Favre has free rein to change play calls

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress knows the perception exists that he does not like to give his quarterbacks the freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage.

“Oh, you guys (media) always like to say that,” Childress said playfully. “Yeah, I’ve got shackles on them. We have an electric current and if they happen to change (the play) we do the Pavlov’s dog thing. We hit them with a current on the way back to the huddle.”

If that’s the case, how high does he have to dial up the voltage to get through to a gambler like Brett Favre?

“No, he is one of those dogs that runs right through the fence,” Childress said.

All joking aside, it is clear that just one month into the union between Favre and the Vikings, the 39-year-old’s three MVP awards, one Super Bowl ring and numerous passing records have earned him more influence and freedom with the system than any quarterback to play here under Childress.

Brad Johnson and Gus Frerotte both complained that the system didn’t allow them to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage.

But in the season opener at Cleveland, Favre made several significant changes after the huddle was broken as he reacted to what he saw in the Browns defense.

“You know he did a great job getting us out of a couple runs that had a low probability of success and actually took one to the side where we gained a bunch of yards,” Childress said. “He did that on his own.”

He also made a few changes from runs to passes “that we really weren’t expecting,” Childress said. “You know, you live and learn and he will live and learn, too.”

From the moment he arrived in the Twin Cities, it’s clear things have been different for Favre.

After courting Favre all summer long, Childress picked him up personally from the airport and drove him to team headquarters. He handed Favre the starting job and, given the quarterback’s vast experience in a nearly identical system during 16 seasons in Green Bay, the ability to tweak and adjust things.

Favre and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell are close friends from Bevell’s days as quarterbacks coach with Green Bay, and there appears to be a dialogue there that did not exist with Johnson, Frerotte or Tarvaris Jackson.

“Usually Tuesday nights, as they’re finalizing the base game plan, (Bevell) will either call or send me an e-mail or something of what they have going in (to see) if I have any thoughts or ideas,” Favre said. “Then as the week progresses and I find things I like (and say), ‘I feel more comfortable with this as opposed to that.”’

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