National Football League

Favre says he may have to miss games

Published Oct. 13, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre said Wednesday he would consider sitting out at some point this season if his sore right elbow worsens.

Favre has started an NFL record 289 consecutive games at quarterback, 313 including the playoffs. But the 41-year-old is suffering from tendinitis in his elbow, and was in noticeable pain during the second half of Monday's loss to the Jets.

Favre, with his elbow wrapped during his weekly news conference, admitted his accuracy was impacted by the elbow pain, though he still threw three touchdowns, giving him 502 for his career.

"You're not going to make every throw but I would have made some of those throws," Favre said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "From that standpoint, I don't want to play just to play."

With the Jets in 2008, Favre was hampered late in the season by a biceps injury that turned out to be a torn tendon. He later admitted the team would have been better off if he had sat out a few games.

"If you had told me tendinitis would keep me out I would have laughed at you because I always looked at it as, 'That's kind of a wimpy injury.' It was painful," Favre told the newspaper. "Very painful and for people who have had it lifting things is a problem. So throwing 50-yard bombs is even tougher. We've been treating it, it's been there for several weeks. It hasn't gotten any worse but it really hasn't gotten better."

Favre said the injury will only improve with rest, but also pointed out that going to the bench would cost him valuable reps as the team tries to regain last year's offensive rhythm.

Favre entered this season concerned about his surgically repaired left ankle, which almost forced him to announce his retirement in August. He has not practiced this week due to the ankle and elbow issues.

The Vikings, who have struggled to a 1-3 start, host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.