NFL news - Brett Favre fails to impress in debut preseason game
The much talked about and anticipated return of Brett Favre to the game turned out to be a lot less of a spectacle than it was being made out to be. The 20-year-old NFL veteran represents a significant investment by the Vikings and Sunday’s four plays and a sack is not the kind of return the Vikings were expecting.
Depending on how this season plays out for the Vikings, Favre stands to make as much as 28 million dollars this year. As much as Favre insists that his return to the field is ‘for the guys’ the enormous pay check just can’t be ignored. Favre said that by the end of the last season he was left with a strong feeling of unfinished business. Favre said that last season he played his best football but still couldn’t go all the way to the Super Bowl. The quarterback is coming off a season that saw him set many career highs and complete over 4,000 yards. “All I could think about this offseason was what I could have done better in that last game to lead the team to the Super Bowl,” Favre said.
Completing one of four passes for 13 yards is not something better. The fans too wanted more than that. All that hype and build-up leading to just four plays? At least he finally made his debut so hopefully everyone can calm down a little now.
Favre was supposed to play at least two drives but the 49ers defence didn’t like the idea. San Francisco’s Patrick Willis broke through the Viking’s offensive line right past Adrian Peterson on the third Favre play taking down the 40-year old quarterback. The Vikings lost possession and when they regained it, Favre was no longer leading the charge.
“There's no substitute for getting in a game, calling plays, having a 40-second clock that you have to pay attention to,” Favre said. He said that when the 49ers blitzed on the last play the Vikings could have could have picked it up but Favre couldn’t think quickly enough. Favre was disappointed by his play and said that he would analyze the footage from the game. “I would hate for that to happen the first game in real action against New Orleans,” Favre said.
Head Coach Brad Childress had originally planned to keep Favre for at least 10 plays but that idea was scrapped after the hit he took. There were rumours suggesting that all is not well in the Viking’s locker rooms between Childress and Favre. A Viking’s player who didn’t want to be named said that in Favre’s opinion, Childress has no clue about offense. There were even suggestions that Favre’s hesitation to return to football was not due to the Ankle Injury but actually because of Childress.
That may or may not be an accurate account of their relationship but when Favre addressed these concerns, his statements were carefully crafted to avoid denying outright that he didn’t have faith in Childress’s ability but instead tried to paint that as a constructive disagreement. Favre said that Childress had done an excellent Job as coach but made sure to add that the two would still have disagreements this year too. “I'm sure there will be plays where he's not happy with the way I execute them, some of the things I do. But we're fine.”
Favre’s debut appearance can only be called a cameo but this is the preseason after all and things would be very different in the coming regular season. At least the veteran made it out of the game in one piece and fans would get a chance to see him in action again against the Seattle Seahawks in their next game. The emphasis for Favre would be the regular season. The Vikings need him to play the 16 regular season games. Having him tossed around by the 49ers defence in an exhibition match just doesn’t make sense but a similar run in the regular season won’t do. His team and the fans have just as high expectations from him as he has from himself. The pressure is on Favre to deliver.
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