Favre, Minnesota ‘grasping at straws’

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — The hair on Brett Favre’s head looks just a little grayer these days.

His passes don’t seem quite as precise as they once were and the spark he created in his first season with the Minnesota Vikings has been conspicuously absent.

Such is the pall cast by an 0-2 start for a team that expects to contend for the Super Bowl.

With injuries to his favorite receivers and a more challenging schedule than the welcome mat that was rolled out for him last season, Favre and the Vikings’ offense have failed to continue the roll that took them all the way to the NFC Championship Game last season.

The Vikings have scored 19 points combined in losses to New Orleans and Miami after averaging nearly 30 points in the regular season in 2009. They have already lost a game at home after going 9-0 in the Metrodome last year and Favre is coming off a performance in which he threw three interceptions and lost a fumble in the end zone that led to one of Miami’s two touchdowns.

Simply put, it’s not how he envisioned things startingwhen he decided to return for a 20th NFL season.

“I don’t want to raise red flags,” Favre said on Thursday. “We gotta get on the same page, because we’re 0-2. We gotta find a way to get this thing going. I gotta make better decisions. I gotta play better.”

It would be hard to ask him to do more than he did last season, which he calls the best of his career. Favre threw for more than 4,200 yards with 33 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, finishing with a careerhigh 107.2 rating.

The encore has been far more difficult.

Favre is throwing to a receiving group that includes Greg Camarillo, who was brought in with a trade from Miami in late August and journeyman Hank Baskett, who was just signed Wednesday to add depth.

“Right now, we’re kind of grasping at straws trying to figure out things,” Favre said. “I think we, me included, can get on the same page even better.”

Favre said Thursday that he’s still “not really sure who I’m throwing to on particular plays” and admitted that “If I sat here and told you that I knew exactly what we’re doing right now I’d be lying.”