Posted by Will Brinson

Okay, Brett Favre is actually upset about "leaks" and not "snitches" but the point remain the same: the one guy who uses the media more than any human being on the planet to a) fight his personal war and b) saturate his yearning for attention is now complaining that members of his own team are leaking information about he and his coach not getting along.

So Favre held a couple of closed door meetings. And then he talked about them with Ed Werder. (Excuse me while I have my palm surgically removed from my forehead.)

"If something is being said in here -- by whoever, it's got to stop," Favre told Werder. "It's hard enough to win as it is. Success does crazy things. So we had a good meeting.

But don't worry -- whoever is snitching about Childress and Favre is really only making the team better. Provided things play out like the last time someone leaked information about Childress and Favre not enjoying each other.

"That article, like the schism thing, brought us together last year," Fave said. "It really did because it wasn't true. I don't know if someone out there is planting seeds or what but we wanted to nip it in the bud."

Ignoring for a moment the sheer inanity of Favre telling the press about a closed door meeting that he held less than a week after returning to the team because he got mad at a teammate because they talked to the press, it's worth noting that, according to PFT's Mike Florio , some folks think that the leak is Sage Rosenfels.

It is a logical choice, considering that Rosenfels likely hates his life more than when he was doing his helicopter impersonation in Houston -- at least there he had an opportunity to take snaps if Matt Schaub went down. Now, he's stuck as the third string (or second, depending on whether or not ESPN needs to manufacture news about Favre retiring to get him attention) on a football team that's in Minnesota.

Logically then (also helpful, via Florio's investigative work: Coles has covered/interviewed Rosenfels closely for a few years now), his leakiness is designed to eventually get him off the Vikings roster. But if that's true, and if I were him, I wouldn't even bother being anonymous.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Some quick thoughts and Tweets before the 11-game slate of preseason games begin tonight.

-Ben Roethlisberger will start and play maybe two series tonight for the Steelers. Then, it’ll be Byron Leftwich and then Dennis Dixon.

Browns WR Mohamed Massaquoi will not play tonight. Josh Cribbs will take his place in the starting lineup.

The Giants could be without RB Brandon Jacobs, who has a stiff neck. The NY Daily News also reports Jacobs is not dressed for the game.

Instead of starting RB Clinton Portis, Washington will give Larry Johnson a shot at taking first-team snaps .

There could be a delay of game in the 7:30 p.m. Jaguars-Dolphins game. According to Armando Salguero , “Stadium officials told fans at EverBack Field to go to the concourses because of a lightning alert. Stadium seems empty. Teams not on field.”

And one to grow on for Sunday:

Brett Favre – I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him – will start and play maybe 10 snaps Sunday vs. San Francisco,

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Posted by Andy Benoit

Normally, there is little reason to care when a receiver like Javon Walker works out for a team. Once a star, Walker was an injury-riddled non-factor during his two years in Oakland and is now out of the league. Friday, the 32-year-old worked out for the Minnesota Vikings (so did 49ers castoff Brandon Jones).

So why do we care? Because this gives us a chance to rehash the Walker-Brett Favre drama from around a half-decade ago. You may recall, Walker had a 1,382-yard, 12-touchdown season for the Packers in 2004. He held out of minicamp in 2005, which drew the ire of Favre.

"If Javon wants to know what the quarterback thinks, and I would think he might, I'd tell him he's going about this the wrong way. When his agent tells him not to worry about what his teammates think and all that stuff, I'd tell him I've been around a long time and that stuff will come back to haunt you."

Walker decided to play that year but suffered a career-alerting knee injury in Week 1. Favre’s comments stung, and ultimately Walker forced his way out of town. ESPN’s Mike Sando republished an excerpt from an old story from Michael Smith on the matter:


Favre offended Walker when he spoke out against the receiver in his contract dispute, saying he should come to training camp and not hold out. (Walker heeded the advice.) Walker believes Favre's comments made living and working in Wisconsin difficult; Walker tells of one instance when he was in a hotel and an employee announced his presence on an Internet message board for "anyone who had something to say to Javon Walker." It also angered Walker that the team allowed its iconic quarterback to interfere publicly in a teammate's business with management. He held his tongue all year.

"There's an unwritten rule that players stick together," said Walker, still biting his tongue on Favre for the most part.

Now, Walker needs to play with Favre, as he has nowhere else to play. Will it happen? Probably not (Jones would be a much better signing). And if it does, Walker would likely be the No. 5 or 6 wideout anyway. But hey, at least we got a chance to relive one of the best quarterback-receiver drama stories in recent years, right?

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Posted by Andy Benoit

Interested in hearing more on Brett Favre? Yeah, neither are we. But it’s August and this is an NFL blog. So our hands are pretty much tied.

This Favre bit actually isn’t bad. It has to do with comments made by Favre’s head coach. Brad Childress was asked Wednesday about the beating Favre took in the NFC Title Game. (You can read his response in the quote box below or just skip ahead to the good part).

“(Brett) knows there somewhere he's going to get knocked on his keister. That's going to happen. As long as we're doing it in the spirit of the rules, he's all good with it and I'm all good with it. In terms of not doing it that way, hey, everybody talks about hitting the quarterback. Let's just hit him the right way."
Childress was then asked if he thought the Saints unduly punished Favre in the NFC Championship. Childress said: "In my opinion, yeah."

That’s not bad fuel to the Week 1 fire, right? However, what mitigates the controversy here is that it’s hard to argue with Childress on this one. The Saints were called for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties for hits on Favre in that game, and the NFL admitted later that there should have been a third.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

The suddenly-unretired Brett Favre was midway through his first rambling answer in his first rambling news conference of the season, and I got confused. He said he visited Dr. James Andrews last Thursday to follow up on the ankle surgery he had earlier this offseason, and they discovered a new bone spur already had surfaced.

It’s not as big as the one extracted by Andrews in the surgery, but once again, Favre’s ankle might have been trying to tell Favre’s head that enough was enough. Favre’s heart decided not to listen.

“There is a little pain there with the scar tissue,” he said. “The fact is it’s something I have to deal with. There’s a little bit more range of motion on my ankle since the surgery, but not a lot. Every day walking is no problem. Walking is fine. Playing football, it’s probably not the healthiest thing to do for your joints.”

Here’s what confuses me. All along, I thought Favre claimed the ankle was what was delaying the decision on whether he’d return to the Vikings for his 20th year. But now that Favre knows his ankle still isn’t right –it’s worse than he must have hoped it would be – and he’s coming back anyway, why the hell did he put Minnesota through this mess? Just to miss training camp for a few weeks? Just so ESPN’s cameras could continue to flash his old videos as everyone in the football-speaking world continued to debate whether he would retire?

Just so he could continue to admire the billboards that sprung up around his hometown urging him to play another season, so three of his most important teammates could miss practice and fly to Mississippi to convince him to return?

If it didn’t matter how his ankle felt, what was the point of this entire exercise?

“It was really about the team,” said Favre, who practiced today and said he wants to play in Sunday’s preseason game. “Believe me, when I left New Orleans (after last year's NFC championship game) a big part of me was … I don’t want to say done … but the fact we lost that game ... it’s hard to make people understand. I played 19 years. The toll that it takes in that particular game, the mental toll is what’s hard to deal with.”

Ultimately, losing that game to the Saints – and being so close to going to the Super Bowl – is one of the major reasons he returned for one final season. That, and because he loves playing with his teammates.

Why, then, did he wait so damn long to tell them he’d return? Why did he supposedly send text messages to them telling them he was done? Did he really waffle that much, or did he just want the meal to simmer a little bit longer before serving?

“Me coming in brings in a lot of expectations and a lot of hoopla,” Favre said. “No one is deserving and worthy of all the attention. Heck, I’m not.”

His actions the past few offseasons speak of a man who doesn’t reflect that point of view.

Listen, I can appreciate Favre wanting to return – bum ankle or not. He still plays at a high level, and he said last year was the best he’d ever performed. I understand he loves his teammates and his football, and I get that he wants one more chance to win another Super Bowl.

He says he has nothing to prove, and of course, that’s true. He’ll be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But why must he make such a spectacle?

Toward the end of the news conference, Favre basically said he would retire after this year.

“Twenty years, and this is the last year of my contract,” Favre said. “I’m sure a lot of people are like “Yes,” including my family.”

If I were his family, I wouldn’t hold my breath quite yet. I mean, who knows how his ankle will feel this time next year.

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Posted by Josh Katzowitz

We haven’t posted anything on Brett Favre in, oh, about 17 hours. Which is a blatant violation of the Facts & Rumors mission statement (the punishment, of course, is having to wear Wranglers out in public for two hours). So, that’s our bad. And to make up for it, here’s a new Favre post even though he hasn’t done anything new since Tuesday.

There’s been some talk about how much more money Favre will receive from the Vikings to play this season. Originally, that number was a $7 million raise from $13 million to $20 million. Now, says Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune , that number might be closer to a $16.5 million base (and another possibility for $3.5 million of incentives thrown into the mix to reach, you guessed it, $20 million).

Of course, Favre says it’s not about the money, and maybe that’s true for him. But it’s not for the rest of his teammates. Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com makes a good point when he writes there are plenty of other Vikings who want a pay increase as well.

(It’s) a team that has three starters entering the final years of their contracts: linebackers Chad Greenway and Ben Leber, along with defensive end Ray Edwards. No known discussions are underway with any of those players, nor do the Vikings appear close to deals with another trio of players who have made noise about a possible extension, including running back Adrian Peterson, receiver Sidney Rice and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe.

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Posted by Will Brinson

So, Brett Favre is in Minnesota now. That whole "on a plane" "heading north" thing wasn't a hoax. Neither was the Flight Tracker.

This is REAL, PEOPLE. And you can watch it. No, seriously, you can watch it live on ABC 5 in the Twin Cities.

Let me warn you, though. If you tune into this, you will be a) bored by watching a black SUV drive down the highway slightly faster than OJ, b) angry that this guy keeps hijacking our lives every season, c) eventually even angrier that people pretended his retirement was somehow real, and d) eventually resigned that this will happen again next season with similar results.

Either way, if you're at an office and can't watch ESPN News (where Favre is also being tracked live), you can do so at that link. Or you could do the more entertaining thing and listen to what our own Pete Prisco has to say. We recommend the latter.



By the by, if this is somehow the most awesome hoax of all-time and Favre is just pulling a prank on everyone and about to drop his pants on the ground at the microphone before retiring, well, we'll be pretty thrilled.


UPDATE: The Vikings are expected to officially announce Favre's status for 2010 in a press conference Wednesday.