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My Favre-ite Time of Year

By W. James Antle, III on 7.29.09 @ 2:16PM

Brett Favre has surprised me for the past two years. Last year, I was surprised he decided to come out of retirement and play for the New York Jets. Now I'm surprised that he is remaining retired rather than playing for the Minnesota Vikings. I'm not saying it's a bad decision: Favre's legacy was sure to take a hit if his performance was closer to his run as Jets' quarterback than his last season with the Green Bay Packers. He's no spring chicken.

Yet with a better running game, better defense, better backup quarterback, and an offense more similar to what Favre ran in Green Bay, the Vikings had to have been an enticing opportunity. When he was still considering it this late in the game, I figured yes was a likely answer. Favre's last two seasons ended in disappointment: an overtime loss to the eventual Super Bowl winners in the NFC Championship and falling short of the playoffs last year.

Even that disappointing season with the Jets has to be put in perspective. Favre threw his first six-touchdown game, was the first to defeat the Tennessee Titans, overcame one of Matt Cassel's best performances in New England, and led the team to 8-3 before tearing a bicep in his throwing arm. Favre still finished the season by taking a team that had gone 4-12 the previous season to a 9-7 record, eliminated from the playoffs only in the final game of the season.

Unfortunately, Favre's will-he-or-won't-he spectacles between seasons was increasingly detracting from his legacy on the field. The longtime franchise quarterback was starting to look bitter and less like a team player. He has created a quarterback controversy on the Vikings only to tell the team he won't be playing 36 hours before training camp, leaving them to pick up the pieces. It's the third franchise he's held for ransom in two years.

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Eric Damon| 7.30.09 @ 8:57AM

Brett Favre and his primadonna act needed to be put to rest for good; but even in announcing that he was not coming back, he couldn't close the door to returning at some point this season to some team! For a guy that has been so lauded as a great team player, Brett Favre has been one of the most selfish players I have seen in a long time. Just look at his actions with the Jets last year; piss poor performances for half of the year and a refusal to be "one of the guys" with his teammates doomed the Jets last year. Look at it this way; Brett Favre had a biceps injury that allegedly caused him to play like crap down the stretch of the season, and required offseason surgery. But Favre was so caught up in keeping his consecutive starts streak alive that he kept playing, even as he became a liability to his team. Is that guts or ego? I say ego, because a real leader knows when he can't help his team and will step aside in order for the team to succeed, but Favre refused to step back for even a moment. I'm just glad he won't be hanging around for another season to throw terrible interceptions, make horrible decisions, and still be lauded by some as a great player.

Solo| 7.30.09 @ 9:39AM

Well...what Eric has written above is one way of looking at it and he's certainly entitled to draw his own conclusions.

Even though I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Bears fan, I've always admired and respected Brett Favre. He's a "working man's" quarterback who plays hard and who loves the game.

Frankly, I'm glad that he is going to retire. I'd hate to see him get a serious injury this late in his career. Actually, I was disappointed that he went to the Jets. It seems wrong on so many levels that he would wear anything but a Packers uniform.

I know he's not the most skilled of quarterbacks but...your opposing team was never safe when he had the ball in his hands.

Thanks for the memories, Brett! And God speed.