NFL notes: He’s not booting string yet
Brett Favre sure doesn’t look like a guy ready to play a game in four days, not with an oversized walking boot covering most of his left leg.
But who would bet against Minnesota’s 41-year-old quarterback? Whether it’s reckless pride, simple determination or an exceptional tolerance of pain, he’s played through all kinds of pain – including a broken thumb in 2003 and a badly sprained foot in 2000 – and never sat out.
His NFL-record streak is at 291 consecutive games started, 315 including the playoffs. Naturally, Favre is not ruling himself out of Sunday’s game at New England despite two fractures in his left ankle.
“I would love to play, for no other reason but I’m in this, committed to this team,” Favre said. “I’d love to get this back on track and be a part of it, and more than anything function at a level that gives us a chance to win. That’s basically it.”
Favre said he won’t consider participating in any part of practice until Friday. He spent Wednesday in the training room, joining his teammates for their post-practice huddle and walking off the field wearing the boot, shorts, a sweatshirt and a Twins cap.
He’s always had a knack for healing quickly, which gives him hope he’ll be back when the Vikings (2-4) play the Patriots (5-1). If he can’t go, Tarvaris Jackson will take over.
Coach Brad Childress kept the option open, too.
“I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s going to make the push, like a lot of these guys do,” Childress said.
Favre said he’d put aside the streak for the sake of the team.
“It probably should have ended a long time ago,” Favre said, adding: “Whether it ends this week or it ends at the end of the year, it ends, and I will always be proud of it.”
Childress, too, said he wouldn’t factor the ironman record as part of the final decision on whether Favre will play, but the coach was adamant that he won’t let him go out there if he looks gimpy.
“I’m going to need to see some movement skills, to see that he can do that,” Childress said.
Favre was hurt in Sunday’s loss at Green Bay, and an MRI revealed a stress fracture in the ankle as well as an avulsion fracture in the heel bone, where a fragment has been torn away by a tendon or ligament. He doesn’t need surgery.
Jaguars bench Harvey
Derrick Harvey’s production never matched his potential.
So after 39 games, 32 starts and a meager six sacks, the Jacksonville Jaguars finally decided to bench the former first-round draft pick.
The eighth overall pick from Florida in 2008, Harvey started 26 consecutive games for the Jaguars (3-4).
He moved from the right side to the left side this offseason, and coach Jack Del Rio even tried to lower expectations for the defensive MVP of the 2006 Bowl Championship Series title game.
But nothing Del Rio said or did made a difference. The final blow came Sunday at Kansas City, when Harvey took the wrong angle on a running play. His miscue opened a huge hole for Thomas Jones, who scampered 70 yards to set up Kansas City’s first touchdown.
Another third-year player from Florida, Jeremy Mincey, will replace Harvey at Dallas (1-5) on Sunday. It will be Mincey’s first career start.
Around the league
Green Bay Packers linebacker Brad Jones is out for the season following a right shoulder injury that will need surgery. Jones had made five starts this season and 12 starts in his 20 career games, including a career-high 10 tackles in a 28-24 win over the Vikings on Sunday night. … The Detroit Lions placed linebacker Zack Follett on season-ending injured reserve with a neck injury. Follett was injured after a helmet-to-helmet hit while covering a kickoff in a game against the New York Giants on Oct. 17. He was taken off the field on a stretcher.