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Cheesehead
By ROB REISCHEL
Special to Packer Plus
Posted: July 12, 2007
Green Bay - With each passing week, Barry Bonds creeps closer and closer
Movements
Sometime in September, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre figures to achieve the Holy Grail of football records when he passes Dan Marino for the most touchdown passes in NFL history. And the reaction from the country figures to be far different.
"I would think it would be a fun time," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I think anytime you're a part of something like that, it's a special time and I think our team would view it that way."
They certainly should, as Favre is on the brink of a historic season.
Favre enters the year with 414 career TD passes, six behind Marino's mark. Favre has averaged 1.73 touchdown passes per game during his 15 years in Green Bay, and if he maintains that pace, he'd catch and pass Marino on Sept. 30 in Minnesota. Green Bay also has home games Sept. 23 with San Diego and Oct. 7 against Chicago where Favre could break the record.
Whenever it is, it will be a monumental moment for Favre and the organization.
"You're talking about the most prolific number in the history of your sport and that says an awful lot," Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "I don't know if you need to say much more. But it's an unbelievable accomplishment. Once in a lifetime.
"Records are made to be broken, but who knows when that record will be broken again. It's a powerful accomplishment, no question. That's a big number. That's a huge accomplishment, no question."
Few will question Favre's place in history. Favre is first all-time in career completions (5,021), one behind John Elway (148) for most victories by a quarterback, and could pass Marino this season for most career passing yards (61,361). Favre has also started an NFL-quarterback record of 237 consecutive games, a streak that might never be broken.
What many wonder, though, is how much Favre has lost courtesy of Father Time? And others wonder if Favre has lost any support internally following the Randy Moss saga this off-season.
Favre lobbied hard for the Packers to acquire Moss before the NFL draft. When the troubled wide receiver was instead traded from Oakland to New England, Favre was critical of the Packers' organization.
FoxSports' Web site reported that Favre then asked for a trade, something the quarterback staunchly denied. Still, it remains to be seen whether any of that drama will linger into 2007.
"People can believe what they want and say what they want and they're going to do that," said Favre, who turns 38 on October 10. "And if they want to take shots at me, that's fine. But really what matters most is the guys in this locker room. And I think everyone in there that knows me and has played with me knows that I'd do anything for this team. And that hasn't changed."
That might be true. But it can't be argued that Favre's production has certainly changed - and changed for the worse - in recent seasons.
After averaging 30.8 touchdown passes a year between 1994-2004, Favre has averaged just 19.0 the past two seasons. In fact, Favre's 18 TDs a year ago were his fewest since 1992, his first season as a full-time starter.
After throwing a career-high 29 interceptions in 2005, Favre played with greater caution most of 2006 when he threw 18 picks. Still, Favre reverted to his gunslinging mentality down the stretch, when he threw six interceptions in the final three games and 11 over the final six.
Favre's quarterback rating has also plummeted in recent seasons. His mark of 70.9 in 2005 was a career-low and his rating of 72.7 in 2006 was his third-worst.
Some of that was dictated by the fact Favre was playing on lousy teams. And with the Packers often trailing, he's been forced to throw more and take more chances than past seasons. In fact, Favre has established career-highs for passes in a season each of the last two years, including an NFL-high 613 in 2006.
Still, Favre also deserves a lion's share of the blame. Over the last two seasons - in which Green Bay has gone 12-20 - he's had lapses in judgment and made decisions most rookies wouldn't make. Favre's completion percentage also plummeted to 56.0 last season, the lowest of his career.
Just two years ago, Pro Football Weekly ranked Favre as the 7th best player in the NFL and No. 4 among all quarterbacks. Today, Favre doesn't make the magazine's Top 50 list and is ranked No. 14 among quarterbacks.
Favre's struggles are one of many reasons Green Bay plummeted to 22nd in points per game in 2006 and 31st in red-zone efficiency.
"Simply, his goal as a quarterback is you'd like to see him have his best year statistically that he's had, and that's obviously a challenge," McCarthy said. "That's the way I've always viewed the quarterback position when I coached it, and that's the way we'll view it with Brett.
"So we'll challenge him to have the best season of his career. Because physically I think he's fully still capable of playing at an extremely high level, and he has an experience level that's second-to-none."
Favre's fastball has lost a bit through the years, but he remains capable of making every throw in the book. He'll also come to training camp as healthy as he's been in years following off-season ankle surgery.
Favre remains in tip-top shape physically, so much so that McCarthy might try getting Favre out of the pocket more this season. Throughout his career, Favre has made enormous plays while on the move, and McCarthy believes he's still capable of that.
"I think he's still a very effective player when he is on the move," McCarthy said. "And frankly, the people that know him fairly well, the people who have competed against him from a defensive standpoint, a number of them play with a wider end, rush the ends up the field, try to take that away from him. So for a quarterback that's as old as Brett is, and they're running the ends up the field, I think that speaks of his ability to play on the move."
Third-year quarterback Aaron Rodgers might have more to prove during this training camp than any other player on the roster.
Rodgers, a 2005 first-round draft choice, was awful during the exhibition season his rookie year when he had a paltry 53.0 quarterback rating. Rodgers improved that mark to 101.1 last summer, but did nothing to impress during a pair of regular season mop-up chances when his quarterback rating was 48.2.
Rodgers received the most extensive action of his career against New England, playing the entire second half. He went just 4 of 12 that day for 32 yards, lost a fumble and often held the ball too long, which resulted in three sacks. Adding injury to insult, Rodgers suffered a broken foot in that game and spent the final six weeks on injured reserve.
Rodgers is fully recovered from that injury and was cleared to resume full activity earlier this spring. But after doing little to impress in his first two seasons, Rodgers must show a lot more this summer or Green Bay could look elsewhere for Favre's eventual replacement.
"To be honest, the only guys I care about, besides the guys in this locker room, are (general manager) Ted Thompson and (head coach) Mike McCarthy," Rodgers said. "And I've heard nothing but positive feedback from them. So, . . . I feel good about where I'm at."
Third-stringer Ingle Martin, a 2006 fifth-round selection, was inactive all 16 games last season, then failed to wow anyone this spring.
Martin, who couldn't make it at Florida and transferred to Furman, is without question a project. He has good size and an NFL arm, but still must improve his accuracy and fundamentals.
Rookie free agent Paul Thompson is the only other quarterback currently on the roster. Thompson has tremendous athleticism and good size, but is as green as grass.
Thompson was a backup quarterback at Oklahoma who moved to wide receiver as a junior. But when starter Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the team last fall, Thompson took over and threw for 22 TDs and completed 60.7% of his passes.
"He's very athletic, everything our scouts said about him," McCarthy said of Thompson.
Special to Packer Plus
Posted: July 12, 2007
Green Bay - With each passing week, Barry Bonds creeps closer and closer
Movements
Sometime in September, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre figures to achieve the Holy Grail of football records when he passes Dan Marino for the most touchdown passes in NFL history. And the reaction from the country figures to be far different.
"I would think it would be a fun time," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I think anytime you're a part of something like that, it's a special time and I think our team would view it that way."
They certainly should, as Favre is on the brink of a historic season.
Favre enters the year with 414 career TD passes, six behind Marino's mark. Favre has averaged 1.73 touchdown passes per game during his 15 years in Green Bay, and if he maintains that pace, he'd catch and pass Marino on Sept. 30 in Minnesota. Green Bay also has home games Sept. 23 with San Diego and Oct. 7 against Chicago where Favre could break the record.
Whenever it is, it will be a monumental moment for Favre and the organization.
"You're talking about the most prolific number in the history of your sport and that says an awful lot," Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "I don't know if you need to say much more. But it's an unbelievable accomplishment. Once in a lifetime.
"Records are made to be broken, but who knows when that record will be broken again. It's a powerful accomplishment, no question. That's a big number. That's a huge accomplishment, no question."
Few will question Favre's place in history. Favre is first all-time in career completions (5,021), one behind John Elway (148) for most victories by a quarterback, and could pass Marino this season for most career passing yards (61,361). Favre has also started an NFL-quarterback record of 237 consecutive games, a streak that might never be broken.
What many wonder, though, is how much Favre has lost courtesy of Father Time? And others wonder if Favre has lost any support internally following the Randy Moss saga this off-season.
Favre lobbied hard for the Packers to acquire Moss before the NFL draft. When the troubled wide receiver was instead traded from Oakland to New England, Favre was critical of the Packers' organization.
FoxSports' Web site reported that Favre then asked for a trade, something the quarterback staunchly denied. Still, it remains to be seen whether any of that drama will linger into 2007.
"People can believe what they want and say what they want and they're going to do that," said Favre, who turns 38 on October 10. "And if they want to take shots at me, that's fine. But really what matters most is the guys in this locker room. And I think everyone in there that knows me and has played with me knows that I'd do anything for this team. And that hasn't changed."
That might be true. But it can't be argued that Favre's production has certainly changed - and changed for the worse - in recent seasons.
After averaging 30.8 touchdown passes a year between 1994-2004, Favre has averaged just 19.0 the past two seasons. In fact, Favre's 18 TDs a year ago were his fewest since 1992, his first season as a full-time starter.
After throwing a career-high 29 interceptions in 2005, Favre played with greater caution most of 2006 when he threw 18 picks. Still, Favre reverted to his gunslinging mentality down the stretch, when he threw six interceptions in the final three games and 11 over the final six.
Favre's quarterback rating has also plummeted in recent seasons. His mark of 70.9 in 2005 was a career-low and his rating of 72.7 in 2006 was his third-worst.
Some of that was dictated by the fact Favre was playing on lousy teams. And with the Packers often trailing, he's been forced to throw more and take more chances than past seasons. In fact, Favre has established career-highs for passes in a season each of the last two years, including an NFL-high 613 in 2006.
Still, Favre also deserves a lion's share of the blame. Over the last two seasons - in which Green Bay has gone 12-20 - he's had lapses in judgment and made decisions most rookies wouldn't make. Favre's completion percentage also plummeted to 56.0 last season, the lowest of his career.
Just two years ago, Pro Football Weekly ranked Favre as the 7th best player in the NFL and No. 4 among all quarterbacks. Today, Favre doesn't make the magazine's Top 50 list and is ranked No. 14 among quarterbacks.
Favre's struggles are one of many reasons Green Bay plummeted to 22nd in points per game in 2006 and 31st in red-zone efficiency.
"Simply, his goal as a quarterback is you'd like to see him have his best year statistically that he's had, and that's obviously a challenge," McCarthy said. "That's the way I've always viewed the quarterback position when I coached it, and that's the way we'll view it with Brett.
"So we'll challenge him to have the best season of his career. Because physically I think he's fully still capable of playing at an extremely high level, and he has an experience level that's second-to-none."
Favre's fastball has lost a bit through the years, but he remains capable of making every throw in the book. He'll also come to training camp as healthy as he's been in years following off-season ankle surgery.
Favre remains in tip-top shape physically, so much so that McCarthy might try getting Favre out of the pocket more this season. Throughout his career, Favre has made enormous plays while on the move, and McCarthy believes he's still capable of that.
"I think he's still a very effective player when he is on the move," McCarthy said. "And frankly, the people that know him fairly well, the people who have competed against him from a defensive standpoint, a number of them play with a wider end, rush the ends up the field, try to take that away from him. So for a quarterback that's as old as Brett is, and they're running the ends up the field, I think that speaks of his ability to play on the move."
Third-year quarterback Aaron Rodgers might have more to prove during this training camp than any other player on the roster.
Rodgers, a 2005 first-round draft choice, was awful during the exhibition season his rookie year when he had a paltry 53.0 quarterback rating. Rodgers improved that mark to 101.1 last summer, but did nothing to impress during a pair of regular season mop-up chances when his quarterback rating was 48.2.
Rodgers received the most extensive action of his career against New England, playing the entire second half. He went just 4 of 12 that day for 32 yards, lost a fumble and often held the ball too long, which resulted in three sacks. Adding injury to insult, Rodgers suffered a broken foot in that game and spent the final six weeks on injured reserve.
Rodgers is fully recovered from that injury and was cleared to resume full activity earlier this spring. But after doing little to impress in his first two seasons, Rodgers must show a lot more this summer or Green Bay could look elsewhere for Favre's eventual replacement.
"To be honest, the only guys I care about, besides the guys in this locker room, are (general manager) Ted Thompson and (head coach) Mike McCarthy," Rodgers said. "And I've heard nothing but positive feedback from them. So, . . . I feel good about where I'm at."
Third-stringer Ingle Martin, a 2006 fifth-round selection, was inactive all 16 games last season, then failed to wow anyone this spring.
Martin, who couldn't make it at Florida and transferred to Furman, is without question a project. He has good size and an NFL arm, but still must improve his accuracy and fundamentals.
Rookie free agent Paul Thompson is the only other quarterback currently on the roster. Thompson has tremendous athleticism and good size, but is as green as grass.
Thompson was a backup quarterback at Oklahoma who moved to wide receiver as a junior. But when starter Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the team last fall, Thompson took over and threw for 22 TDs and completed 60.7% of his passes.
"He's very athletic, everything our scouts said about him," McCarthy said of Thompson.
