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Time Traveling Today: Percy Harvin
The 1,445.73 mile transition from The Swamp to The Metrodome could not have gone smoother for rookie receiver Percy Harvin. The Vikings picked Harvin with the 22nd pick of the '09 draft. Since then Harvin has made the 21 rookies taken before him look absolutely silly. Speaking of 21, that's the age Harvin just turned. So he is making people feel silly and old all at the same time. While averaging 158.3 yards among his receiving, returning, and Wildcat responsibilities, Harvin has given the Vikings a whole new set of plays besides; "Adrian Peterson to the left", "Adrian Peterson to the right", and "Adrian Peterson up the middle". Harvin + Peterson = a problem other teams just can't solve. However, the one variable in this equation that I would love to ignore but can't, is someone almost twice as hold as Harvin, Mr. Favre. It is no mystery that Brett Favre has had a hand in the renewed offense of the Vikings. So, how much of this transformation has to do with Favre, and how much has to do with the weapons at Favre's disposal? To find the answer I decided to send Percy Harvin all the way back in time to...one year ago.
So there was Harvin, being thrown to by Tarvaris Jackson in the year 2008. Granted, Jackson's stats definitely improved. After all, Favre or no Favre, Harvin can still catch wild passes into triple coverage like the one against the Packers. However, Harvin was under-thrown constantly by the inconsistent Jackson. Now, even a bad quarterback could not stop Harvin's explosive return ability. However, without a quarterback, teams would continue to stack the box so Harvin making a living with the Wildcat wasn't even an option.
So the season went on with the Vikings ending up 9-7, losing the division to the Packers (who oddly enough, sign Favre for another season if you go back in time, consider that a lesson learned), lost in the wild card round, and all in all had another mediocre season. Except of course for Harvin who went on to rookie of the year after all. The only difference was that without Favre, the other rookies actually thought they had a chance at beating out Harvin....lesson learned.
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