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One more opinion on the subject :
Favre may follow heart and return
By Rick Cleveland
[email protected]
After watching Brett Favre play football for 20 years - and getting to know him fairly well over that time - I should have a feel for how he thinks.
This is what I think is going on with him presently.
In his heart, Favre wants badly to play another season. He is as competitive as any athlete I have ever been around. His health is remarkably good for a 36-year-old who has started a mind-numbing 241 consecutive games as an NFL quarterback.
In his heart - in his gut - Favre doesn't want to go out on a 4-12 season during which he threw a career-high 29 interceptions. He believes he can still play and help Green Bay.
Ah, but his mind tells him something entirely different.
Favre sees what has happened to the Packers over the past six years - the steady decline - and he sees that the team has really done nothing to address the reasons for that decline.
Indeed, if you have watched the Packers, the way they have drafted and what they have done in free agency over the past two years, it is almost as if they are urging Favre to retire.
Last year in free agency, the Packers lost two of the best guards in the league, Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera, the keys to their running game. This year, they've lost center Mike Flanagan.
What have they done to replace them?
Practically nothing.
The Packers, approximately $20 million under the salary cap, have let the core of their offensive line - the three guys closest to Favre when they line up - go. They have not adequately replaced them, either through free agency or the draft.
The draft?
The Packers, who badly need speed at wide receiver, used last year's first pick to obtain Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback out of California, their quarterback of the future.
Yes, the Packers have to consider life after Favre. And time will tell if the choice of Rodgers was a wise one. Insiders say that the early returns have not been positive.
Favre's very nature often made a bad situation worse last season. His line was decimated. His receivers weren't getting open. His front-line running backs were hurt. So what does Favre do? He takes everything on his shoulders and tries to make something happen. Most times, predictably, it wasn't good.
One of the oldest adages in sports is about the guy who will go down fighting. Brett Favre, instead, will go down slinging.
Again, it's his nature. You see it in his golf. Favre will hit a ball into all those thousands of pine trees at the Hattiesburg Country Club. Nearly anybody else would see a forest between him and the pin. But Favre sees the two-foot opening and goes for it. That's who he is.
That's why I have felt all along that despite the Packers' dismal situation, Favre would come back for one more season in 2006 and go for it.
Even if it's not necessarily the wiser thing to do.
Favre may follow heart and return
By Rick Cleveland
[email protected]
After watching Brett Favre play football for 20 years - and getting to know him fairly well over that time - I should have a feel for how he thinks.
This is what I think is going on with him presently.
In his heart, Favre wants badly to play another season. He is as competitive as any athlete I have ever been around. His health is remarkably good for a 36-year-old who has started a mind-numbing 241 consecutive games as an NFL quarterback.
In his heart - in his gut - Favre doesn't want to go out on a 4-12 season during which he threw a career-high 29 interceptions. He believes he can still play and help Green Bay.
Ah, but his mind tells him something entirely different.
Favre sees what has happened to the Packers over the past six years - the steady decline - and he sees that the team has really done nothing to address the reasons for that decline.
Indeed, if you have watched the Packers, the way they have drafted and what they have done in free agency over the past two years, it is almost as if they are urging Favre to retire.
Last year in free agency, the Packers lost two of the best guards in the league, Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera, the keys to their running game. This year, they've lost center Mike Flanagan.
What have they done to replace them?
Practically nothing.
The Packers, approximately $20 million under the salary cap, have let the core of their offensive line - the three guys closest to Favre when they line up - go. They have not adequately replaced them, either through free agency or the draft.
The draft?
The Packers, who badly need speed at wide receiver, used last year's first pick to obtain Aaron Rodgers, a quarterback out of California, their quarterback of the future.
Yes, the Packers have to consider life after Favre. And time will tell if the choice of Rodgers was a wise one. Insiders say that the early returns have not been positive.
Favre's very nature often made a bad situation worse last season. His line was decimated. His receivers weren't getting open. His front-line running backs were hurt. So what does Favre do? He takes everything on his shoulders and tries to make something happen. Most times, predictably, it wasn't good.
One of the oldest adages in sports is about the guy who will go down fighting. Brett Favre, instead, will go down slinging.
Again, it's his nature. You see it in his golf. Favre will hit a ball into all those thousands of pine trees at the Hattiesburg Country Club. Nearly anybody else would see a forest between him and the pin. But Favre sees the two-foot opening and goes for it. That's who he is.
That's why I have felt all along that despite the Packers' dismal situation, Favre would come back for one more season in 2006 and go for it.
Even if it's not necessarily the wiser thing to do.
