Favre will be 38 in October, he will be entering his 17th season and he certainly has looked at the NFL world around him with the eyes of a man whose time in the game is rapidly expiring. The six playoff teams in the NFC last season — Philadelphia, Dallas, New York Giants, Chicago, New Orleans and Seattle — arguably should be in contention next season as well. In addition, teams like Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Arizona all have a shot at competing for a playoff berth.

Over in the AFC, there is even renewed optimism at Raiders’ camp. The Raiders, for Pete’s sake! They were atrocious last season, but there’s talk they could conceivably double their victory total in 2007. That would be four wins, but hey, it’s an improvement.

Favre sees teams taking steps to get better while he sees his Packers doing zilch. Moss is indeed a head case and, if the Packers struggled at some point in the season, Randy is not the type of teammate to pull a Knute Rockne and rally the fellows to follow his inspirational lead. But it was worth the risk. In the right environment, Moss could still be a superstar. Obviously the Patriots felt that way or they wouldn’t have taken on a contract that calls for Moss to receive about $21 million in base salary over the next two seasons.

Favre told the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald that Moss was willing to “wipe his contract clean” and sign for $3 million guaranteed, but that the Packers were not willing to go for it. Favre even said he was willing to guarantee that portion of the contract out of his own money. Still no deal.

But again, it isn’t just Randy Moss. The Packers have done little to improve other than lock up some of their key defensive players to contracts. It’s foolish to go out and spend money like Daniel Snyder, but it’s equally boneheaded to stand pat when standing pat means settling for mediocrity.

This will all blow over like yesterday’s news. It already started with his statement on the team Web site that he doesn't want a deal. The Packers begin their mandatory minicamp Friday, and Favre might not be there, since he is recovering from surgery in February to remove bone spurs from his left ankle. But if he shows, he’ll make nice and say the trade demand was taken out of context or overblown. If he doesn’t show, the team will spin it to suggest all is well and that he is busy rehabbing.

Yet behind the scenes, Brett Favre would be wise to demand that the team show some gumption by trading Brett Favre.

That’s the kind of decisiveness he’s been waiting to see.

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