Bold guesses on Favre’s durability

Recently, quite a few NFL players announced retirement, and most of them are around 30 years old and none is older than 40. That’s normal in NFL, but it made me more curious about the durability of Minnesota Vikings quarterback, 41-year-old Brett Favre.

I have to guess hard why Favre could still play so well when he was 40 years old, two years after he first announced retirement. He never retired for real sense and returned to a different team every time after he announced the end of his NFL career. People got fed up with his uncertainties, but were still amazed by his excellent performance. By so far this season, Favre has not made any announcement on retirement or return, but he is highly expected to wear back his Brett Favre jersey because his performance in 2009 season has convinced people of his capability and durability. But why is he so durable while most other players end career shortly after 30th birthday or just have decreasing value even if they stay to age 40?

I have to doubt that whether the quarterback we saw on field was really the Brett Favre we talked about? Is there another man like Favre and playing as well so he and Favre can play in turn? If so, both men could have enough rest before playing his next game. I also guessed that Favre may use some kind of steroids to make his body stronger. He is 41 years old and a grandfather now, I can hardly believe he can do even better than he did while younger, and I even doubt he has a twin brother or clone to play for him when he is not in good condition. Oh, Vikings fans forgive me, I’ve just read too many conspiracy novels.

Vikings said Favre’s surgery was expectable

While a lot of people were excited about Brett Favre’s surgery on his left ankle, the responses from the Minnesota Vikings were not with much surprise. Calling it promising news, most of the Vikings said the move was just expected long before it really happened.

Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe’s words may represent quite a lot of his fellow teammates. Shiancoe said that Favre had to change some part of his body if he had even the slightest intention to play his 20th NFL season, and leading the Vikings so close to Super Bowl XLIV could just make the quarterback want more success in a new season. None of the Vikings, either player or coaching staff or even officials, has got any information from Favre on his playing status in 2010 season, but they all take the latest surgery as a strong suggestion of his plan to wear back the purple and gold Brett Favre jersey. If their wish comes true, Favre would be the first grandpa winning Super Bowl in the league.

The Vikings are still carrying on their offseason plans without a confirmed starting quarterback. They are confident that Favre will return to take the job back. Favre himself also used to say that playing with his former rivals gave him good feelings and the 2009 season could the best one he has had during his 19-year NFL career.

Brett Favre wants to return with Packers

While most of us are expecting the legendary quarterback Brett Favre to wear back his No.4 Minnesota Vikings jersey, few people seem like to see him back with his old team, the Green Bay Packers, even though the quarterback himself actually wants to be with the green and gold instead of the purple and gold.

Some rumors spread recently to say that Packers told one of his close friends that he was actually attempting to play with the Packers again before retiring. It’s a reasonable guess, if it is, as Favre spent most seasons, 16, of his NFL career with the Packers before announcing his first retirement in 2008 offseason. We know that he later chose to sign with the New York Jets and retired again in 2009 offseason before signing with the Vikings. Favre had his best season in 2009 but did not make it to Super Bowl and finished the season with a lingering ankle injury that may require a surgery. It seems that Favre plans to play for one more season before a real retirement, and he wants to spend the last one with the team he loves most, the Packers, who acquired him from the Atlanta Falcons in 1992 offseason and gave him trust and starting job.

Without the chance given by the Packers, Favre could have developed into one of the best quarterbacks in the league. However, even if he wants to wear back Packers style of Brett Favre jersey, Packers fans would unlikely forgive him for what he did in 2009, when the Vikings led by Favre beat the Packers twice.

Vikings backup QB Jackson is not affected by Favre decision now

Talking about Brett Favre, it would be understandable for the Minnesota Vikings backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson to say that he was unhappy when Favre changed his mind to put on Vikings jersey last season and took the starting job away from Jackson. But now the backup appears quite calm with anything new about Favre.

Actually, Jackson recently said that he has learnt a lot from Favre and his annual retirement soap opera. After some initial craziness on losing his starting job, Jackson learnt quickly to accept the fact and stayed with the Vikings to be a backup. Perhaps what he was thinking before making the decision was that Favre was already 40 years old and would not be able to play football long in the NFL. Staying and learning, Jackson surely had a great chance of getting starting job back. However, it seems that Favre still has no plan to end his NFL career and is still expected to play with the Vikings for another season. Jackson has to wait for another year, but this time he is much calmer about it.

"You have to think everything through and think of different scenarios and just try to be ready for anything because you never really know what (coaches and front office people) are thinking," Jackson told Sirius NFL Radio. "Honestly, it crossed my mind and I’ve wanted change, but change is not always good. One thing I learned from Brett is just be yourself regardless of the situation and the circumstances. Just go out and be yourself today, every day and they (can) take it or leave it. That’s what I’m going to do, and that’s how I’m approaching it."

Calmness is now definitely good for Jackson. Whatever Favre’s new decision is, Jackson still has his job with the Vikings. And once the grandpa player retires or even leaves field with injuries, he would still the first choice of coaches to be the replacing starter. He simply has more time than Favre, no need to worry.

Another college football star is to join Vikings rookie camp

Now things just happen out of Matt Winney’s expectation. The former Green Bay Preble graduate did not expect to continue with football career but eventually became a standout cornerback with the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. And now he is even given a chance to try if he could start a professional football career with an NFL team.

The Minnesota Vikings just gave Winney a call and invited him to have tryout in the team’s rookie camp.

"It was a goal all along, to get that phone call," Winney said. "When I received it Sunday morning, it was just a sense of relief and excitement. I worked hard to get to that point, and now I get a chance to go out there and show myself on the field. Just getting the opportunity was a big step."

With a height of 6-foot-3 and weight of 205 pounds, Winney could fit well both at cornerback and safety. With the perfect size and speed as a cornerback, he has had 122 career tackles, 23 pass breakups and seven interceptions during his college football career. He also has experience of being a starter in last college season, so it’s actually unsurprising when he told reporters that there were at least six NFL teams with interests in signing him. What’s more interesting, Winney himself is a fan for the Green Bay Packers, but he has said that it would be fine for him to put on Vikings jersey and play with former Packers star quarterback Brett Favre.

What happened when Favre was traded from Falcons to Packers?

When Brett Favre was waiting in the 1991 NFL draft, he was not as brilliant as he seems to be now. As the 33rd overall pick in the draft, he was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round. He was offered a three-year, $1.4 million contract with a reported signing bonus of $350,000 in July. Everything looked good for the rookie quarterback but what happened in regular season simply resulted in Favre’s departure.

While Favre was taken as a talented young quarterback by most people, then Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville showed publicly his disappointment with drafting of Favre and determined that Favre would not be allowed to play in any game. His original words were that it would take a plane crash for him to put Favre into the game. Playing in only two games, Favre had his first pass in an NFL regular season game and it was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Attempting totally in four passes with the Falcons, Favre completed none of them and two resulted in interceptions. All the disappointing performance seemed to support Glanville’s unwillingness to hold Favre out.

After the zero-production 1991 season, Favre was unsurprisingly on trade market and became a target of Packers general manager Ron Wolf, who showed intension to draft Favre in the previous offseason but lost the chance as Falcons picked Favre with a higher pick. Wolf did not lose the chance again and made quick move to prompt a trade with the Falcons for Favre at the cost of a first-round pick. Then during the following 16 seasons, the No. 4 Packers style of Brett Favre jersey became more and more eye-attracting as the quarterback showed how well he could play as long as he was given the chance and confidence.