Favre has not been ready for 2010 season

It’s been over mother since Brett Favre played the last game for the Minnesota Vikings, and yet he has not decided whether to wear back any team’s NFL jerseys for 2010 season, and does not expect to make any decision soon.

Appearing on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” on Thursday night, Favre made his first public comments since Minnesota’s bitter overtime loss in the NFC championship at New Orleans on Jan. 24, saying that he would like to enjoy the offseason and would not say anything anytime soon.

The former Green Bay Packer’s decision to play for his former bitter rival in Minnesota was unfathomable: it was unacceptable to Packers fans and he was not welcomed by Vikings fans, who had hated him for many years. However, Favre managed to have one of his best seasons ever and won over the majority of the Vikings fans. Remaining the NFL’s career leader in nearly every major passing category, the three-time league MVP quarterback brought 33 touchdowns and the lowest interception rate of his career to the Vikings. No wonder the Vikings have so much patience to wait for him to make decision although that could muddy their plans for the quarterback position.

Giants RB Brandon will not play against Vikings because of surgery

The New York Giants running back Brandon Jacob will not be available in his Giants jersey for this Sunday’s season-ending game against the Minnesota Vikings, as an injury to his right knee requires him to have surgery.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin on Wednesday announced that Jacobs will have arthroscopic surgery next week. The coach said Jacobs has had problems with the knee at times this season, but a recent examination showed he needed surgery.

To be replaced by Ahmad Bradshaw, Jacob had been leading the Giants in rushing for the past two seasons. Having an inconsistent year, he totally rushed for 835 yards on 224 carries, with yards per rush slipping more than a yard to 3.7 yards a carry.

Vikings WR Harvin seemed fine enough to play against Bears

The Minnesota Vikings Coach Brad Childress said Wednesday that rookie wide receiver Percy Harvin recently had a “good” visit with specialists at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, a visit that is part of the team’s plan to manage Harvin’s migraine headaches.

The problem kept Harvin out of one game and limited him to one practice last week. He had only one catch for 10 yards and two kickoff returns for a total of 31 yards in Sunday’s loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Vikings’ third loss of the season.

According to Childress, the bulging discs Harvin revealed he has in his neck were nothing to worry about that they are not herniated, and he is confident that Hardin will be able to wear back his Vikings jersey to practice fully this week and hopefully to play this Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.

Vikings backup LB Henderson received four-game suspension from NFL

The Minnesota Vikings backup linebacker Erin Henderson is not allowed to play for the team’s final three regular-season games and first playoff game as the league has suspended him for four games because the player violated the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances.

The suspension happened just ten days after Henderson’s elder brother, E.J. Henderson broke his left leg and was sidelined indefinitely. The NFL does not specify the substances for which players test positive.

Thus Erin ended the 2009 season with only playing two games in Vikings jersey. Signing with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008, Erin has played primarily on special teams and had two special teams tackles against during last Sunday’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

E.J. Henderson’s injury and Erin Henderson’s suspension left the Vikings few linebackers to play for the final games. Thus the team signed J Leman from the practice squad on Tuesday to take Erin Henderson’s place in the linebacking corps, and signed cornerback DeAndre Wright to the practice squad.

After surgery, Vikings LB Henderson unsure when to return

The Minnesota Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson had a successful surgery for broken left leg on Monday, but the team’s Coach Brad Childress is still not ready to tell whether or when the star linebacker would put on his Vikings jersey again to play with the team.

Henderson fractured his femur while trying to tackle Tim Hightower late in the fourth quarter -- his leg twisting violently as he went down. Being taken off the field on a motorized cart after doctors spent several minutes attending to the star linebacker; Henderson was driven to the locker room and stayed at a Phoenix-area hospital while his teammates went home after Sunday’s 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

If Henderson could not play again for the rest of season, it would be the second straight year that his season was cut short with injury. He played only four games in 2008 season before undergoing a surgery on his left foot and did not return for the remaining games.

Vikings rookie WR Harvin was ill

As several starters of the Minnesota Vikings are fighting injuries, another bad news is that rookie receiver and return man Percy Harvin was ill. Not sure what the illness is, but it seemed that it is bothering the player enough to prevent him from taking a practice.

According to Coach Brad Childress, the unspecified illness has been bothering Harvin for long as he has had trouble with migraine headaches this season. Will he be available to play Sunday’s game at Green Bay? Childress said that it is possible as he is hopeful that Harvin will be all right to practice on Friday, leaving two days for the rookie to get ready for the game.

As for the injured starters in Vikings jerseys, they continued fighting their injuries and missing practice. Receiver Bernard Berrian was nursing his injured hamstring, linebacker E.J. Henderson was dealing with a knee injury and cornerback Antoine Winfield was recovering from his foot injury.

Steelers still seeking ways to slow down Vikings RB Peterson

In order to keep their 100-yard streak, the Pittsburgh Steelers must find a way to slow down the Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, who gained 180 yards against the Cleveland Browns and 143 yards against the Baltimore Ravens.

To beat the unbeaten 6-0 Vikings on Sunday seems like an impossible task for the six-time Super Bowl Champion team Steelers. Vikings quarterback Brett Favre remains one of the NFL’s prolific passers, and Peterson’s 624 yards rushing lead the NFL and his 5.16 yards per carry average through 36 career games is the highest in NFL history at that stage of a career.

But the Steelers have their own confidence. Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin refused to call Peterson the NFL’s best running back. The team itself is No. 2 against the run and managed to limit No. 2 rusher Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans to 57 yards and No. 3 rusher Bengals’ Cedric Benson, who is the first to break the Baltimore Ravens’ 100-yard streak this season, to 76 yards. They have kept the 100-yard streak for 24 regular season games and find no reason to back away from the challenge of rusher in the Vikings jersey.

Vikings RT Loadholt skipped practice and was questionable for Sunday game

The Minnesota Vikings right tackle Phil Loadholt skipped the team’s Friday practice with an ankle injury and his playing status was questionable for this Sunday’s game against the Rams in St. Louis.

Loadholt was put on the injury report on Thursday. The rookie from Oklahoma is coming off probably his best game as a pro and contributed to the Vikings’ win over the Green Bay Packers without allowing a sack.

Left guard Steve Hutchinson and quarterback Brett Favre are listed as probable for Sunday’s game. Hutchinson was limited in practice, and Favre was out with injuries on foot, ankle and knee ailments.

Plus, punt returner Darius Reynaud was ruled out for Sunday’s game with injury on his left hamstring and some family matter to deal with. He also skipped the team’s last game against the Packers.