He's Back! Favre returns for 20th season

Football Betting Lines

08/18/2010 - Minneapolis, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brett Favre officially announced his return to the Minnesota Vikings for the 2010 season, his 20th as a professional in the NFL.

Favre has been on the brink of retirement for several years, but has chosen to return to Minnesota a season after leading the team to an overtime loss in the NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints. It was initially reported that he was set to finally call it a career, but eventually decided to give it another go.

"It was very tough, obviously. I can make a case for both playing/not playing," Favre said at Wednesday's press conference. "It was really about the team. Believe me, when I left New Orleans, a big part of me was -- I don't want to say done, but the fact that we lost that game -- it's hard to make people understand."

In each of the last two offseasons, a major injury nearly forced Favre to retire. After 2008 with the Jets, Favre needed surgery on the biceps of his throwing arm, but came back to throw for 4,202 yards with 33 touchdowns for the Vikings last season. He needed surgery to remove scar tissue and bone spurs in his ankle this offseason, and, although the surgery wasn't as successful, he decided it was healthy enough to play.

"I needed surgery three years ago on my ankle. It's a chronic ankle," Favre said. "I had a visit with Dr. (James) Andrews last Thursday. Surprisingly, a new spur had already surfaced in the new X-ray. Fact is, it's just something I have to deal with. There is a little bit more range of motion since the surgery, but we're not talking about a lot."

Favre practiced for the first time on Wednesday and said he hopes to play in Minnesota's next preseason game against San Francisco on Sunday.

"I would like to (play Sunday). I took a lot of reps today," Favre said. "I'm not real excited about getting hit anytime soon, but that's part of it. I think there's no substitute for calling plays in the huddle in a real game environment, and the only way I'm going to get the speed of the game down is being in games."

Head coach Brad Childress was non-committal on whether or not Favre would play Sunday, but he was excited to have him back in the fold.

"(Favre) said, 'It's taken me 19 years to get to this point,' and I said, 'Maybe you finally got it.' I think the sky's the limit," Childress said. "Everybody always has to play around a quarterback, but he's got a good team around him, and he doesn't have to do it himself."

Additionally, the chance to win was something Favre couldn't pass up.

"The expectations are high here, as they should be," Favre said. "From my standpoint, I can't make any guarantees. I'm going to do everything I can. Whatever it takes for us to win. The bottom line -- I'm not here to set any records -- I've done it all, there's nothing left to prove. So, once again, it's really about these guys.

"I don't want to fail. I'm just being honest."

He also added that this year, the last of his contract, will be the final year of his professional career.

"After this year, I'm done. This is the last year of my contract," Favre said. "It was obviously a tough decision to come back. I can't say I'm going to do anything different than I did last year. I'd love to think that I'll play better. I'll do everything I can to help this team win."

The long-time Packers great who holds the NFL record for touchdown passes with 497, Favre has been the lone mainstay at signal-caller over the last 1 1/2 decades. Since the 1993 season, Favre has been under center for all 16 games every year, leading his teams to 10 seasons of 10 wins or more, including a Super Bowl title with Green Bay in 1996. Including playoffs, Favre has started 309 consecutive games, by far a record.

In what has surely been a Hall of Fame career up to this point, Favre has a 181-104 regular season record as a starter. The 181 wins are an NFL record, as are his 69,329 regular season passing yards and 5,855 playoff passing yards.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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