Raider Pride
Cheesehead
Surprised this was not posted yesterday, as it was in Monday's morning paper.
The fact is people this guy makes some sense. NOTE I said "SOME"
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
This is not an insult to Brett Favre, or even the Packers.
This is offered from afar, without malice or emotion, because I am in the blessed position of never caring who wins or loses any game, including tonight's between the Vikings and Packers.
It is time for the Packers to plan for their future -- and if their future is to become a product of planning and not hero worship, that planning must include Favre's departure.
This is not an insult because there is no reason to insult Favre. He spent the last offseason getting himself into impeccable shape, allowing him to often look like his old self this year.
He was the best player on the Metrodome field last time these teams met, the Packers losing because of the limited talent around Favre, not because of Favre himself.
(In a recent exclusive interview, Kevin Garnett blamed that lack of talent on Kevin McHale. But we digress.)
The 2005 Packers are a smorgasbord of bad decisions and injuries, but mostly they are typical of a winning NFL franchise -- they eventually must decline, as the result of salary cap restrictions and draft placement.
Except for the occasional game where Favre has allowed desperation to force him into his patented silly mistakes, he has kept a remarkably flawed team competitive in games when his team should have been overmatched.
In four of the past five games played between the Packers and Vikings, Favre has played like the Hall of Famer he will be. In the other -- last year's playoff game -- he allowed Bad Brett to surface.
Bad Brett is the talented quarterback who assumes he must make wildly creative plays for his team to win, when, often, his wildly creative plays keep his team from winning.
Favre has played in 216 consecutive games. It is a streak to admire because of his toughness, but one to regret if you are a Packer fan taking the long view.
Favre's streak has allowed the Packers to avoid developing a good second quarterback, not to mention a future franchise quarterback.
New General Manager Ted Thompson oversaw the drafting of Favre's potential successor this spring.
The Packers chose Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the 24th pick in the draft, indicating that Thompson cared more about life after Brett than bolstering the Packers' weaknesses, which, if you want to get specific, are as follows:
1) Offense.
2) Defense.
Packer conspiracy theorists -- when not scouring photos of old Super Bowl parade for glimpses of Lombardi's ghost -- believe Thompson would like to make this the last year for two noted members of the old guard: Coach Mike Sherman and Favre.
If you live in Minnesota, it's hard to blame many of the Packers' failings on either. Both have won their share of big games against the Purple.
But Sherman failed in his old moonlighting job as general manager to build a championship team around Favre, and assuming Favre will play well until he his social security benefits kick in is slightly optimistic.
Favre is not young enough to build around, nor dominant enough to win now. Even Dan Marino, perhaps the best pure passer in NFL history, wasn't good enough to win a Super Bowl by himself.
Thompson knows he can't count on Favre quitting. He knows he can't count on Sherman to get rid of Favre. He knows whoever asks Favre to depart will become a public enemy in Green Bay.
Somebody will have to play the role of bad guy, and whoever does so should receive Christmas cards for life from Favre.
Ship him to Miami, where Nick Saban looks capable of building a winner.
Ship him to New Orleans if the Saints return there, leaving Favre a short drive to his hometown of Kiln, Miss.
Ship him somewhere he can finish his career in style -- style being the opposite of fans wearing fake blocks of cheese on their heads.
Favre is still good enough to win with a lot of NFL teams -- just not the Packers. He still has time to pad his resumé, perhaps even to put a Super Bowl ring on a finger other than his ring finger.
So this will be a strange experience tonight, knowing that Favre could be playing his last game against the Vikings in Lambeau Field, knowing that it will be more to his benefit than the Vikings' if he never plays them in Lambeau again.
The fact is people this guy makes some sense. NOTE I said "SOME"
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
This is not an insult to Brett Favre, or even the Packers.
This is offered from afar, without malice or emotion, because I am in the blessed position of never caring who wins or loses any game, including tonight's between the Vikings and Packers.
It is time for the Packers to plan for their future -- and if their future is to become a product of planning and not hero worship, that planning must include Favre's departure.
This is not an insult because there is no reason to insult Favre. He spent the last offseason getting himself into impeccable shape, allowing him to often look like his old self this year.
He was the best player on the Metrodome field last time these teams met, the Packers losing because of the limited talent around Favre, not because of Favre himself.
(In a recent exclusive interview, Kevin Garnett blamed that lack of talent on Kevin McHale. But we digress.)
The 2005 Packers are a smorgasbord of bad decisions and injuries, but mostly they are typical of a winning NFL franchise -- they eventually must decline, as the result of salary cap restrictions and draft placement.
Except for the occasional game where Favre has allowed desperation to force him into his patented silly mistakes, he has kept a remarkably flawed team competitive in games when his team should have been overmatched.
In four of the past five games played between the Packers and Vikings, Favre has played like the Hall of Famer he will be. In the other -- last year's playoff game -- he allowed Bad Brett to surface.
Bad Brett is the talented quarterback who assumes he must make wildly creative plays for his team to win, when, often, his wildly creative plays keep his team from winning.
Favre has played in 216 consecutive games. It is a streak to admire because of his toughness, but one to regret if you are a Packer fan taking the long view.
Favre's streak has allowed the Packers to avoid developing a good second quarterback, not to mention a future franchise quarterback.
New General Manager Ted Thompson oversaw the drafting of Favre's potential successor this spring.
The Packers chose Cal quarterback Aaron Rodgers with the 24th pick in the draft, indicating that Thompson cared more about life after Brett than bolstering the Packers' weaknesses, which, if you want to get specific, are as follows:
1) Offense.
2) Defense.
Packer conspiracy theorists -- when not scouring photos of old Super Bowl parade for glimpses of Lombardi's ghost -- believe Thompson would like to make this the last year for two noted members of the old guard: Coach Mike Sherman and Favre.
If you live in Minnesota, it's hard to blame many of the Packers' failings on either. Both have won their share of big games against the Purple.
But Sherman failed in his old moonlighting job as general manager to build a championship team around Favre, and assuming Favre will play well until he his social security benefits kick in is slightly optimistic.
Favre is not young enough to build around, nor dominant enough to win now. Even Dan Marino, perhaps the best pure passer in NFL history, wasn't good enough to win a Super Bowl by himself.
Thompson knows he can't count on Favre quitting. He knows he can't count on Sherman to get rid of Favre. He knows whoever asks Favre to depart will become a public enemy in Green Bay.
Somebody will have to play the role of bad guy, and whoever does so should receive Christmas cards for life from Favre.
Ship him to Miami, where Nick Saban looks capable of building a winner.
Ship him to New Orleans if the Saints return there, leaving Favre a short drive to his hometown of Kiln, Miss.
Ship him somewhere he can finish his career in style -- style being the opposite of fans wearing fake blocks of cheese on their heads.
Favre is still good enough to win with a lot of NFL teams -- just not the Packers. He still has time to pad his resumé, perhaps even to put a Super Bowl ring on a finger other than his ring finger.
So this will be a strange experience tonight, knowing that Favre could be playing his last game against the Vikings in Lambeau Field, knowing that it will be more to his benefit than the Vikings' if he never plays them in Lambeau again.