Perspective on the Favre INTs

Arles

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Because of the large difference in pass attempts for many QBs, the INT record is a bit misleading (and you can also argue the TD one to a lesser degree). For instance, Blanda now has fewer INTs than Brett, but he threw a pick on 6.9% of his total pass attempts. On the flip side, Brett has thrown one on just every 3.3% of his passes.

So, a better measure is TD vs INT %. I checked the TD and INT % per attempt for some of the best passers of all time (with atleast 8 full seasons as a starter). I ranked them by difference between the two:

Young: 5.5%, 2.6%: +2.9
Manning: 5.6%, 2.8%: +2.8
Montana 5.1%, 2.6%: +2.5
Marino 5.0%, 3.1%: +1.9
Favre 5.0%, 3.3%: +1.7
Dawson 6.3%, 4.9%: +1.4
Jergensen: 5.9%, 4.5%: +1.4
Tarkington 5.3%, 4.1%: +1.2
Kelly 4.9%, 3.7%: +1.2
Elway 4.1%, 3.1%: +1.0
Moon 4.3%, 3.4%: +0.9
Unitas 5.6%, 4.9%: +0.7
Bledsoe 3.7%, 3.1%: +0.6
Aikman 3.5%, 3.0%: +0.5
Fouts: 4.5%, 4.3%: +0.2
Bradshaw 5.4%, 5.4%: 0

So, when it comes to "risk/reward" of some of the top passers of all time, Favre ranks comfortably fifth. For Young, too, you need to understand he had about half the full seasons as a starter that Brett had (and barely made the 8 season cutoff).
 

Cdnfavrefan

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Even int's per game surprised me when I looked up Aikman and Marino;s stats. I guess after you've retired a few years no one even remembers the int's. I do like though when Tom Jackson says his favoriteFavre record is the int's but he means it in a good way cause of what it says about the way he plays
 

evad04

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Nice work, aries! I am also a believer that there is more to these interceptions than simply total volume. I don't know if you had a chance to see these stats I compiled, but I posted this on a different thread:

Here's a list of all-time great QBs, and the interceptions they threw per number of passing attempts.

Brett Favre- 30.4 attempts
Dan Marino- 33.2 attempts
John Elway- 32.1
Joe Montana- 38.8
Steve Young- 38.8
Johnny Unitas- 20.5
Fran Tarkenton- 24.3
Troy Aikman- 33.4
Jim Kelly- 27.3
Warren Moon- 29.3
Dan Fouts- 23.1
Sonny Jurgenson- 22.6
Ron Jaworski- 25.1
George Blanda- 14.5
Terry Bradshaw- 18.6
Y.A. Tittle- 17.3
Kenny Stabler- 17.1
Joe Namath- 17.1
Vinny Testaverde- 25
Lenny Dawson- 22.4
Jim Plunkett- 18.7
Archie Manning- 21
Joe Theismann- 26
Dave Krieg- 26.7
Boomer Esiason- 28.3
Jim Hart- 20.6
John Hadl- 17.5
Phil Simms- 29.6
Roman Gabriel- 30.2
John Brodie- 20
Kenny Anderson- 28
Randall Cunningham- 32


Tom Brady- 40.3
Peyton Manning- 35.9
Carson Palmer- 33.1
_______________

So... guys like Montana, Young, Brady and Manning have done an excellent job in regards to this stat. Marino, Elway, Aikman... all close. Favre doesn't look too shabby. But... the Johnny U's of the world... wow. Granted they played in another era so things were a bit different. Bradshaw? Eww.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the stats.
 

Cdnfavrefan

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I thought I'd seen this before. One other thing that doesn't get taken into consideration is I like how my buddy (who isn't even a Favre fan) said he admired him cause to him Favre was the same as Tiger wins. Either he plays balls out to win or nothing. While a lot of guys when the game seems lost start just throwing checkdowns against a prevent D to pad the stats Brett would rather sling it into triple coverage if it at least give us a 5 % chance of winning instead of conceding
 

Greg C.

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The numbers are misleading when comparing older QB's (say, pre-1980) to the newer guys, because they did not throw so many short passes back then, and the rules did not favor the O-line and the receivers so much.

Compared to his contemporaries, Favre's INT numbers are a bit high, but not drastically high by any means.
 

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