Favre, Favre Away

I can't believe it

I dismissed Jay Glazer's recent speculation as just that: speculation. I wanted to believe that Vikings management wouldn't cave to an over-the-hill prima donna's desire to avoid training camp. It is already ten days later than when he joined the New York Jets last year, and I'm a firm believer that the physical preparation of training camp is a necessity for the health and continued high performance over the course of a season. Favre, Ryan Grant, Steven Jackson, and Larry Johnson are all examples of players who entered training camp late, and suffered injuries and poor performance the following season.

I doubt how quickly Favre can adapt to the Vikings offense. I doubt how quickly he can get comfortable with the Vikings' receivers, but most of all I doubt his ability to be in good enough shape to avoid not only last year's late season fade, but the poor late-season performance that he's shown in recent seasons (since 2004 December has been his worst month).

Just like with the Jets last year, I don't expect this to end well. It's hard to say that Favre would do worse than Sage Rosenfels, but I don't think the drop off would be extreme enough to justify this one year push for a Super Bowl. Sage is more mobile, which will help avoid the sacks that could at any point end Favre's career. The Vikings offensive line wasn't as good as advertised last year, and this year will have two new members. Pass protection will continue to be a problem, and Favre is going to get injured sooner or later. What then? Does Childress have the balls to end the streak? I hope he does, because the Vikings season may depend on it.