Forget the off-season drama. Forget the in-season drama of the two meetings with Green Bay.

Just Brett Favre, quarterback.

The Vikings are 9-1, in command of the N.F.C. North. Favre completed 22 of 25 passes with four touchdowns against Seattle on Sunday. And his stat line for the season reads:
A completion percentage of 69.7, with 21 touchdown passes and 3 interceptions, and with a passer rating of 112.1, tops in the league (as imperfect as that statistic is).

Peter King, in his MMQB column this morning, has him listed at No. 2 in his weekly M.V.P. Watch:

1. Peyton Manning
2. Brett Favre
3. Drew Brees
4. Tom Brady
5. Philip Rivers
Any disagreement?

Extra point: Should the Vikings start to ration Favre’s playing time to lessen the chance of injury before the playoffs? It would be easy to assume that he’s the old Brett Favre. He’s playing like it, but he’s not. Well, the “old” part is right. He’s 40.

MORE

U.S. Olympic officials, Major League Baseball and other professional sports organizations are getting into the NFL’s fight with two Minnesota Vikings linemen who face four-game suspensions for violating the league’s anti-doping policy.

MLB, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League asked Monday for permission to file paperwork in federal court in support of the NFL, which wants to suspend the players at the beginning of the upcoming season. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed a similar motion on its own.

Kevin Williams and Pat Williams, who are not related, have never been accused of taking steroids. The two defensive linemen tested positive last summer for a banned diuretic, bumetanide, that can mask the presence of steroids. They took the weight-loss supplement StarCaps, which contained the diuretic but wasn’t listed on the label.

The leagues contend their own collectively bargained drug-testing programs would be affected if the linemen are allowed to fight their suspensions in state court. USADA argues uniform rules are needed “to ensure a level playing field.”

“It’s obviously important to the anti-doping movement that uniformity apply across the entire country,” USADA chief executive Travis Tygart told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

In May, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Magnuson dismissed most of the Williamses’ claims and a related case filed by the NFL Players Association but allowed the Williamses to pursue two claims in state court. One claim involves a Minnesota law on when and how employers can require employees to submit to drug testing. The other involves a state law that prohibits an employer from disciplining an employee for using a legal substance offsite during non-working hours.

In their request, the other leagues contend that Magnuson’s ruling would subject their drug-testing programs to similar challenges by players in Minnesota and other states.

Peter Ginsberg, an attorney for the Williamses, said it doesn’t matter to him if other sports leagues sign on to support the NFL.

“Sports organizations can’t simply declare that they don’t care about state law and not plan on abiding by state law and use that as justification, as the NFL has attempted to do,” Ginsberg said.

NFL attorney Dan Nash had no comment on the other leagues’ filing.

Last week, a Minnesota judge blocked the NFL’s plan to suspend the Williamses, a move their attorney said should let them start the season.

Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson granted the players’ request for a temporary restraining order that keeps the NFL from suspending them until their case is decided. The judge also scheduled a July 22 hearing on whether he should put the state court proceedings on hold while a federal appeals court considers other issues in the case.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press -http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4327101

The Brett Favre saga continues and the Vikings have told the future Hall of Famer that they need to know sometime this week what his intentions are.  It’s kind of quite sad when a player who has never taken a snap for your team has the franchise in limbo, waiting to decide what he wants to do.  Make no mistake about it, Favre is a better quarterback than any of the quarterbacks sitting on the Minnesota Vikings roster. Not only that, but just a few weeks ago, he had a good percentage of the players awaiting his arrivial and all over ESPN pretty much welcoming him in with open arms. Even if he doesn’t sign with the Vikings, not all will be lost for the team.

Adrian Peterson has emerged as the best running back in the league in just two seasons and as he continues to gain experience, he’ll continue to improve his game and the better he gets, the better the Vikings get. The defense is set, so that’s not going to be an issue. Minnesota needs a passing game and that’s why the idea of Brett Favre joining the team excites so many players on the roster. But how does it effect Tavaris Jackson if Favre doesn’t join the team? There haven’t been any reports of any offensive players taking his side in this whole ordeal saying they’d want him running the team. He was already yanked out of the starting lineup last season. How much confidence does he have left in himself after hearing his teammates being excited about the idea of him not being the starting quarterback this season?