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Sunday, August 17, 2008

Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers?

The Packers made a commitment to Rodgers, Favre did everything possible to get them to break that commitment. Why not, he has failed to make a commitment for the last few years. Now that the Packers traded Favre the fans are torn, Favre or Rodgers, who gives the Packers the best chance to win now? The Favre fans will tell you that without a doubt it is Favre, Rodgers is unproven. Exactly, how can you say without a doubt Favre? You don't know what Rodgers can or can not do? I understand, we are talking about a future Hall of Fame Quarterback, a 3-time MVP, but what has he done lately? He didn't win the MVP in 2007, close, but close doesn't make you the best, every year there is a second place MVP vote getter. He was 4th in Passing in the NFL last year, not first or second, but 4th, behind Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Tony Romo. Does that make him a winner? He finished one position ahead of Carson Palmer for the Bengals and by the way Kitna was 6th in Detroit. He had a 66.5% completion rating, Still only 4th in the League, guess what Chad Pennington of the Jets beat him there, and Houston's Matt Schaub was just behind him. If you look at the yards per game average, Favre averaged out to be tied for sixth with Brees and former backup Hasselbeck. Ben Roethisbeger, and Derek Anderson of Cleveland among the 5 better QB's. During a conversation with a dear family member over the weekend, he said look at the Ratings, so today I did, Favre had a very impressive rating of 95.7, good enough for 6th, behind most notably Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh and Garrard of Jacksonville.

Not being a Packer fan myself, I figured after looking at those stats, I had to be missing something. Packer Fans swear Favre can walk on water, he has a direct line to the Football Gods, what was I missing, and what was the Packers thinking letting him go?

2006 Stats - QB Rating Brett Favre was 25th at 72.7 only 7 QB's worse including Vince Young of my beloved Tennessee Titans. Completion Percent - 26th at 56%.

2005 Stats - QB Rating Brett Favre was 31st of 34 at 70.9. Completion Percent - 13th with 61.3%.

2004 Stats - QB Rating Brett Favre was 10th at 92.4. Completion Percent - 9th with 64.1%.

I still must be missing something, Brett Favre had great years with the Green Bay Packers. They are the years that hopefully everyone remembers because the last three aren't the types of years that would have gotten him into the Hall of Fame. For all you who think they are chew on this for a minute, in 2004 Daunte Culpepper was second in QB Rating at 110.9 with 69.2% completion rating and where is he now? Brian Griese also beat out Favre that year with a rating of 97.5 good enough for 6th and a 69.3% completion rating. 2005 Brad Johnson, Jake Delhomme, Mark Brunell, Kurt Warner, Trent Dilfer, Kerry Collins, Josh McCown, Gus Frerotte, and even Brooks Bollinger had better ratings than Brett Favre. List the teams and their playing status now if you can? 2006 the likes of Damon Huard, JP Losman, Chad Pennington, Steve McNair, Jon Kitna and even Rex Grossman had better ratings than Favre.

I wonder if it is not what I am missing, but what the fans are missing? Favre's time may have come and gone. That is not to take anything away from him, he was a great QB, will go down in history with all of his records, and yes he will be in the Hall of Fame. But the stats don't lie, the last several years have not been Hall of Fame years, and to average out his last 3-4 years, Brett Favre is at best an average QB.

All stats are courtesy of NFL.com