Pretty much everything has been smooth sailing for the Minnesota Vikings and quarterback Brett Favre so far this season, and the marriage between the two has been far more successful than many predicted it would be. But as losses have a tendency to do, a bit of dirty laundry may have been exposed in the aftermath of Sunday night's defeat at the hands of the Carolina Panthers.

Comments made by Favre to the media regarding an attempt by head coach Brad Childress to pull him from the game in the third quarter brought to light an interesting dynamic that has the potential to cause problems down the road. Read more...

As parents, many of us struggle with the decision to let our kids play football. After all, it is a very physical sport, and none of us wants to see Junior get hurt.

Besides the potential for injury, though, there are other things to consider before committing your child to a season on the gridiron.

Jobe Lewis goes over all the points you should consider when deciding if football is right for your kid.

A couple weeks ago the Dallas Cowboys were sitting pretty atop the NFC East with an 8-3 record. However, many were quick to point out how ineffective the team has been with Tony Romo under center during the month of December. And now that we are past the mid-month point, it appears the wheels, while they may not have fallen off just yet, are beginning to noticeably wobble.

Already sitting at 0-2 in December the Cowboys are at a crossroad, staring a major collapse in the face with a game in New Orleans against the unbeaten Saints up next on Saturday. Dallas has already fallen a game back of the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants are nipping at their heels. So the last thing Romo and crew want is to go to 0-3 in December with games against division rivals Washington and Philadelphia rounding out the 2009 schedule.

That makes Saturday's game critical.

If Dallas can somehow manage to pull off a very tough road win, it would quiet some of their critics and put them in a good position to make the playoffs.

But if they lose, it could be the beginning of the end for Head Coach Wade Phillips. Another December collapse or early exit from the playoffs, in fact, could spell doom for the entire coaching staff.

Tragedy struck the NFL and the Cincinnati Bengals Thursday morning as news broke that wide receiver Chris Henry had passed away due to injuries suffered in a traffic mishap.

Apparently Henry was involved in some sort of domestic dispute with his fiancee, and as she sped away in a pickup truck, Henry jumped in the back end. It's unclear at this time how it happened, but Henry fell out of the truck, suffering injuries that proved to be fatal.

Making this tragic event even sadder is the perception that Henry had turned his life around over the past year after a series of brushes with the law led to his release from the Bengals. The Bengals eventually re-signed Henry, but a broken arm landed him on injured reserve earlier in the season.

Henry and his fiancee were scheduled to be married in March.

UPDATE: Recordings of 911 calls have been released. (Hat tip to TMZ) In the first a woman following the truck Henry fell out of describes Henry as shirtless and beating on the back window of the truck. A second caller following the accident says "there's a man in the road ... he looks dead ... there's no movement."

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