'Little support' for Favre

[tjw61]

'Little support' for Favre

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Adam Schefter
ESPN


What two knowledgeable NFL people described earlier this week as an "issue" in the Minnesota Vikings locker room was described Wednesday by a third informed person as a "schism."


The issue is quarterback Brett Favre, and the schism is the preference that certain Vikings players have for specific quarterbacks.


Sources with knowledge of the Vikings' locker-room dynamics say some players believe Tarvaris Jackson gives the Vikings the best chance to win; other players believe Sage Rosenfels gives the team the best chance -- which is one of the new twists to this storyline.



In the words of one NFL source, Favre has "little support" in the locker room as Minnesota prepares for its Monday night preseason game against the Houston Texans.


Favre, who signed only last week, struggled in his one preseason appearance but could easily win backers with improved performance and victories.


One NFL source said, however, that these locker-room issues were present long before the team signed Favre, and it's possible they will not go away any time soon unless Favre can completely silence them with his play.


Vikings coach Brad Childress was even asked Wednesday about the speculation.


"I've seen the same reports you've seen," Childress said. "Those are opinions. It's hard to shoot holes in an opinion. It's just that -- an opinion. I certainly don't see it."


Asked if he addressed with the players that friendships must become secondary to winning, Childress said: "I think all of them will cite that business is business. Whether they like it or not, that's the way it is. As I told Tarvaris, 'I don't expect you to like it.' He's a highly competitive guy, and he came back and played very well.


"That benefits him, that benefits us. There's no downside to that. I don't expect those guys to like it. But I expect them to deal with it and go forward. And by and large, that's exactly what's happened."

[ken]

He might help the team on the bench.

[tjw61]

Favre says there's no "schism"
Posted by Mike Florio on August 27, 2009 8:15 PM ET
ESPN's Adam Schefter has reported that there's a "schism" in the Vikings' locker room regarding the identity of the team's starting quarterback.

(We've heard merely that there's a "faction" of players who prefer quarterback Tarvaris Jackson. But what the hell do we know?)

On Thursday, Favre addressed the report. Per Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the newest old Viking was "clearly annoyed" by the report.

He apparently would have been even more annoyed if he knew what a "schism" is.

"I don't even know what that means, I've got no reaction," Favre said. "I'm just doing what I can do to hopefully help this team win and just trying to fit in. I'm not worried about that. That's for you guys to have some fun with. Once again, I have no idea what that means. I'm assuming it's controversial." (Favre's response reminds us of Muhammad Ali's reaction to being called "truculent" by Howard Cosell.)

"You guys have to keep stirring the pot I guess," Favre added. "Somebody has to make up a story like this. I can assure you, I don't think any guy in the locker room, me included, would use that word. We'd probably come up with something a little different. You guys have to come up with something a little more locker-room related."

Yeah, "schism" is one of those high-falutin' words, one that only a guy who went to college (and, you know, actually went to the classes) might use.

Meanwhile, Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer Press has reported that more than a dozen starters were not aware of any problems in the locker room, and ESPN's Rachel Nichols (as one media source who saw the coverage tells us) disputed Schefter's report based on her own information.

Then again, Rachel has had her face tattooed to Brett's bum lately (no disrespect intended), so the only thing noteworthy about her report is that ESPN actually is pitting their employees against each other on the air in a non-contrived Salisbury-Clayton way. As to Jensen's report, it's simply impossible to accept at face value the denials from players in the starting lineup after the sheetcake has struck the fan.

We've been hearing since late June that there are players on the team who want Jackson to be the starter. And while we haven't heard that it has risen to a high degree of rancor (Brett probably thinks that word is the name for a special kind of tractor), we're convinced that there was, as of yesterday, an issue.

Frankly, it's possible that these reports have galvanized (Brett really has a headache now) the team, causing them to rally around a guy who waltzed into the locker room after skipping the entire offseason program and all of training camp.

Regardless, this one hasn't been "made up," no matter what the guy who just got there nine days ago has to say.