Packers fan about Brett Favre

[RadioNet]

I'm certain you heard from Packers fans ad nauseum about the Favre trade. The realization of not having Brett is sinking in here. What I want to do here is give you some things about your QB that other fans might not have discussed(perhaps so, so I apologize in advance for redundancy). I was a deep fan of his until a couple of years ago, now I'm in the camp that thinks it was time for a change in Green Bay. But I think our loss is your gain, at least for this year.

Positives:

Leadership

One of the reasons Ted Thompson & Co.(TT) wanted change is not that Favre isn't a great leader, he is, but he had grown so much older than the rest of the team. In short, grandpa and the kids, and that isn't stretching the truth much. Favre's peers were disappearing. The coaching staff was beginning to see the younger players weren't relating.

But he will want the leadership role, and is good at it on the field.

Football skills

You see his arm strength. He was a killer on the slant passes to Donald Driver last year. His "long passes" were mainly medium throws that the receivers turned into TD's after the catch. But I will talk about this more later.

Age

39 this fall. Sooner or later it catches up to everyone. He still is in pretty good condition. How would it have been to have to bench a HOF QB? Holmgren nearly benched Favre in the 90's but felt the fans wouldn't put up with it. It would be worse now.

Durability

He has the record, but save for a couple of miracle comebacks after injury, it will catch up to him. It didn't last year, but Father Time isn't on his side.

Character

Favre is a hard worker. He will give you his all during the season. But I'll talk about this later as well.

Marketability

He's a marketers dream. He will make oodles of money in New York. He made plenty in Green Bay, but he will make more there.

Negatives

He can't run much anymore. A good blitzing team(and without good blocking) will obliterate him. Mike McCarthy had to design an offense which limited the QB's running.

Age

39. Only Phil Simms was this old as a starter to lead a team to the playoffs. George Blanda was 47 when he was playing for the Raiders yearss ago, but he was backup.

Football sense

He also is the NFL's all-time interception leader. Brett thinks he can win the game all by himself. This occasionally works in his favor with a long pass for a first down or score, but more often than not, he'll throw the interception. Evidence the NFC championship game last fall, Eli Manning outplayed him easily at Green Bay. He threw six, count 'em, six interceptions in a playoff game against St. Louis several years ago. In the infamous 4th and 26 playoff game agains the Eagles, Philadelphia made a score after getting that ridiculous first down. The Packers still had :90 seconds to match it. Instead of working the sidelines as the play was called, our hero takes the ball and throws it into triple coverage for an interception. Game over. When he gets behind, look out. He has looked very small in big games for several years.

Cold

It's a myth that Favre is a winner in the cold. That was years ago, but in cold games the last several years he folds. He looked good in the snow last January at Lambeau against the Seahawks, but the game temp that day was about 30 degrees. As we know, that is very doable for football. The week before against the Bears the wind chill was -30 and he look terrible, and I mean terrible.

"His team"

Favre has an ego larger than New York city. Yes, I know all athletes do, but his is the size of Olympus. He comes off as "shucks", etc., but inside he saw the Packers as his team, and behind the scenes kept trying to push managers and coaches around. When they pushed back, he pouted. The 'retirement' crap got very, very old, and I hope you don't have to go through that.

He flip-flops about things to the point of distraction. He thought he could retire and then come back after the team had steered in a direction for the future, as evidenced by drafting two QB's. It became financially unworkable to pay him 12 million and millions to Aaron Rodgers to sit on the bench. If you get rid of Rodgers, keep Favre and then he retires, you are left with no one at QB. It was a messy divorce, but it had to be done. Be wary of Favre questioning the coaching staff. Mangini appears like he won't take that crap, which is good. One of the reasons Mike Sherman was dismissed first as General Manager, then Coach, was because he let Favre run the team. TT won't have that.

All I can say is good luck.

[Blackout]

welcome to the board

nice read

i never really thought Sherman was the best coach

[GangGreen]

I'm certain you heard from Packers fans ad nauseum about the Favre trade. The realization of not having Brett is sinking in here. What I want to do here is give you some things about your QB that other fans might not have discussed(perhaps so, so I apologize in advance for redundancy). I was a deep fan of his until a couple of years ago, now I'm in the camp that thinks it was time for a change in Green Bay. But I think our loss is your gain, at least for this year.

Positives:

Leadership

One of the reasons Ted Thompson & Co.(TT) wanted change is not that Favre isn't a great leader, he is, but he had grown so much older than the rest of the team. In short, grandpa and the kids, and that isn't stretching the truth much. Favre's peers were disappearing. The coaching staff was beginning to see the younger players weren't relating.

But he will want the leadership role, and is good at it on the field.

Football skills

You see his arm strength. He was a killer on the slant passes to Donald Driver last year. His "long passes" were mainly medium throws that the receivers turned into TD's after the catch. But I will talk about this more later.

Age

39 this fall. Sooner or later it catches up to everyone. He still is in pretty good condition. How would it have been to have to bench a HOF QB? Holmgren nearly benched Favre in the 90's but felt the fans wouldn't put up with it. It would be worse now.

Durability

He has the record, but save for a couple of miracle comebacks after injury, it will catch up to him. It didn't last year, but Father Time isn't on his side.

Character

Favre is a hard worker. He will give you his all during the season. But I'll talk about this later as well.

Marketability

He's a marketers dream. He will make oodles of money in New York. He made plenty in Green Bay, but he will make more there.

Negatives

He can't run much anymore. A good blitzing team(and without good blocking) will obliterate him. Mike McCarthy had to design an offense which limited the QB's running.

Age

39. Only Phil Simms was this old as a starter to lead a team to the playoffs. George Blanda was 47 when he was playing for the Raiders yearss ago, but he was backup.

Football sense

He also is the NFL's all-time interception leader. Brett thinks he can win the game all by himself. This occasionally works in his favor with a long pass for a first down or score, but more often than not, he'll throw the interception. Evidence the NFC championship game last fall, Eli Manning outplayed him easily at Green Bay. He threw six, count 'em, six interceptions in a playoff game against St. Louis several years ago. In the infamous 4th and 26 playoff game agains the Eagles, Philadelphia made a score after getting that ridiculous first down. The Packers still had :90 seconds to match it. Instead of working the sidelines as the play was called, our hero takes the ball and throws it into triple coverage for an interception. Game over. When he gets behind, look out. He has looked very small in big games for several years.

Cold

It's a myth that Favre is a winner in the cold. That was years ago, but in cold games the last several years he folds. He looked good in the snow last January at Lambeau against the Seahawks, but the game temp that day was about 30 degrees. As we know, that is very doable for football. The week before against the Bears the wind chill was -30 and he look terrible, and I mean terrible.

"His team"

Favre has an ego larger than New York city. Yes, I know all athletes do, but his is the size of Olympus. He comes off as "shucks", etc., but inside he saw the Packers as his team, and behind the scenes kept trying to push managers and coaches around. When they pushed back, he pouted. The 'retirement' crap got very, very old, and I hope you don't have to go through that.

He flip-flops about things to the point of distraction. He thought he could retire and then come back after the team had steered in a direction for the future, as evidenced by drafting two QB's. It became financially unworkable to pay him 12 million and millions to Aaron Rodgers to sit on the bench. If you get rid of Rodgers, keep Favre and then he retires, you are left with no one at QB. It was a messy divorce, but it had to be done. Be wary of Favre questioning the coaching staff. Mangini appears like he won't take that crap, which is good. One of the reasons Mike Sherman was dismissed first as General Manager, then Coach, was because he let Favre run the team. TT won't have that.

All I can say is good luck.

Welcome to the site, man. Great read.

[serphnx]

I have to admit, a lot of this sounds pretty true, and I've felt similarly. But as you said, he is a gain for us this year. The guy can still take you to the playoffs, and still has the potential, with the right team around him, to go all the way. Kind of like John Elway in his later years.

And about the ego thing, that's actually a good thing. Our media is full of bitter, cynical, angry *******s. They see any sign of weakness and they absolutely pounce on it. Passive aggressiveness the likes of Chad Pennington only get you so far. Sure you'll have some supporters, but you'll have many detractors, especially those that can see through it, but also those that live to invoke the kind of responses Mr. Privilege let slip at times. Now a Favre, and a Herm Edwards, they show no media weaknesses. Everything gets spun in their favor. So the *******s find kindred spirits, and so will bide their time. They will only speak up after enough public sentiment allows them to, usually by that person leaving town. So with Favre here, the media is generally forced to lay off the team. They will try to go bully Eli Manning again, which they spent a good 2-3 years doing, but as a Super Bowl winner they'll have a bit of trouble shoveling it even to the gullible NYC populace. So, I think, the targets will probably be set squarely on the Mets or Yankees now. Leaving the football teams in peace.

[BroadwayJ667]

welcome. didn't see it in the post, but one thing i don't like people saying is the '05 '06 stats. how quickly we forget that the packers were rebuilding those two years. the quarterback makes everyone around him better, but when the talent around him is pretty bad, there isn't much he can do

[JonEJet]

I miss Brett....Waaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

[Maxman]

My only hope is someday the Jets have a player that we actually miss after he leaves.

[BroadwayJ667]

My only hope is someday the Jets have a player that we actually miss after he leaves.

i miss curtis martin

[DMaynard]

My only hope is someday the Jets have a player that we actually miss after he leaves.

I still miss Kimo Von Rollerskates.