Decker is on track to be an All-American after being first team All-Big Ten last season.  Football players and coaches prefer to talk about football as a team game but there’s nothing wrong with associating the word indispensable with Decker.  The “I” word was brought up with Tony Mortensen who was a senior reserve quarterback on last year’s team.

“It’s the truth,” Mortensen said.  “He really is.  I think any team in this country would love to have Eric Decker and he would shine anywhere.  He’s got that caliber of talent …with work ethic and doing the little things.”

Teammates admire Decker because of his humility, skill, work ethic, preparedness, determination and courage.  “Guys look up to him when you have a player of that skill set,” Mortensen said. “He’s a leader and he talks to guys.  He befriends them, whatever they need.  It’s not just on the field.  It’s off the field, hanging out with guys, just giving them talk.”

Mortensen said it’s part of the package for football players to play through pain and discomfort but Decker is special.  “He plays at another level hurt,” Mortensen said.  “He plays at a level where he can compete with the best.”

Last year Decker was injured and ineffective late in the season.  He didn’t even play against Wisconsin and was limited in what he could do against Michigan and Iowa. The Gophers lost all three games.

Decker’s determination to play gave Mortensen encouragement that despite Decker leaving last Saturday’s game early and wrapping his ankle in ice, he will play against Northwestern.  “The thing about Eric is he doesn’t stop,” Mortensen said.  “He’s gonna rehab it (the ankle) like he was playing in the national championship.”

Athletic Director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he will wait until after the season to evaluate coach Tim Brewster’s contract situation.  Brewster is in the third season of his five year contract and the team is 2-1 in 2009 after losing to No. 8 ranked California on Saturday.

“I think the appropriate thing is to do things at the conclusion of the year, as it should be because you measure in many ways a 12 month body of work, not just wins and losses,” Maturi said last week. “There are other aspects that go with it.  Everything from compliance to academics to social to department responsibilities to budgets. …All those kinds of things should play a role in evaluating an employee of this athletics department.  And that’s how we’ve done it and I will continue to do it that way.”

Brewster has brought a renewed spirit to Gopher football by setting goals such as a Big Ten championship.  He’s been an aggressive recruiter who has attracted some promising players to Minnesota.  He’s placed an emphasis on academics and responsible behavior by his players.

Last year the Gophers were 7-6 after being 1-11 in Brewster’s first season.  The team lost to Kansas in the Insight Bowl last December.

“I have always been pleased with his work,” Maturi said.  “I would be surprised if Tim Brewster is not the football coach at Minnesota for a long time.”

There was awareness that Brewster might receive a contract extension after last season but Maturi said none of his coaches in the department received extensions because of the economy and budget concerns at the University.

Brett Favre broke Jim Marshall’s NFL record for consecutive career starts yesterday when the Vikings beat the Lions 27-13 in Detroit.  It was Favre’s second regular season game with the Vikings and his 271^st career start.

Only those who have played football realize the physical and mental challenges, and good fortune, required to achieve such longevity.  Favre, who turns 40 next month, is playing with a partially torn rotator cuff.  This off-season he had surgery on his right shoulder.

During Favre’s pro career he’s had ankle, knee, thumb and other injuries.  He’s suffered a concussion and at one time reportedly was dependent on the pain killer Vicodin.

Marshall played until he was 42 years old.  All but one season of his 20 year NFL career was spent with the Vikings where he played on four Super Bowl teams and showed a remarkable determination from week to week, season to season.

Former Viking teammate Bob Lurtsema recalled a game in the 1970s when he expected to substitute for Marshall who was in the hospital with pneumonia the day of the game.  But Marshall was delivered to and from the game by ambulance, returning to the hospital when his work was finished.

Lurtsema recalled congratulating Marshall after the game and the legendary defensive end told him to “cut out all this mushy crap.”  Lurtsema laughed telling the story and said despite 13 surgeries during his own career he seldom missed practices because of injury or illness.

Even today at 67, Lurtsema has no arthritis.  “I feel great but I am freak, just like Jim,” Lurtsema said recently.

Just like Brett Favre.