I was several hundred words into a comment on 'dowd's post below and decided to just wave my editorial magic wand and turn it into a post. What else are you going to go read about? The NBA playoffs? Phssaw.
Following up on the end of Boilerdowd's post on Favre....that's the thing... the media is still completely in love with this drama queen. Still making comments that sound like a parody, about how he has "childlike enthusiasm" for the game, continuing to only refer to him by both names, and so forth.
To think this guy is the answer for almost any team right now is complete lunacy. He hasn't been good for years, his last season in GB was an anomaly -- look at his two seasons before that and the one after it. He's not been good for a while... sure, he can sling it. So can a lot of other guys. But crushing interceptions are the norm with Fav-re and he's not got the ability to win games by himself anymore -- if he ever did.
He won ONE Super Bowl. So did Trent Dilfer. By the way he's talked about, you'd think he'd won 3 or 4. He won ONE and choked in another in which he was heavily favored.
Yes, he leads in all-time TD passes. He also leads in all-time INTs.
When it comes down to it, if you could have any of these guys in their primes -- for one game or for a career, take your pick of which hypothetical -- would Favre be near the top of the list?
Peyton Manning
Tom Brady
Dan Marino
Dan Fouts
John Elway
Joe Montana
Steve Young
Donovan McNabb
Troy Aikman
Warren Moon
Okay, there's ten QBs I'd rather have. And that was easy. Sure, I've got no doubt you could argue some of them, but is Favre the clear cut number one on this list... in any scenario? I don't think he is. When he was at his best he was among the best... but he was always a disaster-risk, always a risk to throw a backbreaking interception.
I'll give him some credit -- looking at that link of his career, a critical thing you notice is that he really only had one truly bad season, record-wise (4-12 in 2005 with GB). But if ever there was a somewhat misleading statistic, that's it, isn't it? On the surface, that seems to support him being an all-time great, but when you then consider how many times those good seasons ended with disappointing -- and often premature -- playoff losses, you begin to get the full picture.
Is Brett Favre an all-time great? Statistically, I suppose so... though I think you have to ding him some "greatness" points for how many picks he has thrown. If Hank Aaron held the all-time home run record but also held the all-time strikeout record, or all-time GIDP record... or hit .215 for his career....well, you might devalue it a little, right?
But if Brett Favre the unquestionable "winner" that his followers try to suggest?
I really don't think so.