Retirement or re-upping with the Vikings?

Following last night’s loss in the NFC Championship game, the vultures are all over NFL living legend Brett Favre

Off to another team?  Where will Brett Favre go?  One stop in his future is certain; the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  I’m a Brett Favre fan, always have been.  I love to watch him play.  Win or lose!  Perfect game or turnover-laden mess, Favre is a gunslinger and he keeps it lively.

There is much smack talk on the internet today, primarily by what appears to be pimple-faced Cheeto-munching-types who most likely never held a football, let alone dared to imagine what it might be like to breathe the same rarified air that fills the lungs of an NFL Quarterback the likes of Brett Farve.

If the internet has done one thing, it is to have spawned an endless army of wannabe athlete arm-chair quarterbacks and know-nothing experts on every sport imaginable or athlete imaginable.  Their current target:  Brett Favre.

The anonymity of the internet has given rise to bold little minions who attack with little more than raging emotion and the warm security of knowing no one will drag them out of Mommy’s basement and give them a long overdue personal attitude adjustment.  The internet has given the hate-filled and the ignorant a platform from which to condemn much, including the greatest quarterback to ever play the game of football.

I do not claim to be any type of NFL expert.  I’m only a fan, a fan who admittedly loves Brett Favre.  He is to the NFL what Jack Bauer is to Counter-Terrorism.  Favre is to football what John McClain is to police work.  He’s Dirty Harry with a football instead of a .44 Magnum.   He’s Wild Bill Hickok; fastest gun in the West.

Minions of Brett-haters are now hammering away at keyboards, their bony fingers are raw as they peck out awful hate upon Brett Favre blaming him for the Viking’s loss last night, global warming and apparently anything else they really don’t like.

The overriding assertion is that it was Brett’s interception pass last night that gave the ball back to the Saints and sent the NFC Championship into overtime and thereby cost the Vikings a trip to the Super Bowl.  Extrapolating the internet commentary further and you will find it indicates that Brett Favre ranks slightly higher than say Osama Bin Laden in terms of his value as a human being.

That one interception certainly hurt.  It certainly came at an awful time in the game.  However there is ample fodder for finger pointing as to why the Vikings lost.

For example who the heck was the 12^th man in the huddle?  And who sent him there?  The Vikings were deep into New Orleans territory and poised to run the ball late in the fourth quarter in order to pick up a couple of yards so they could set-up the game winning field goal, but a 12^th man showed up in the huddle.

Favre tried to call time to avoid the penalty.

Too late.  The penalty took the kick out of the range of the Viking’s kicker.  So the pass play was ordered up and then, yes, Brett Favre blew it.

Yo Butterfingers!

How many times did the Vikings fumble?   Let me see.   I’m adding it up.  Okay here it is …“a bunch.”  You can’t blame all of that on Favre. Not when he led the Vikings to 31 first downs and not when the Vikings had 218 more yards than the Saints.

In truth, by the time Favre threw that interception, the Saints should have been blowing Minnesota out….they weren’t because of the Viking defense and Favre.

All those “what if’s” can be argued forever.  The Saints won. The Vikings lost.

Say you what you will about Favre.  You cannot deny his love for the game nor the absolute indisputable fact that there is not one ounce of quit in the man.  Favre was knocked down more times last night than one of those blowup Punching Clowns you had when you were a kid.

Favre had to be helped off the field at one point after a dirty high-low late hit from the Saints (Which didn’t get flagged).

No matter.

He’s Brett Favre.

I doubt that backup QB Sage Rosenfels even bothered to warm up.  Why would he?  They weren’t carrying Favre off the field on a stretcher.   No priest was administering last rites.  Of course Favre would be back.

Perhaps, too, he’ll be back next year.  I won’t predict.  I don’t know Brett Favre and I won’t pretend to have any inside information.

However, one thing does concern me in all of this.  Why the hate?  Why is the web on fire with hate-talk aimed at Brett Favre.  Here’s what the glitterati of the worldwide web are calling Favre today:

“Loser”

“Choke Artist”

“Most overrated athlete of our time”

“An idiot”

“He should have stayed retired”

“Embarrassing himself”

Okay, so that’s a bunch of nasty opinion.  Here are some pesky facts.

Favre’s regular season stats for 2009:

QB Rating:  107.2

Yards:  4,202

TD’s:  33

Completion %:  68.4

Really?  “Embarrassing”?

By the way, Favre’s QB ranking is second in the whole of the NFL coming in just behind the Saint’s own Drew Brees.  Favre is ranked higher than both Manning’s, Philip Rivers, Tom Brady and Tony Romo.  In fact, he’s ranked higher than any QB in his 30’s or his 20’s playing anywhere in the NFL (except Brees).

“Loser”? Actually Brett Favre has done something more than any other starting QB in the history of the NFL:  WIN!

Let’s look at some more of those pesky facts from Favre’s long career.  I wonder if he leads the NFL in anything else other than wins?

Records and milestones (From Wikipedia)

As of the Conference Championship Playoff game of the 2009 NFL season, Favre owned or shared most of the well-known NFL career records, including:

• Consecutive starts as a quarterback: 285 (308 including playoffs)^[6][105]
• Consecutive starts as a position player: 285 ^[106]
• Career regular-season victories by a starting quarterback: 181 (Regular-season record: 181–104)^[6]
• Most wins by a starting quarterback against a single opponent: 27, Detroit Lions (18–0 in home games)
• Career passing touchdowns: 497^[107][108]
• Career passing yards: 69,329^[107]
• Career pass completions: 6,083^[6][109]
• Career pass attempts: 9,811^[5][6][110]
• Career interceptions thrown: 317^[107][111]
• Career games with at least one touchdown pass: 241
• Career games with at least two touchdown passes: 157
• Career games with at least three touchdown passes: 71^[52]
• Career games with at least four touchdown passes: 23^[112]
• Career games with at least 200 passing yards: 202
• Career games with at least 225 passing yards: 165
• Career games with at least 250 passing yards: 139
• Career games with at least 275 passing yards: 100
• Career games with at least 300 passing yards: 61 (Dan Marino is 1st with 63)
• Touchdown passes of 80+ yards: 9
• Touchdown passes of 70+ yards: 15
• Touchdown passes of 20+ yards: 165
• 1 yard touchdown passes: 37
• 1 yard touchdown passes, passer/receiver combination: 8, Brett Favre/Bubba Franks
• Career games with at least 30 completions: 24 (Peyton Manning is 2nd with 18)
• Career games with at least 20 completions: 185 (Peyton Manning is 2nd with 138)
• Completions in a game played on a Friday: 30; 12/24/2004
• Seasons with at least 30 touchdown passes: 9
• Consecutive seasons with at least 30 touchdown passes: 5
• Seasons with at least 3,000 passing yards: 18
• Consecutive seasons with at least 3,000 passing yards: 18
• Seasons with at least 300 completions: 18
• Consecutive seasons with at least 300 completions: 18
• Brett Favre & Sterling Sharpe tied Dan Marino & Mark Clayton’s record for most passer/receiver touchdown combinations in a season in 1994: 18-broken by Tom Brady and Randy Moss(23) in 2007.
• Most consecutive AP NFL MVP awards: 3 (1995–1997)^[113]
• Career playoff pass completions: 481^[114]
• Career playoff pass attempts: 745^[114]
• Career playoff passing yards: 5,855^[114]
• (2nd) Career playoff passing touchdowns: 44^[114] (Montana, 45)^[115]
• Career playoff interceptions thrown: 30
• Career playoff losses as starting QB: 11
• (5th) Career playoff wins as starting QB: 13 (Joe Montana, 16; Tom Brady, 14; Terry Bradshaw, 14; John Elway, 14)

Favre is the only quarterback to have led a team to victory over all thirty-two teams in the league since the NFL first expanded to 32 franchises in 2002.

Favre is one of four quarterbacks to lead the league in touchdown passes four times. The others are Johnny Unitas, Len Dawson and Steve Young.

In addition, Favre owns a number of team records, having printed his name into almost every passing category in the annals of Green Bay Packers history.

Yep, “Most overrated athlete in history” except for all those records.

Good luck Brett, if this is “Sayonara”, then I say, “Thank you”.  Thanks for the memories and the excitement of watching the best ever play the game.

If you come back next year, I say “Woo Hoo”.

As to you haters, we all know it’s far easier to condemn than to exalt.  We also know that eventually someone will fail, or trip, and that’s when the hater wins.  It is the haters only victory.  It is a fleeting and bitter victory unlike the hard-fought victories and triumphs that forever belong to Brett Favre.

For now, I’ll close with “Geaux Saints”!

On to the Super Bowl.

Source: TheCypressTimes Writer John Winder Published 01/25/2010

Following last night’s loss in the NFC Championship game, the vultures are all over NFL living legend Brett Favre