A diehard's take on Brett Favre's retirement
03/07/2008
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I just watched Brett Favre’s press conference. If you didn’t catch it, he was pretty emotional when he gave his opening statement but pulled it together once he started fielding questions. In many ways, the press conference was a microcosm of Favre’s game: wildly emotional at the start, but once he settles down, it’s about as good as it gets.
Since he announced his retirement on Tuesday, you’ve probably read lots of objective, unbiased commentary about the man, the myth and his decision to hang ‘em up. This is not that kind of commentary.
Growing up in the ‘burbs outside of Milwaukee, I’ve been a diehard Packer fan since I was just a little tyke. But it was almost as if my birth in the fall of 1973 had ushered in an era of horrible football in Green Bay. For the first 19 years of my life, the Packers were a combined 112-168-6. Those were the years that I rooted for good guys with awful names like Lynn Dickey, Eddie Lee Ivery and Paul Ott Carruth, suffering through dreadful year after dreadful year.
For a moment, after a solid 10-6 season in 1989, it looked as if Don “The Magic Man” Majkowski would lead the Pack out of the doldrums. But, “after further review,” it was not to be. Green Bay went 10-22 the next two seasons, so the team fired Lindy Infante and hired Mike Holmgren. They also traded a first-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for a gritty, gunslinging quarterback out of Southern Miss, Brett Favre. Apparently, as part of the trade, the doctors diagnosed Favre with avascular necrosis -- the same ailment that ended Bo Jackson’s career -- and recommended that he fail the physical, but GM Ron Wolf put on his stethoscope and overruled them. The gamble paid off.
Sixteen years, three MVP awards, one Super Bowl victory, 61,655 yards, 442 TD and 253 consecutive starts later, Favre has broken every meaningful NFL career passing record known to man. And, in the process, he essentially saved the franchise.
But his wonderful 2007 season almost didn’t happen. Favre struggled in 2005 and 2006, tossing only 38 TDs against 47 interceptions. That’s when the pundits started calling for his retirement. They said he didn’t have “it” anymore. He was losing his arm strength. He couldn’t lead a team to the playoffs. I didn’t believe any of it. I told anyone who would listen that he still had the arm strength and the accuracy; he just didn’t have the supporting cast. People thought I was nuts. Even I started to doubt myself.
But Favre took the challenge and returned in 2007, putting up some of the best numbers of his career. He threw for the most yards (4155) since 1998, had the highest completion rate (66.5%) of his career and threw the fewest interceptions (15) since 2001, which all contributed to his highest QB rating (95.7) since 1996, the year he won the second of his three consecutive MVP awards. (In fact, he would have won a fourth if not for Tom Brady’s monster season.)
More importantly, he led the Packers to a 13-3 record and a first-round bye in the playoffs. Then the Giants upended the Cowboys in the playoffs, ensuring that the NFC Championship Game would be played at Lambeau. Suddenly, a third trip to the Super Bowl was a distinct possibility.
But, as quickly as you can say “Favre picked off in overtime,” the dream was over. But, hey, there’s always next year, right? There’s no way that Favre would retire with his team knocking this loudly on the championship door. Right?
Wrong.
The loss to the Giants was a big kick to the nuts. Favre’s decision to retire is the follow-up kick. In many ways, it’s not as painful because things are already pretty numb down there. But when September rolls around and #4 isn’t under center for the first time in 16 seasons, it’s going to hurt...a lot.
What makes him so great? In preparation for this column, I wrote down three words to describe Favre: toughness, enthusiasm and improvisation. How did he play all of those consecutive games? Sure, anyone who makes every start for 16 straight seasons has to be extremely tough, but he also had the overlooked tendency to run sideways or backwards after every pass. He was never a stationary target and that made serious injuries far less likely.
Has there ever been a player who enjoyed himself more on game day? Whether he was carrying his teammates on his back, talking smack with Warren Sapp or throwing snowballs at Donald Driver, Favre always had that youthful enthusiasm that made him so enjoyable to watch.
Lastly, Favre’s game was so compelling because of the uncertainty. When he dropped back to pass, anything could happen. He could thread in a perfect pass or overthrow his receiver by 10 yards. He could toss a touchdown strike or hit a defender between the numbers. Favre was one of the best at getting out of trouble and making something happen. How many times has he eluded the rush just long enough to throw an underhanded pass that resulted in a first down? The only sure thing when he dropped back to pass was that he wasn’t going to throw the ball away. The most exciting play of this year’s Super Bowl -- the one where Eli Manning escaped the clutches of a few New England defensive linemen, finally heaving the ball for a long completion over the middle -- was described by many as Favre-esque.
Is Favre the greatest quarterback ever to play the game? Probably not. He was born without the “don’t’ make the big mistake” gene that so many of the great ones have. An ESPN SportsNation poll reveals that 87% of football fans don’t think he’s the greatest. But doesn’t it depend on your definition of “great”? I won’t argue with people if they say he’s not, but I will argue the following point until I’m blue in the face:
Brett Favre is the most entertaining quarterback ever to play the game.
Sayonara, Brett. You’ve earned the right to go out the way you want. I hope you savor that lawnmower ride off into the Mississippi sunset....
After hearing the news, I started to scour YouTube to see what Favre nuggets I could unearth for this column. Here’s what I found...
First off, there’s the post-game show/interview after Favre’s first comeback win as a Packer, his now legendary debut against the Bengals. It’s an NBC broadcast with Bob Costas (when his smugness was just reaching its pinnacle), the always-grumpy Buddy Ryan, and a pre-insanity O.J. Simpson. That’s right, Favre was playing before the Juice lost his mind. That’s a long time.
Talk about unintentional comedy.
Here’s a more in depth look at his first win:
Here’s a terrific highlight reel of some of his best lines captured when he was mic’ed up:
Here’s the highlight of Favre’s pass to Greg Jennings to beat Denver in OT last season, which was arguably the most exciting moment of the 2007 regular season:
Finally, a good collection of his 2007 highlights:
Send questions and comments to jpaulsen@bullz-eye.com.