How to handle Brett Favre... | dizzle18's Blog

Now that week 17 has come and gone, I feel as though I need to do a public service for fans of the New York Jets. For, at least, the past four or five years here in Packers country, we have had to deal with retirement talk by the quarterback who currently starts for your team. To say the least, we know a few things about Favre and retirement talk. The first thing that will probably happen, is he's going to say something like; "I'm going to talk to my family about it, and I'll make a decision when I come to it." Which really means; I'm going to do the same thing I do every offseason - go to Mississippi, spend the summer laying around, or mowing the lawn - and I'll show up at training camp (welcome or not) overweight and out of shape. What happens next is much more disturbing, and extrememly annoying. The media, both local and national, will send about 20 satellite trucks, 800 reporters, and the Goodyear Blimp to Favre's hometown, every time he opens his mouth. You will be pummeled with breaking news stories about Favre being at a golf course, where he will say "nothing has changed," and then you will get to see stories for the next week, featuring analysts analyzing his most recent press conference. Never mind he didn't say anything - Brett Favre speaking is news. He may talk like a country bumpkin from Delta country...but he's Brett Favre. Ironically, I have the TV on behind me, and they are talking about Favre's future. IT IS ALREADY BEGINNING. Rachel Nichols at ESPN even played the whole, "I talked to Favre just the other day," routine. We have no idea of knowing if she really talked to him. The thing about a Favre offseason, is that EVERYONE claims to be talking to him. Whether he's sending text messages to Chris Mortensen and Peter King, or having intimate phone conversations with "undisclosed sources," there's going to be endless talk about what Brett Favre is saying. Thank GOD the Packers aren't involved in this anymore. All I can say, Jets fans, is good luck...provided you really want to put a lot of emotional stock in the guy who threw 6,000 interceptions in the last 9 weeks of the season.

Speaking of the Packers; I don't think I've felt this releived in a long time that the Packers did not lose to the Lions. It's like a weight has been lifted off my chest. Something I thought for sure was going to happen, that being the Packers would be the first team in NFL history to lose to an 0-15 team, did not actually happen. It would have been a rather fitting end to football season in Wisconsin - one where the best team in the state wasn't from Madison or Green Bay. That title goes to UW-Whitewater, which went to its fourth straight D-III championship game.

And finally, Aaron Rodgers' final stats for his first year; 4,000 + yards, 28 touchdowns, 13 ints. Man, he was TERRIBLE. If Favre were still starting for Green Bay, they would have gone 16-0. He would have thrown for 18,000 yards, 480 touchdowns, and only 458 picks. Jennings and Driver would have had 9,000 yards receiving between the two of them. Ryan Grant would have rushed the same amount of distance as it is from here to the Moon. The defense, because of Brett Favre's aura, would have magically become better. So, instead of hearing the "will he, or won't he" Brett Favre talk, we now get to hear every idiot in a Brett Favre jersey talk about how much better this team would have been if Favre were still quarterback. This winter is going to suck...

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December 30, 2008 12:18 PM ET

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well said...about time the sports world hears from a sane and rational GB fan...

choade4053

White Plains , NY

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December 31, 2008 05:23 PM ET

I agree with most of what you said EXCEPT that Aaron Rodgers was terrible. His defense all but quit on him the last 5 games of the season, of which they lost by a mere fieldgoal or less in the last minutes of the game. He stepped into the shoes of a Hall of Fame legend and would have been scrutinized, albeit fairly, should Brett have stayed retired and a media circus would not have questioned whether or not Green Bay made the right decision in every game that was played. Instead, at his first training camp where he was the go-to-guy, Brett decided he didn't want to retire after all and expected Green Bay management to welcome him back with open arms. When that did not happen, all of the "experts" were even more critical of a 1st year starting QB than they would have been otherwise. Have you forgotten that Favre almost single handedly lost the NFC Championship game last year when he all but forgot how to play football in the cold, which is what he had built his iconic reputation upon?
Would Green Bay have been better this season with Favre? Most likely yes. But that would be due to the chemistry he had the years to build with his offense vs him being a better quarterback than Rodgers. Would they have made the playoffs? That all depends on if the defense would have played better or not. If the defense quit on Favre like they did on Rodgers, then no-they still would not have made the playoffs.
Remember that Green Bay did not make the playoffs in Favre's 1st season either. Oh, and Rodgers quarterback rating at the end of the season was higher than Favre's. 'Nuff said.

GB in LA

Sunland , CA

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January 2, 2009 01:59 PM ET

Um...I guess you didn't notice the overload of sarcasm in that paragraph, when I said Aaron Rodgers was "terrible." Alright, that's what I get for being a sarcastic jerk - Rodgers was phenomenal this year. All joking aside, if Favre were still the QB of this team, they would have (in my opinion) gone 4-12. The defense was awful, and you're right, they blew, at the very least, four or five games for the Packers. All of the flack Rodgers received for supposedly not being a clutch performer in the final minutes of regulation were completely misguided. The game against the Bears in week 16 was a perfect representation of the Packers season. Rodgers drove the team to well within field goal range, with 20 some seconds on the clock, and what happens? The kick is blocked. A chip shot for Mason Crosby was jammed back down their throats. They go into overtime, Bears drive downfield and score the winning field goal, and Rodgers never gets to touch the ball again. That was the season for Aaron Rodgers. He played magnificently, yet his team didn't step up the same way he did...