Bevell Will Be Surprised If Favre Doesn't Play

Brett Favre left the Vikings walkthrough Thursday morning without the walking boot on his left ankle. Favre is not expected to practice Thursday and his status for Sunday's game remains in question.



Favre, who has two fractures in his left ankle, said Wednesday that he wants to play, and offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said he will be surprised if Favre doesn't extend his NFL record for consecutive starts to 292 games.



"Surprising would probably be a good word," Bevell said during his weekly press conference. "He's never not been out there so it would probably be a surprise. I was there [in Green Bay] and he broke the thumb. Immediately the doctor said, 'Hey, we've got to pin it and you're going to be out six to eight weeks.' In his mind, he said, 'Well wait a minute, I just played really well.' We didn't know it was broken. He said, 'I'm going to give it a shot.' He played with that as well. It would surprise me if he wasn't able to be out there."



Bevell said the decision will rest with Favre and Coach Brad Childress. Childress criticized Favre's decision-making against Green Bay on Sunday after he threw three second-half interceptions. Favre now has 10 interceptions and 14 turnpovers on the season.



Bevell said the coaching staff always has candid conversations with Favre when evaluating each game.



"It's important for [quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers] and myself as well to break it down like we would do with any other player," Bevell said. "We don't pull any punches with him. We tell him exactly how we feel it should be looked at. Actually to be honest, Brett is great about it. He sits there in the meetings and understands.



"Now the one thing you have to understand as well is how many years of experience he has of standing out there looking at it. Sometimes it's important to listen to him. He says, 'Here's what I saw, here's why I went over there.' You can either say, 'OK, I understand that' or you can say, 'OK, I know you have all these years of experience but that's not the way we want to look at it. We want you to look over here and go from there to there.'"

Favre: I wouldn't put anything past me

Brett Favre had gotten rid of the walking boot on his left foot Thursday as he made his way through the Vikings locker room and continued to seem optimistic that he might be able to do some work in prepartion for playing Sunday at New England.






















"I wouldn't put anything past me to be honest with you," said Favre, who suffered a stress fracture in his left ankle and a fractured left heel on Sunday at Green Bay.





















The 20-year veteran seemed in good spirits as he walked gingerly and sorted through his locker looking for a shoe. Favre was looking for a size-15 shoe for his left foot, something he would wear against the Patriots. That is exactly what Favre did in 2000 when he suffered a severly sprained left foot but played the next week and led the Packers to a 26-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. Favre wears a size-14 shoe ordinarily.





















As far as talking to coach Brad Childress in the past day to make a determination about playing, Favre said: "We haven't talked really. I've been getting treatment. I don't think that is an unusual thing with me [to not have discussed it yet.]"