Brett Favre’s triumph in leading the Minnesota Vikings to victory over his old team, the Green Bay Packers, has obscured the fact that the older quarterbacks are generally not doing as well this NFL season. Last year was the season of the old quarterback. Not only did Favre lead the New York Jets, a previously 4-12 team, to 8-3 before tearing his bicep down the stretch, but Kerry Collins and Kurt Warner came in and sidelined promising young quarterbacks. The result? The Collins-led Tennesse Titans went 13-3, the best record in the NFL, and Warner’s Arizona Cardinals went all the way to the Super Bowl.
This year, things have been a little different. Warner has thrown four touchdowns to four interceptions as the Cardinals have sunk to 1-2 (they are coming off their bye week). Collins has thrown five touchdowns to six interceptions for a quarterback rating of 68.9. His Titans are 0-4 heading into a match with the undefeated Indianapolis Colts.
Do you bench Collins and Warner at this point, declaring it a rebuilding season? Or are Vince Young and Matt Leinart even bigger gambles given troubled NFL track records? That’s the question these teams are facing. But with the exception of Favre, we are hearing more about the young guns like Drew Brees than we are the graybeards. Whether the quarterbacks are old or not, however, the season is still young.