Monday, January 25, 2010
Vintage Favre
EDIT: Because this seems to be a Favre-bashing kind of a day, I threw in this little gem, which made me laugh. -SB
The last pass Brett Favre threw as the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers was poorly thrown, intercepted and cost the Packers the NFC championship in the 2007 season. How poetic that, perhaps, Favre's last pass in the NFL is, again, a poorly thrown ball that was intercepted and cost his team the NFC championship.
As a Packers fan and Favre hater, I've pretty much trashed the guy all season, despite the fact that he's had one of the best years of his career. Words cannot describe my joy when he threw that last interception.
But one last time, I'm giving him some props for the way he played in the NFC championship game on Sunday in New Orleans.
Early on, it was clear that one of the Saints' defensive goals was to knock Favre around, and they succeeded. Favre got hit, and hit, and hit, and hit hard. One hit in particular, in the second half, sent him limping to the sideline after his first interception of the game. But he got his ankle taped and, on Minnesota's next possession, limped back on the field and kept playing.
I don't know if Favre is the toughest quarterback in NFL history, but he's unquestionably the toughest I've seen. A lot of QBs probably wouldn't have come back to the game in Favre's condition, and he's a man, he's 40.
And, as much as it pains me to admit it, I was wrong about Brett this season. I thought he'd burn out, like he did with the Jets last year. I thought he'd show his age. I thought the Vikings would be only slightly better with him under center.
But they were a whole lot better. Favre had the fewest interceptions of any season in his career in which he was a full-time starter. His 33 touchdowns were his most since 1997, when he led the Packers to a second straight Super Bowl.
Clearly he can still play this game at an elite level. I just wish that, the last several years, he's make up his damn mind more quickly that he wants to continue to play. Then again, if he had, he might still be the Packers quarterback. And I know Green Bay lost in the first round, but Aaron Rodgers has shown in his first two seasons leading team that he's nasty. But that's material for another blog entry ... next year perhaps ... when Rodgers takes the Packers to the Super Bowl. (Disclaimer: That's not an official prediction, yet. More of a musing.)
Favre's last play of the season is one of the key reasons most Packers fans don't miss him. In the coming weeks, and months, Vikings fans will learn another reason as Favre, yet again, ponders retirement. Don't expect a quick decision from the guy who's thrown more playoff interceptions than anyone in NFL history. He's going to hold the Vikings hostage, especially since he knows the Vikings don't have the guts, as the Packers did, to tell him his services are no longer wanted.
We all were witnesses this season to vintage Brett Favre. The unbelievable touchdown passes. The "what the hell was he thinking?" interceptions. The passion for the game. And now, the waiting to find out if he'll retire.
Good luck with that, Minnesota.
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7 comments:
Front page of JSOnline says it all. "Oops, same old Brett"
Too bad he phoned it in his last couple of years with the Pack.
Phoned in? Getting to the NFC championship game and into overtime is phoning it in? Man, you Packers fans are ridiculous.
What more did you want from the guy? He gave you everything he had for nearly two decades, and when management pushed him out the door, he found a new job - like any of us would.
I was fully rooting on Favre and the Vikings, mostly because I picked them to go to the Super Bowl in August, but also because it's not something you see everyday. The way he battled, the way he threw the ball, you just don't see that out of a 40-year-old quarterback.
"Same old Brett?" I don't think that was the case here. Sure, he threw a bad interception, but his postgame press conference said it all. Win or lose, he had a great time this season with the Vikings and their fans.
He couldn't say that his last few years with the Packers, whose fans too often took him for granted.
Hardly standout numbers for a HOF QB
2004 - 10/7
2005 - 4/12
2006 - 8/8 (cost the coach his job)
2007 - ok, championship game but he gave it away again with a pick.
Not to mention a stellar Rams game with more picks than one can count on one hand, or a Philly playoff game where an ill advised throw ended any playoff hopes.
I will say the man just wouldn't go down yesterday. He's as tough as they come. Part of why us Packer fans liked him so much. He embodied how many of us Wisconsinites see ourselves. Take the worst anybody has to throw at you and get back up.
Then he turned into a prima donna, a whiny diva, a 40 year old drama queen. That's why we get on his case.
He had an amazing year much to my disappointment. But in the end, he'll be watching the SB on TV just like the rest of us. As he has for the last 14 years.
Wow, you Wisconsinites run a tight ship. For a guy that bled for you, you're judging him on his last four season, the last of which he brought you to the NFC championship game when the expectations were much, much, much lower?
By the way, that 4-12 season, the defense ranked No. 19 in the league, giving up 22 points a game. The team's leading rusher that season? Samkon Gado. I don't think it falls on one guy.
What happened when you gave him a formidable defense and decent runnning game? Oh yeah, he goes 13-3 and to the NFC title game.
Bottom line is that he's a winner. He might throw some bad interceptions, but he was 160-93 as Green Bay's starter. He brought you to two Super Bowls, winning one of them.
Just face it that you guys are bitter because he's on the other side and flourishing while your boy Aaron Rodgers is sitting at home.
No one's discounting what he did for the franchise, the state and an entire nation of Packers fans. He brought the Packers back from irrelevancy and, yes, took them to two Super Bowls. For that, we are forever grateful.
But his waffling about retirement every offseason his last few years grew tiresome real quick. I respect the man's right to take his time and make a decision, but make a decision and stick with it.
And management didn't "push him out the door." He retired, they moved on with Aaron Rodgers, who is damn good, if you haven't noticed. Then Brett changed his mind again. What respectable NFL franchise would take him back in that situation?
Furthermore, I can't believe you're calling out Rodgers, saying he's "sitting at home." What's Favre doing about now? Same thing. The difference is, Favre cost his team a playoff game, while Rodgers had the game of his life in his playoff debut, putting up 45 points. The D let him down.
Packers fans are Packers fans, not Brett Favre fans. And when Favre disrespects the most storied franchise in NFL history the way he did, I think we're pretty justified in our attitude toward him.
Brett Favre throws a pick to end his team's chance, and Rodgers fumbles away his team's chance. Seems pretty even to me. OK, that was a cheap shot.
So management moved ahead, and it was a decision that they had to make. I respect that. But to root against a guy because he went out, found another job and flourished is just down right bitter. What I've said all along.
The good lord knows I still rooted for Doctor Drew Bledsoe after he went out and joined one of New England's biggest rivals.
(heavy sigh)I guess you just can't understand unless you have been a life long Packer fan. In other words, if we have to explain it to you, you don't get it. And that's ok. Opinions are like noses, everyone has one.
I don't care where he plays or if he plays. I loved Joe Montana and didn't have a problem with him playing for KC. He moved on. It happens. But all of Brett's handwringing and tears and whining about sticking it to the Packers etc. and having his wife call up journalists to whine about how bad Brett got treated, just rubs us all the wrong way. And 4 of his last 5 years he's sucked. But lo and behold he plays for the archrival 'Queens and he's reborn! Whatever.
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