EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Brett Favre is back in Minnesota, right on schedule.
For the second year in a row, the quarterback who spends his summers on the verge of retirement was driven to Vikings headquarters on the Tuesday after the team’s first preseason game.
Same as last August, news helicopters followed his vehicle from a local airport and dozens of fans and media gathered at the entrance to Winter Park to greet him.
“Circus in Winter Park,” tight end Visanthe Shiancoe tweeted.
Nothing the Vikings haven’t seen previously.
On Aug. 18, 2009, Favre boarded a private plane from Hattiesburg, Miss., and arrived in Minnesota. Coach Brad Childress picked him up and brought him to the team facility. He practiced the same day and suited up for a preseason game three days later.
This time around, the Vikings sent three of Favre’s closest friends on the team — Jared Allen, Ryan Longwell and Steve Hutchinson — to Hattiesburg to bring him back for one more shot at a Super Bowl.
“Helicopters acting like they are following O.J.,” Shiancoe tweeted. “Where is the Bronco?”
Presumably, Favre, who will turn 41 in October, did not make the trip just to tell the Vikings he was retiring, but the team issued no formal confirmation he was taking back his starting job.
The Vikings instead issued a media schedule for today, announcing that coach Brad Childress will hold his regular news conference after practice. The team also said that a “media availability with QB Brett Favre is to be determined.”
Manning uncertain to play
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — A bloodied Eli Manning was in some discomfort a day after receiving 12 stitches for a head wound.
Manning’s status for the Giants’ game against the Steelers on Saturday is uncertain.
While the Giants said Manning showed no signs of a concussion after suffering a 3-inch gash to his head in a 31-16 victory over the Jets on Monday night, the quarterback was undergoing a battery of tests to make sure he did not suffer a more serious head injury.
“We’ll wait and hear what the doctors have to say after all their examinations are concluded,” coach Tom Coughlin said.
Footnotes.
Bengals linebacker Rey Maualuga was fined two game checks by the NFL and forfeited a two-week share of his signing bonus for a drunken driving conviction February in Kentucky.
• The Browns placed punter Dave Zastudil on injured reserve after his surgically repaired right plant leg did not respond enough to rehab and rest for him to kick this season. The Browns’ punting and place-holding duties will be handled by Reggie Hodges.
• The Titans waived injured rookie running back Stafon Johnson, the former Southern California standout whose college career was ended by a weightlifting accident that crushed his neck.
• Dolphins guard Nate Garner is out indefinitely because of a foot injury that required surgery last week.
• The Saints signed running back Ladell Betts to a one-year contract.
• Bills rookie receiver David Nelson is out indefinitely with a right leg injury.
