Ben Leber Understands The Power Of “We”

The most significant aspect of Brett Favre’s appearance on Joe Buck Artie Lange Live, in our view, was the use of the term “we” on a couple of occasions by the “retired” quarterback. Unless he has sprouted a second head, “we” connotes a mental and emotional connection to the football team with which he has yet to sign a contract. And the not-so-subtle slip wasn’t lost on at least one member of the Vikings. “That really stuck in my mind because he’s already including himself,” starting linebacker Ben Leber told Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “It sounds to me like if [his arm] really is healed and he can throw he will be joining us sometime in the future. . . . “He gave out more information than I thought he would. With everything going on and all these reports out there and everybody checking credentials to see who has the right information. He came out and said Coach [Brad] Childress wanted him at OTAs. I think he was way more honest and that’s a good thing.” Last month, another starting linebacker didn’t sound quite so enthused. “[Favre has] retired a couple of times, so you wonder where his loyalties lie,” Chad Greenway said May 11. Despite the disruption and distraction that Favre’s arrival would/will create for the team’s current quarterbacks, Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson, Leber believes they realize the significance of adding Favre. “I think it would be hard to put this out of your mind if you were Sage or Tarvaris, but if you take a step back you’re being compared and put up against a Hall of Famer that a lot of people still believe has a few years left in him,” Leber said. “It’s not like bringing a lower-rated quarterback in all of a sudden and replacing these guys. . . . This would be special circumstances and a special situation.” Especially on those two days later this year when, for the first time in Favre’s career, throwing a ball that is caught by a member of the Green Bay Packers would be viewed as a blunder.