Is it just me or does Brett look good in purple?
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. --- Brett Favre unretired again and will be wearing purple this time. Chew on that, cheeseheads.
Pulling an about-face on his playing status for the second consecutive summer, the three-time MVP quarterback will suit up for his old rival Minnesota starting with Friday's preseason game at the Metrodome. The goal: help the Vikings win that elusive first Super Bowl.
"You need to cross over that line. You need to take that chance," Favre said at his introductory news conference Tuesday, recalling the advice Minnesota coach Brad Childress gave him. "At 39 years old, your arm may not feel like it did at 21, but the pieces are in place here where you don't have to do as much."
He added: "If they were willing to take that chance, I was, too."
According to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Favre agreed to a two-year, $25 million deal, including $12 million guaranteed this season.
The wait for Favre's decision dragged through May, June and July -- at which point he said he would stay retired. But that was three weeks ago. On Tuesday, it all was resolved within hours.
Team owner Zygi Wilf and president Mark Wilf met Favre in Mississippi with their private plane, Childress himself picked him up at the St. Paul airport, and a news helicopter hovered over their route to the team's suburban practice facility.
On July 28, the man who holds every major NFL career passing record told Childress he wasn't ready to play, citing a lack of confidence in his beat-up body to hold up over an entire season. Favre revealed Tuesday that he was told by Dr. James Andrews, who performed the arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder in May, that he's been playing with a torn rotator cuff for a few years.
Neither Favre nor the Vikings expressed any concern about his health, though, on this whirlwind day. Favre was defiant, actually, when asked about widespread criticism of his flip-flopping.
"Don't watch, you know?" he said, adding: "My legacy, it's mine. It's what I think of it."
He also brushed off suggestions he's driven by revenge on the Packers, who wouldn't let him have his old job back last summer when he reconsidered. Green Bay visits Minnesota on Oct. 5, and the Packers host the Vikings on Nov. 1.
"The bottom line is it's football," Favre said. "Once you step into the huddle, I don't look at the helmets. I look at the faces."
PASSING LEADERS
A look at the NFL's all-time passing yards leaders:
| 1. | Brett Favre* | 65,127 |
| 2. | Dan Marino | 61,361 |
| 3. | John Elway | 51,475 |
| 4. | Warren Moon | 49,325 |
| 5. | Fran Tarkenton | 47,003 |
| 6. | Vinny Testaverde | 46,233 |
| 7. | Peyton Manning* | 45,628 |
| 8. | Drew Bledsoe | 44,611 |
| 9. | Dan Fouts | 43,040 |
| 10. | Joe Montana | 40,551 |
* denotes active
Source: pro-football-reference.com
Comments
Is it just me or does Brett look good in purple?
Who told the biggest lie this time around, Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings. How many times was it said that he definitely would not be back on the field and how fair is it to those players who have spent all this time in camp getting ready for the season for Favre to just waltz in as if he's some king? He lost my respect the last time around but I know he doesn't know or care - going to Minnesota is the very reason that the Packers didn't want to release him before. He quit, he came back, he quit and now he's upset the whole strategy of a team that has been practicing for weeks. Not a good public personna for what is supposed to be a man of character. It's just YOU Unsweetened Tea - he only really looked good in Falcon colors (but apparently not good enough) and Packer colors..These other colors don't add to his resume.
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