Brett Favre and Vikings set to battle the Seahawks in week three
This is take two for Brett Favre, as the Minnesota Vikings will play the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.
With all the glitz and glamour that surrounded Brett Favre, who returned to the Vikings on August 17th after contemplating retirement, his pre-season debut did not go exactly as planned. The 40-year-old quarterback played just one series in last Sunday's 15-10 loss at the San Francisco 49ers and was pulled from the game by head coach Brad Childress, after being sacked by linebacker Patrick Willis, which resulted in a 10-yard loss.
The future Hall of Famer completed his only pass attempt on a 13 yard pass to running-back Adrian Peterson and handed the ball off twice. And with that his night was over.
Favre should see more extensive time on Saturday this time around, but it is doubtful that he will play the entire first half as he continues to recover from off-season ankle surgery.
“There's no substitute for getting in a game, calling plays, having a 40-second clock that you have to pay attention to," said Favre, admittedly a little stiff afterward. "They blitzed on the last play. We technically could have picked it up, I could have made a call, but the mind wasn't working quickly enough. ... That was obviously not a positive play, but it's what you do with it from here on. I'll look at the film. I would hate for that to happen the first game in real action against New Orleans."
The Vikings will unveil their revamped wide receiving corps that should be worth watching on Saturday night. Minnesota signed veteran Javon Walker, who played with Favre in Green Bay, and former Miami Dolphins’ wideout Greg Camarillo earlier this week. Both Walker and Camarillo will move up in the rotation due to a hip injury that will sideline star receiver Sidney Rice for the regular season's first six games and maybe more.
Percy Harvin is not expected to return in the lineup after collapsing during practice and requiring hospitalization last week. Childress said it’s a "long shot" that he'll play in this weekend's pre-season game, but Harvin did catch a few passes on Wednesday in practice and will have to undergo more tests before the second-year receiver is cleared to play with the team again.
Unlike Favre, Seattle’s quarterback Matt Hasselbeck has seen extensive playing time this pre-season and looked solid last week completing 11-of-15 passes for 127 yards, including touchdown to his favorite receiver Deion Branch.
Seattle, who has split their first two pre-season games, are looking to impress their head coach Pete Carroll and build momentum with a victory as we near the start of the regular season. Running-back Leon Washington, who rushed for 19 yards and added a touchdown in last week’s loss, will face another big test in a ferocious Vikings defence. He is expected to play the entire first half and maybe see some action early in the third quarter.
The Seahawks are also looking to bolster their group of receivers and have been talking with restricted free-agent Vincent Jackson. If they sign Jackson, he would be the team’s number one wide out and join T. J. Houshmandzadeh and Deion Branch to give Seattle an explosive passing attack.
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