Antoine Winfield – Please Shut Up

Most Viking veterans are saying the right things about the Brett Favre speculation…and then there’s Antoine Winfield, who has officially endorsed the idea of the Purple adding old number 4, and essentially thrown Tarvaris Jackson under the bus at the same time.  Said Antoine:

"I think [getting Favre] would be a great move for us, but I don’t know if Green Bay would trade him to a division rival.Favre is still a great player.  That’s what you want to do in this league is add as many great players as you can. I think Tarvaris will do a great job for us if it doesn’t happen."

He tried softening the blow with that last sentence but I’m not falling for it.  Antoine held himself out of voluntary activities before last season precisely because he didn’t think Tarvaris Jackson could get the job done…because he thought the team wasn’t taking enough of a win-now approach, which would’ve meant signing a more experienced QB (like Jeff Garcia).  Winfield has been quiet this off-season, but you had to believe he still wasn’t 100% sold on Tarvaris.  And now we know he isn’t.  Otherwise he wouldn’t have been so up-front about his hard-on for Favre.

Let me clarify…I’m not ripping Winfield for wanting Favre.  I’m sure all the veterans on the team, in their heart of hearts, would prefer to have #4 taking the snaps when the season opens in Lambeau.  But most of the veterans understand that this is unrealistic…that Tarvaris Jackson is going to be the QB, and it thus behooves them to endorse Tarvaris publicly and help his confidence.  Only Antoine doesn’t seem to get this, and that’s why I’m ripping him.  He thinks he’s being refreshingly honest…but he’s actually being selfish and counter-productive.  I really wish someone would take him aside and explain what it means to be a team player.