He could not have been opening things up for the other receivers. Per the Vikings earlier this year and after watching them play, they have no other receivers of note.
Favre was doing a good job of hitting those non-existent receivers then. Whatever else went wrong in Foxborough yesterday, Moss’s play wasn’t the cause. The biggest problem seemed to be the Vikes’ DBs giving up some atrocious plays. One went through the DB’s hands and the other was when Tait rambled in for a TD after getting open by 15 years.
Even if Faver never hit any receivers, Peterson benefited from the fact that at least one safety wasn’t there to stop the run. A lot of his eight yard runs would have been four yards without Moss taking a safety away.