This month will long be remembered for Brett Favre’s first game as a Viking against the Packers, but these are also the days that he nears the “Big Four-Oh!” Favre’s 40th birthday is October 10 and it’s remarkable he can still perform at a high level after 18-plus seasons in the NFL.
How long will he play pro football and be outstanding doing it? At a news conference yesterday the Viking quarterback didn’t address those issues directly but said his season two years ago (at age 38) was “probably” his best.
While talking about last year and then the off-season Favre said: “If people say I can’t, that really doesn’t matter. What matters is what I feel. But believe me I don’t want to go out and not play well. I would never attempt to play if I didn’t think that I could play at a high-enough level.”
Favre’s arm problems last season with the Jets and then during this off-season are well documented but he’s been impressive in three starts with the 3-0 Vikings as they head into Monday night’s game (circus?) at the Metrodome against his old team, Green Bay. Favre has a sore right foot but is expected to play.
In last Sunday’s game against the 49ers Favre took a lot of hits, partially because he attempted 46 passes. “I was pretty sore,” he said. “Some of it was self-inflicted though. I still bounce back quickly, not as quickly as I used to. This past week I was hit a little bit more, not to mention there was 80 plays, and not 80 plays with 10 being kneel-downs and killing the clock. It was a fight to the finish. I’ve never been as beat after a game as I was the other day. I had nothing left.”
Vikings’ coach Brad Childress knows Favre has been extraordinarily durable, starting 272 consecutive NFL games. While answering a question about whether Favre can make it through 16 games Childress said: “He does a good job taking care of his body. He does a great job of studying the game. When you take care of your body that way you know you got a chance. It is a violent game and you can’t get around that. All you have to do is take a look at the injury report every week.”