At Least the Cardinals Don’t Have Brett Favre
By Scott Allen
Brett Favre. Great player. Great consecutive games streak. Pleasant to the media. Selfish. That’s right, selfish. The Minnesota Vikings quarterback has been every bit of a distraction to a team that has clearly not met the high expectations it had when the season started. The Arizona Cardinals may have had a lot of issues, but having a selfish, aging quarterback that stayed in the game too long is not one of them.
Kurt Warner left the game at the right time. He left money on the table. He knew his body couldn’t take anymore. He wanted to be with family. He also retired rather quickly after the end of the season last year. He didn’t want to leave the Cardinals hanging. He was everything Brett Favre was not. He thought of others first. The Cards had Matt Leinart and a draft coming up. Free agency was on the horizon. The worst thing could have been that he hung around all summer long and then decided at the end of camp he was going to play or not play. No, only Brett Favre did that.
To say this season has been a disappointment to the Vikings and Vikings fans would be an understatement. Favre dragged his decision out all summer, as usual, only to come back after being begged by then coach Brad Childress and three teammates. Clearly, it was the wrong choice. I understand with how last season ended the feeling like there could be one more shot at winning the whole thing. However from the start, the decision was a disaster for the Vikings and for Favre himself.
All season long he has been nursing injuries. The he had a scandal from his time with the New York Jets, one that is still be investigated and if anything happens to Favre it won’t affect him one bit, at least from an NFL player standpoint. His injuries left his backups with hopes of playing. Last week Tarvaris Jackson got his chance until he got injured himself after finally, FINALLY, Favre just had no chance of making to the playing field. After weeks and weeks of teasing that he may have to sit out because of injury, he finally found one that was going to keep him out of a game and possibly the season.
Well, the Vikings decided not to shut him down for the season last week and left open the chance of him playing again this season. However a couple of days ago, the decision was made for him to sit out tonight’s Monday night match up against the Chicago Bears. No chance of playing. Rookie Joe Webb was going to get his first shot at starting quarterback. Ha! Christmas fools! Nope, Favre woke up this morning and amazingly felt better. His status was moved up to questionable and is probable to play tonight. Webb probably understands, but if I were Webb, I’d be very disappointed. He prepared all week to make his first career start and now this.
The field is going to be close to as unplayable as it gets apparently. That didn’t deter Favre. Favre still wants to give it a go. As far as I am concerned, his time has come and gone. Time to move aside Brett Favre. Stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about those around you for a chance. You are a Hall of Fame player for sure. It’s time to let someone else have their time in the spotlight, show what they can do.
For everyone excited to see him play tonight all I can say is this, don’t expect much. Don’t expect him to last the game. First hard landing on the field will probably have him leaving the game for good and I’m not talking about just for tonight either. Brett Favre, your time has past. Kurt Warner realized it and so should you. What good does it do for you to play against the Bears on a frozen field, clearly not 100%. You further hurt yourself and your teammates who I’m sure would dearly love a chance to win. Then again maybe with you at 50% is better than a 100% healthy Joe Webb. However, he deserves the chance. The Cards have quarterback headaches, but I sure am glad this wasn’t one. Just let it be Brett Favre.