Favre was satisfied with his brief debut

Vikings quarterback Brett Favre said at his news conference following the 17-13 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Friday that he was happy limiting his playing to two series.

He said that after getting hit on a blitz, he was ready to wait to play more until next week, when the Vikings play at Houston on Aug. 31. Vikings coach Brad Childress sent in Tarvaris Jackson to replace Favre.

"We [Favre and the coaching staff] tossed around playing time and how risky it would be after 2 1/2 days of practice, even though I know the offense for the most part," Favre said. "There is no way I can be in condition after 2 1/2 days. So I am sure after Brad saw me get hit on that one [he and I] weren't too eager to go back in."

Favre was asked to describe his five days as a Viking.

"Each day it has gotten a little smoother after all of the newness has worn off," he said. "It's really become just about football. After the first day of practice, the next day, going to meetings and practice. It is just business as usual.

"... Getting this first game over with is a good thing as well. Preseason is tough anyway, but this week has obviously been a little hectic. We have a long [practice] week [this] week. I consider that a good thing and something I need probably."

Favre said he didn't need to test his arm against Kansas City because he had done it working out before joining the Vikings and leading up to camp. He said he is more concerned about getting his legs in shape because they have been sore after practices.

Favre got a tremendous standing ovation when he came on the field Friday night.

"It's a lot different than in the past [when he was with the Packers]," he said. "I was honored. That was very nice. But once again, down the road is when it's most important. No one wants to see this team succeed more than me."

Need better running Gophers football coach Tim Brewster has said it 100 times this offseason: The one thing the Gophers need to do is to run the ball better.

In Saturday's scrimmage at new TCF Bank Stadium, the running game didn't start out too well. But before the scrimmage was over, Duane Bennett had rushed for 65 yards in seven carries and DeLeon Eskridge gained 26 yards on nine carries.

"We didn't start the scrimmage as well with the running game as I would have liked," Brewster said Sunday. "I really thought that the guys got comfortable as the scrimmage wore on. And I thought that the offensive line settled in and finished the scrimmage really doing some nice things. I liked how Bennett ran the football, and Eskridge."

"It all starts with your quarterback, and Adam Weber, I think, is an outstanding quarterback," Brewster said. "[Saturday] he made a couple of bad decisions with the football, but we'll get those things cleaned up and he'll move forward as an outstanding quarterback."

Brewster surprised everybody by playing Ra'Shede Hageman, a great tight end at Minneapolis Washburn, at defensive end. This experiment might continue.

"Hageman is a big, good-looking athlete, and what we want to do is, we want to look at him in a number of different spots," Brewster said. "He's very talented. A big strong kid. And, I tell you what, he looks very natural playing defensive end. The other day we put him in there and he just really did some nice things. Obviously, he's going to be a good tight end for us. So we're just looking at different ways in which he can help our team, and he's certainly going to do that."

Jottings Tony Dungy, retired as coach of the Colts, was here Friday and spent time talking to the Gophers football coaching staff and their wives and also close to one hour with the entire Gophers squad. "We had all of our wives there," Brewster said. "He's got a tremendous message for families and young football coaches. It's a message that relates to life and not football."

Gophers radio football analyst Dave Mona wanted to find out if the Metrodome gave the Gophers a big home-field advantage. He learned that in the 27 years the Gophers played in the dome, they were 5-35 against Top 25 teams and 0-15 against top-10 teams.

The paid attendance for the Chiefs game on Friday night was 62,782, one of the highest for an exhibition game in Vikings history. ... Some members of the Chiefs administration were sad that after 19 years, this was the last time the team would hold training camp in River Falls, Wis. ... Tyler Thigpen, the quarterback the Chiefs received on waivers from the Vikings two years ago when Minnesota saw potential in him, is Kansas City's third-team quarterback after starting a number of games last year.

A few eyebrows were raised this week when the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL traded for the rights to Gophers hockey player Aaron Ness. This year the Wheat Kings are hosting the Memorial Cup, the annual junior hockey tournament (and trophy) held to determine the Canadian Hockey League champion. You wonder if the trade would make Ness think about turning pro instead of attending school. However, this is unlikely.