Three-time NFL MVP and Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is retiring.
Favre retires as the NFL's all-time leader in touchdown passes, passing yards, and wins by a starting quarterback. Most famously, he started 275 regular season and playoff games in a row, which is one of the most amazing streaks of my lifetime. And Favre is the league's career record holder for interceptions.
Favre's been one of my favorite players in the league for a long time, though I've always regretted not watching him more during his MVP years. Not only was he clearly a fantastic talent, he played with the style I love. There are a lot of different ways to be a great quarterback. Some guys, like Dan Marino and Peyton Manning, can throw the ball with absolute precision and are deadly from the pocket. I usually don't find it quite as exciting watching these guys, though for some reason I loved Kurt Warner in 1999. There's another style, quarterbacks who are a little more athletic, incredibly accurate, and cool under pressure, but maybe don't have quite the same zip on the ball. I'd put someone like Joe Montana or Tom Brady in this class. (When I say athletic, I mean a few things, but remember that Montana held the record for rushing yards by a quarterback in a Super Bowl game for years until Steve McNair broke it.) I like these guys, and I definitely respect them, too.
And then there's Favre, who had a style all his own, but who also shared many characteristics with the great John Elway. Favre had an incredibly strong arm, mobility, toughness, courage, creativity, and, above all, passion. Players like that are the quarterbacks I love the most. They're so much fun to watch, and even when they're down, you know there's always a chance you'll see a comeback for the ages.
Favre will be missed. I don't quite feel sorry for Packers fans, who after all spent the last decade and a half watching one of the game's living legends week in and week out. I think the Elway comparison is apt for another reason. The fact is, of all the great players who retired in recent years, only Elway symbolized his franchise the way Favre did (though Dan Marino and Barry Sanders came awfully close). As a Broncos fan, I know what loyal Packers fans are about to go through, and it ain't pretty.
First off: you think the broadcasters talk a lot about Favre now? Just wait until he's not even in the stadium, but they make thinly-veiled references to him every game. After every sack, and after every pick, comes either second-guessing, or predictions that the fans will soon start second-guessing. (The real ones won't so much, because they appreciated what they had in Favre when they had him, but the bandwagon guys are going to hate Aaron Rodgers.)
Second: your team is going to be worse. Probably a lot worse. It's true that Favre is imperfect, like all quarterbacks. But it's also true he was an absolute known quantity. The Packers never had to wonder if their quarterback was good enough, or if he was going to have confidence problems, or if he could handle the defense that week, or, bizarrely, if he was ever going to get seriously hurt. Having a great quarterback makes building a team so much easier, especially an offense. With Favre throwing passes, you can tell right away whether that young receiver's going to make it. When the quarterback's a question mark, suddenly people make excuses for everyone else on the offense. That doesn't happen when you have a guy like Favre. And besides, with Favre in the game, the Packers always had a fighting chance, and they won't have that anymore.
Ironically, though, the Packers did have some pretty sweet luck picking quarterbacks in Favre's time. They're just all gone now. I'm talking guys like Kurt Warner, Mark Brunell, and Matt Hasselbeck. Except for Hasselbeck, who is much younger than Favre, Favre outlasted them all as good players, which is remarkable.
Third: no replacement will ever be good enough. Deal with it. Favre didn't end on quite as high of a note as Elway did, but he played well his last year and almost made the Super Bowl. Favre got his team to a conference championship game at home, but lost. One of Elway's replacements, Jake Plummer, did the same thing, and it didn't keep him from getting run out of town a year later. Even worse, in the coming years your team will probably have a quarterback who actually IS bad, like the Broncos did with Brian Griese. The worst thing in the world is for a guy like that to show flashes, because then he'll keep getting chance after chance after chance. The thing is, it's not normal to have a great quarterback anchor your team for 15 years. Instead, you'll probably get by with a mix of draft picks and free agents for a while.
Brett Favre was a fantastic player and the face of the NFL for years. Don't be sad he's leaving, just remember how great he was, and be glad he left on his terms.
6 comments:
I tip my hat to Favre for leaving on his own terms. There was plenty of clamor for him to retire when the Packers were tanking, but he stuck it out, proved he could still play, and nearly got a young team to the Super Bowl.
And Favre was, of course, one of the greatest QBs in history and a lot of fun to watch. The league has lost one of its main attractions, as well as the last great QB of his era. And I really feel for the Green Bay fan base - at least a decade of mediocrity is on its way.
But I am left wondering whether this retirement will actually stick. Favre is a great competitor and leader and the consummate team guy. Can he really stand the thought of the Packers tanking with Aaron Rodgers at the helm? Or will he pull a Roger Clemens, heal up for a few months, and then decide to come back on his own schedule?
Brett Favre was a great player and is definitely a first ballot Hall of Famer. The entire Packers organization and fan base owes him for nearly 2 decades of unwaivering commitment and dedication to excellence.
However, I do feel he is a little overrated, especially by the media. Let's not forget that in addition to holding many of the all-time statistical records for QBs, he also holds the worst. As you pointed out Mike, Favre has thrown the most interceptions all-time. Favre's career seems similar to Peyton Manning's career up to this point. Both have had several opportunities to win the super bowl and both were only able to get it done once (so far at least for Manning). Remember the NFC championship game 3 years ago against the Eagles? The Packers should have won that game and Favre threw an interception on the first play of OT to Brian Dawkins. This year he threw an interception on the second play of OT in the championship game.
It is a tremendous accomplishment how long Favre was able to play QB at an above average level. However, the true measure of a QB's greatness is how he preforms when it matters most. In too many playoff games in his career Favre not only came up short, but made critical mistakes that cost his team the game.
I'm not saying that Favre doesn't deserve a lot of credit for an amazing career, but I've heard many people list Favre as one of the 5 greatest QBs of all time, and several think he IS the greatest of all time. Because of his lost opportunities, he does not deserve to be considered as one of the 5 greatest QBs.
Where would you rank Favre all time in terms of greatest QBs?
i can't wait for the packers to have their brian greese moment.
I look at the '80s and '90s as sort of a Golden Age for pro football, though perhaps that's just because of my age and the Broncos being pretty good at the time. And John, you're absolutely right, Favre was the last legend standing from that group.
I would be surprised if Favre never considers coming back, but I'm assuming the physical realities of being 38 are going to keep him from trying anything too formal. I think football is one of the hardest sports to come back to. It's not like basketball (Jordan) or, come on, baseball, not that you suggested it was.
Blaine, I think Favre is much better than Peyton Manning, but the comparison's not crazy, right down to playing in a ton of games in a row. But I think Favre has had more good playoff games than Manning, though most of them were in the '90s. (Career playoff stats for Favre.) And Favre came really close to winning back-to-back Super Bowls; the loss to the Broncos was hardly his fault.
Of course, Favre's bad playoff games in this decade count, too. I don't think he's really cost his team more playoff games than most quarterbacks do over their career, his just all came at the end and are memorable partly because they're recent. Besides, yeah, on the basis of one play in a divisional game four years ago (assuming that's the game you actually meant) you can blame him for the loss, but the Eagles, while cheap, were a way better organization than the Packers at the time, top-to-bottom, and they were at home. Is it really choking if you're not the favorite? To me losing that game is less damning that Manning starting a year 13-0 and not getting it done (or Tom Brady starting 18-0, for that matter), even if you do want to pretend the entire game all came down to one guy's actions on one play.
And, on the whole, I think you're dwelling too much on playoff games: Troy Aikman won three Super Bowls, but from his contemporaries I'd much rather have Elway or Favre, probably rather have Steve Young, and I'd maybe even consider Dan Marino, even though all had fewer rings than the Ache-Man. (Maybe Young didn't technically or whatever, but you know what I mean.)
I don't feel qualified to list the all-time best quarterbacks, but here goes. At the top you've probably got to go with Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas. Brady might be up there, too, depending on what he can do in the coming years. I like Elway more than Favre. And there are a ton of guys like Otto Graham and Roger Staubach and I really don't know what to say about them. So Favre's probably not in the top five, but he was really good and you can't write the history of the NFL without including him. I think he's probably top ten, but I'd have to research it more to be sure.
Not to nit-pick, Blaine, but I notice you also said Favre, like Manning, had several opportunities to win the Super Bowl but failed. I completely disagree. To me that's like saying the NBA is wide-open this year, then listing Dallas as a potential championship contender. I mean, yeah, technically they've got a shot, just like lots of Packers teams have made the playoffs over the years. But I mean, Favre's first MVP year, 1995, the team was only 11-5. I think he had two real shots at winning the Super Bowl, after '96 and '97. He made it both times, and won once. I don't think you can take any of his 2000s-era teams seriously as championship contenders. This year, yeah, they were probably a top-four team, but most would have considered them No. 4, and they played in the weaker conference.
Manning, on the other hand, had a serious chance after 2006, and won it. He had the best record in the league in 2005, and lost in the first round. And he had a great team this year, maybe second or third-best in the league, and lost in the first round again. And it took him years just to get out of the first round. I just feel like he's squandered a lot more legitimate opportunities than Favre.
On the other hand...my main man kind of agrees with you.
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