Minnesota Vikings coaches said Brett Favre would test his sprained right shoulder Thursday, but the quarterback didn't participate in practice.
Instead, according to the *St. Paul Pioneer Press*, Favre stood to the side without a helmet, flipping balls with his left hand, and he barely moved his right side.
Still, Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell said Favre's throwing shoulder has improved in recent days.
"He has a little bit more range of motion. I see him stretching and moving around," Bevell said. "I still think he's obviously in some pain. Particularly, sleeping is not very comfortable. Either you put it on the left or put it on the right, it's still painful."
Favre's status for Sunday's meeting with the New York Giants is expected to be a game-time decision, but Bevell isn't counting out the 41-year-old signal-caller.
"You expect nothing less than him being out there," Bevell said.
"We're going to take a good look at it here in the next couple of days," he added. "We've still got quite a few days left before we play. It really is probably going to go down to a game-time decision."
The plan is for Favre to try to do some work in practice Friday, the final full session before Sunday's game. The Vikings also have a light walkthrough Saturday, but interim coach Leslie Frazier said he would be OK with Favre not doing any work all week, then playing Sunday if the quarterback felt up to it.
"If he could go out in pregame, much like we did with Adrian (Peterson's ankle) last week, and he moved around and threw the ball well, yeah, we'd put him out there if it looked good enough for us to do it both medically and from a physical standpoint," Frazier said.
Bevell acknowledged that Favre's NFL-record starts streak is important to the quarterback. Sunday's game would mark Favre's 298th consecutive game played if he's able to go.
"He definitely does pride himself on that," Bevell said. "He's always said he's not a big stat guy and all that, but this is one that is important to him. On the flip side, it's not one that he wants to go out and put his team in jeopardy just to say, 'Hey, I've got another game under my belt.'"
Favre wasn't available to reporters Thursday. He said Wednesday that he hoped to make a decision about his availability as early as Friday, depending on how the week went.
"We were hoping that he'd be able to do something today," Frazier said. "The fact that he couldn't just means we'll move it back another day. Friday's not the end of the world. If he can do some things tomorrow that will be great, and hopefully that will be the case."
Favre was injured on the third play of the game last Sunday when Buffalo Bills linebacker Arthur Moats blindsided him on a pass play. Favre watched the rest of the game from the sideline, with Tarvaris Jackson filling in during the Vikings' 38-14 victory.
Favre isn't the Vikings' only injury concern. Wide receiver Percy Harvin hasn't been at the team's headquarters this week, staying home to treat a migraine that has bothered him for more than a week now. Harvin didn't play against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, and Frazier said the team is having him meet with doctors to address a problem that has plagued him for most of his adult life.
Left guard Steve Hutchinson didn't practice Thursday and is still trying to determine if he can play with a broken right thumb that caused him to miss last Sunday's game. Defensive end Ray Edwards (high ankle sprain), cornerback Chris Cook (knee) and safety Tyrell Johnson (knee) also didn't practice.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
