Mariucci to Favre: ?There's nothing left to prove'

 

You know it's on the way, right? Just like a fully packed snowball to the head, there will be the speculation that despite not passing concussion tests through Monday, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre would somehow drag himself onto the field at least one more time in the snow-postponed Vikings-Eagles game, so that a captive America could once again marvel at how much he loves the game and announcers on auto-pilot could prattle on about how he's "just havin' fun out there."

Well, as much as we poke fun at Favre's ceaseless need for drama (and as much as he's earned those jabs), it may be time for everyone to step back and take a more serious look at Favre's situations. He's been taking hits all season, and those hits have clearly taken their toll more than in previous seasons. Concussions are dicey things to diagnose under the best of circumstances, and while the more cynical among us will assume that Favre would prefer a nebulous diagnosis so he can pull the strings on his own participation in Tuesday night's game, more and more voices are just hoping that Favre will hang it up for his own sake.

Key among those is longtime Favre friend, coach, confidante and text buddy Steve Mariucci, who worked with Favre under Mike Holmgren in Green Bay and frequently gets exclusives from No. 4 in his current position as analyst on the NFL Network. Mooch has been one of the more staunch defenders of Favre's discretion regarding his own playing time, which made this plea last Sunday morning so interesting:

I've always been impressed with Mariucci -- he did the best he could as a head coach in difficult situations in San Francisco and Detroit, and he seems like a caring, sympathetic person. He's never been objective on the subject of Favre, but he's always been up front about that, and I've always been inclined to give him a pass under the circumstances. You can see from the emotion in Mariucci's voice and demeanor that he's clearly concerned about Favre's future well-being.

When the inactives for the Eagles-Vikings games are released, we'll see how much Favre and his team care about the same things.

Karen Carreno Bijou Phillips Marika Dominczyk Dita Von Teese Rachel Nichols