Bills DE Schobel is ready to retire at any time

The Buffalo Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel will turn 33 years old by the first day of September, and he is now thinking that he might have been too old to play more football, so he would be fine and announce his retirement if the Bills finally decide that they do not need the defensive end any more.

"I think this coaching staff is OK with moving on without me, and that’s fine," Schobel said via the team’s website. "I understand he has to come in and do what he has to do, but at this point in my career that’s what has to happen for me to play. If September rolls around and Buffalo wants me, then maybe I’ll play. But I doubt it."

Even if Schobel retires, the Bills will not lose much in productivity. The 32-year-old man had only 10 sacks, three forced fumbles, four passes batted down and one interception in 2009 season. Schobel used to say that he wanted to preserve his body for post-career life, which will be spent mostly on staying with his three young children. He may also put on his wife’s favorite Vikings jersey to watch other teams’ game. On the other side, the Bills GM Buddy Nix told reporters recently that the team would keep Schobel if the player still wants to play.

Vikings quarterbacks try not to focus on Favre issues

Following the Minnesota Vikings Wednesday practice, the team’s quarterbacks were surrounded with reporters. While some of the questions were about their own situations, many others were about their starter in 2009 season, Brett Favre. The quarterbacks must have been told what to say about the 40-year-old Favre and they tried to give reporters impression that they are currently only focusing on workouts in preparation for new season.

"I'm just trying to get better and not worrying about who's not out here," quarterback Tarvaris Jackson told reporters. "I've been going through this the last three to four years now. I'm kind of used to this approach, just worrying about myself, trying to get better. That's all I can do."

Other quarterbacks like Sage Rosenfels and rookies Joe Webb and R.J. Archer said even less than Jackson, insisting that they were just there to work out and improve their own performance, no matter who was going to be the leading role in what number of Vikings jersey. However, what they said obviously was not enough to end discussion and speculation on Favre’s decision, as reports came out the next day still focused on Favre and related the Vikings other quarterbacks’ confidence in new season to the possible return of Favre.

Vikings may expect Saints defense to blow Favre again

Recently, the Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress talked about Brett Favre’s injury in an interview. About the blows Favre received from the New Orleans Saints defense in NFC championship game and caused the quarterback’s injury, Childress made it clear that the Vikings won’t sit back and will deal with such attacks in wiser way next time.

Seemingly with the hope to disrupt opponent team’s starting quarterback, the Saints defense gave a number of big blows on Favre’s high-low body part. The attacks seemed effective as frustrated Favre told reporters after the game that he was suffering pains on different parts of his body. The attackers included Remi Ayodele and Bobby McCray, but none of them got any penalty during the game. It was some time after the game that the NFL made acknowledgement on their mistakes in not punishing the Saints defensive players for their personal fouls.

It might also be one of the factors that caused the Vikings to lose the title game overtime, but it needs to be proven by the season opener on Sept. 9, when the Saints and Vikings will meet again in New Orleans. In order to make it more convincing, it also requires Favre to wear back his Vikings jersey to face the same defense.

Vikings continue with uncertainty at quarterback

Drafting eight picks this year, the Minnesota Vikings make it more intriguing on what their plan is with the starting quarterback. The only quarterback in the eight picks is going to play at wide receiver, and it is still unlikely for the two existing backup quarterback to take the starting job. What’s more important, Brett Favre remains undecided.

Some people may feel assured that one of the backup quarterbacks, Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, could move up to the starting line, but actually none of them has ever proven that he is capable of calling signals. What confuse us is that the Vikings do not seem to be worried at all. We may get some clues from Vikings head coach Brad Childress’ recent words about Favre’s returning. After the draft ended on Saturday night, Childress told a joke at his news conference saying that it would be fine to see Favre accepting a 2020 NFL MVP award trophy. By saying that, Childress showed some confidence with what Favre is still able to do if he wears back the No. 4 Vikings jersey. Childress did acknowledge that he and Favre exchanged some text messages recently, but it was nothing about his condition in 2010 season.

Still, the Vikings must have some big plan to surprise us when right time comes. Otherwise it’s hardly understandable for them to skip high-profile quarterbacks still available on the board when they made the choice. Letting Jimmy Clausen to land on Carolina Panthers and Colt McCoy to join the Cleveland Browns, the Vikings successfully retained public attention on them even after the draft ended.