for USC, the men of troy were blown out saturday night 47-20 against the Oregon Ducks. Last year SC lost to the Beavers, the year before they lost to the Ducks again. The Trojans were the highest ranked one loss team at #4, the Ducks came in as the #10 team in the polls. From the beginning, it was visible that the Ducks were playing run the ball offense. Oregon QB J. Masoli threw 19 of 31 for 222 yds, and ran all over the SC defense for 164 yds, with 2 TDs. By the end of the game SC’s defense gave up 613 total yds to Oregon. It was the worst lost to USC since 1997.

Coach Pete Caroll stated, “it was a real mess for us tonight, Oregon did everything that they wanted to do.”

USC was ranked as the 5th running defense in the country, don’t know what happened to that on saturday. Oregon ran through USC for 391 yds.

Oregon sits atop the Pac-10 as the only team without a conference lost, and also moved up to the #7 spot in the polls. They are now poised to take the conference title, and make a run for this years Rose Bowl. USC is on the verge of missing their first BCS game in seven seasons.

USC freshmen QB M. Barkley struggled to establish any rhythm, throwing 21 of 38 for 187 yds and 2 scores. J. Mcknight had a slow game with 95 yds on 15 carries. The Trojans fell to #12, and have now lost 2 conference games.

Lakers Hold Off Hawks:

Kobe Bryant was his usual self sunday night against the Atlanta Hawks, dropping 41 points and 8 rebounds to lead the Lakers to a victory. After a disappointing night on friday against the Mavs, where the Lakers shot 39 percent, Bryant came out hot. Shooting 15 of 29, and 10 of 11 from the line. He led the Lakers on a furious 18 pt burst in the 3rd.

Lamar Odom assisted with 11 pts, and 14 rebounds, along with 8 assist.

Atlanta was led by J. Johnson with 27 pts and 9 reb. Atlanta has lost four straight in LA. M. Bibby was 5 of 10 for 15 pts. Also, rookie guard J. Teague had 12 4th quarter points in the loss.

The Lakers will look to continue their performance, when they travel to OKC to visit Kevin Durant and the talented Thunder on tuesday.