No Mo Moss
05-20-2006, 09:34 PM
FAVRE'S RETURN HURT THE PACKERS?
BY NO MO MOSS
packerrats.com
Much has been made about the return of Brett Favre to the Green Bay Packers. Favre’s flare for the dramatic this off-season seemed to catch the attention of more than the usual citizens of Packer Nation. At least once a week, ESPN’s lead story on “Sportcenterà ¢â‚¬Â was regarding Favre. Steven A. Smith told us “quite frankly†what he thought and Jim Rome “burned⠢‚¬Â on my television about the matter. At times, the national sports media, sans John Madden, pretends to not like Favre merely to get a rise out of people, but the simple truth is that the mention of his name always equates to a lot of people paying attention.
Brett Favre is one of the most beloved athletes in this country’s sports history. The love affair is not quite as hot in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, as Favre has been responsible for a lot of their misery in the last sixteen years. The media hype surrounding his indecision must have sickened the people in those aforementioned states, since even in Packerland it was too much to take at times. The sports media’s spotlight was shining for one reason and one reason only: people like Brett Favre. So naturally when the day finally came and Brett informed us that he would return to football everyone rejoiced, right?
Well, actually, no.
Why would everyone not be overjoyed with the return of a superstar Hall of Fame quarterback? The simple answer is that they are idiots. Whether talking around the water cooler or ranting on national media, the reason surrounding people’s lack of enthusiam was almost always the same: Aaron Rodgers.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/Rodgers.jpg
“This will stunt the development of Aaron Rodgers.â€ÂÂ
“We won’t know what we have in Aaron Rodgers.â€ÂÂ
“We aren’t playing for the future unless we start Aaron Rodgers.â€ÂÂ
Well, excuse me for not shedding a tear for Mr. Rodgers and his neighborhood, but I’m not buying it for a second.
So often in this league everyone wants to move on to the next player in hopes of an upgrade, and why not? That is the way it works. Everyone has the answer though, and typically it comes as the illusion of a quick fix, with a convenient blinder on recent history. Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes in the National Football League, especially at the quarterback position. The Chicago Bears have been looking for one since Sid Luckman and he played in the 1940s. The Browns have been looking for one since Bernie Kosar and he played in the 1980s. Arguments that Favre is in someway hurting this team are flat out wrong. Wrong and hypocritical.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/McNair.jpg
Steve McNair is going to be traded from the Titans at some point this off-season. The most likely destination for him is in Baltimore. Almost unanimously the national sports media is drooling all over themselves applauding this pending move by the Ravens. While I agree that with McNair at the controls Baltimore looks much more menacing, the hypocracy is that you don’t hear anyone talking about Kyle Boller. Surely the Ravens will be stunting Boller’s growth by playing McNair. Surely they will never know what they have in Boller, who appeared to come on last year, if they play McNair. Are the Ravens playing for the future if they start McNair? Where are those statements? They are nowhere to be heard, but Brett Favre returning to the team he has captained for the better part of two decades, that’s hurting the Packers? Of course it isn’t.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/Boller.jpg
A typical gripe is that “theyÃ¢à ‚¬â„¢ll never know what they have in Rodgers with Favre playing.†Well, what if they have complete crap? Then what? If Rodgers did end up starting and layed a big egg, those same talking heads would be lashing out at the organization for allowing it to happen. The media prognosticates in a perpetual gray area so they can always be right in some way. Don’t be fooled my friends, I am going to give you the black and white of this next season, and I’m going to be right. The demise and counter productivity of Brett Favre has been greatly exaggerated in many ways. This season Brett Favre will be the best offensive playmaker in the NFC North! Here’s why:
Minnesota Vikings:
The quarterback situation in Minnesota is terrible. Brad Johnson did a pretty good job last year, but he has been fragile in the past and he and his team are one injury away from unparalleled disaster. Is sitting behind Johnson possibly stunting Tavarus Jackson’s development? Doubtful. The Vikings have shipped out all of their playmakers to the point where their biggest offensive weapon is Koren Robinson, who after having a good year needs to prove he can do it again. Moss, Culpepper and Bennett are all gone and there is no one on the Vikings who can even hold Brett Favre’s jock strap. People around the league will still be game planning around Favre, but are defensive coordinators really going to be having fits trying to crack the enigma of Johnson to Wiggins? Unlikely!
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/BradJohnson01.jpg
Detroit Lions:
Josh McCown had better receivers in Arizona and couldn’t get the wins, but now the national media sounds as if they believe he is a great quarterback. I guess he just needs to develop. Unfortunately for Mr. McCown, as soon as he has a string of bad games he will be riding the pine watching Jon Kitna try and get ‘er dun! Is Kitna selfish for becoming a Lion, possibly stunting the growth of Josh McCown? Whoever the quarterback, it is doubtful this offense will strike fear into anyone. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz is a one trick pony on trick five. He calls games like you and I play Madden 2006, he gets bored and abandons the run, a recipe for disaster for a young quarterback. Is there anyone on this team who is a bigger playmaker than Brett Favre? Sorry, motor city kitties, there is not.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/McCown.jpg
Chicago Bears:
Everyone has already given the Bears the division title. Well, not me, I’ve seen this act before. I can only imagine the way the Packers’ organization feels about getting to open the season at home against the Bears. We played the Bears tough last year with a very bad team and a coach who felt like we needed to dial up 110 pass plays in two games. Difficult to believe we can’t do better this year. The Bear’s are hardly perfect. Is Rex Glassman going to actually produce next year? The Bears signed Brian Griese, who will undoubtedly hurt the development of Grossman when he takes the field in a starting role about week four of the preseason. Who would you rather face in December with a trip to the playoffs on the line: Brian Griese or Brett Favre?
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/Grossman.jpg
Time after time we see how this division unfolds. In the past it has been Culpepper and Favre, the two best quarterbacks in the division, leading their teams down the stretch. All the preseason hype becomes irrelevant and it ultimately gets right down to the heart of the matter: Who has the best playmaking quarterback in the division, who can pick up the clutch third down in December, and which team has a champion as their leader? These are the things that win the division, not hype and looking good on paper. The national media seems to forget this every year. I know who my money is on and he can keep "hurting" my team for as long as he'd like.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/brett_front.jpg
BY NO MO MOSS
packerrats.com
Much has been made about the return of Brett Favre to the Green Bay Packers. Favre’s flare for the dramatic this off-season seemed to catch the attention of more than the usual citizens of Packer Nation. At least once a week, ESPN’s lead story on “Sportcenterà ¢â‚¬Â was regarding Favre. Steven A. Smith told us “quite frankly†what he thought and Jim Rome “burned⠢‚¬Â on my television about the matter. At times, the national sports media, sans John Madden, pretends to not like Favre merely to get a rise out of people, but the simple truth is that the mention of his name always equates to a lot of people paying attention.
Brett Favre is one of the most beloved athletes in this country’s sports history. The love affair is not quite as hot in Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, as Favre has been responsible for a lot of their misery in the last sixteen years. The media hype surrounding his indecision must have sickened the people in those aforementioned states, since even in Packerland it was too much to take at times. The sports media’s spotlight was shining for one reason and one reason only: people like Brett Favre. So naturally when the day finally came and Brett informed us that he would return to football everyone rejoiced, right?
Well, actually, no.
Why would everyone not be overjoyed with the return of a superstar Hall of Fame quarterback? The simple answer is that they are idiots. Whether talking around the water cooler or ranting on national media, the reason surrounding people’s lack of enthusiam was almost always the same: Aaron Rodgers.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/Rodgers.jpg
“This will stunt the development of Aaron Rodgers.â€ÂÂ
“We won’t know what we have in Aaron Rodgers.â€ÂÂ
“We aren’t playing for the future unless we start Aaron Rodgers.â€ÂÂ
Well, excuse me for not shedding a tear for Mr. Rodgers and his neighborhood, but I’m not buying it for a second.
So often in this league everyone wants to move on to the next player in hopes of an upgrade, and why not? That is the way it works. Everyone has the answer though, and typically it comes as the illusion of a quick fix, with a convenient blinder on recent history. Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes in the National Football League, especially at the quarterback position. The Chicago Bears have been looking for one since Sid Luckman and he played in the 1940s. The Browns have been looking for one since Bernie Kosar and he played in the 1980s. Arguments that Favre is in someway hurting this team are flat out wrong. Wrong and hypocritical.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/McNair.jpg
Steve McNair is going to be traded from the Titans at some point this off-season. The most likely destination for him is in Baltimore. Almost unanimously the national sports media is drooling all over themselves applauding this pending move by the Ravens. While I agree that with McNair at the controls Baltimore looks much more menacing, the hypocracy is that you don’t hear anyone talking about Kyle Boller. Surely the Ravens will be stunting Boller’s growth by playing McNair. Surely they will never know what they have in Boller, who appeared to come on last year, if they play McNair. Are the Ravens playing for the future if they start McNair? Where are those statements? They are nowhere to be heard, but Brett Favre returning to the team he has captained for the better part of two decades, that’s hurting the Packers? Of course it isn’t.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/Boller.jpg
A typical gripe is that “theyÃ¢à ‚¬â„¢ll never know what they have in Rodgers with Favre playing.†Well, what if they have complete crap? Then what? If Rodgers did end up starting and layed a big egg, those same talking heads would be lashing out at the organization for allowing it to happen. The media prognosticates in a perpetual gray area so they can always be right in some way. Don’t be fooled my friends, I am going to give you the black and white of this next season, and I’m going to be right. The demise and counter productivity of Brett Favre has been greatly exaggerated in many ways. This season Brett Favre will be the best offensive playmaker in the NFC North! Here’s why:
Minnesota Vikings:
The quarterback situation in Minnesota is terrible. Brad Johnson did a pretty good job last year, but he has been fragile in the past and he and his team are one injury away from unparalleled disaster. Is sitting behind Johnson possibly stunting Tavarus Jackson’s development? Doubtful. The Vikings have shipped out all of their playmakers to the point where their biggest offensive weapon is Koren Robinson, who after having a good year needs to prove he can do it again. Moss, Culpepper and Bennett are all gone and there is no one on the Vikings who can even hold Brett Favre’s jock strap. People around the league will still be game planning around Favre, but are defensive coordinators really going to be having fits trying to crack the enigma of Johnson to Wiggins? Unlikely!
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/BradJohnson01.jpg
Detroit Lions:
Josh McCown had better receivers in Arizona and couldn’t get the wins, but now the national media sounds as if they believe he is a great quarterback. I guess he just needs to develop. Unfortunately for Mr. McCown, as soon as he has a string of bad games he will be riding the pine watching Jon Kitna try and get ‘er dun! Is Kitna selfish for becoming a Lion, possibly stunting the growth of Josh McCown? Whoever the quarterback, it is doubtful this offense will strike fear into anyone. Offensive coordinator Mike Martz is a one trick pony on trick five. He calls games like you and I play Madden 2006, he gets bored and abandons the run, a recipe for disaster for a young quarterback. Is there anyone on this team who is a bigger playmaker than Brett Favre? Sorry, motor city kitties, there is not.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/McCown.jpg
Chicago Bears:
Everyone has already given the Bears the division title. Well, not me, I’ve seen this act before. I can only imagine the way the Packers’ organization feels about getting to open the season at home against the Bears. We played the Bears tough last year with a very bad team and a coach who felt like we needed to dial up 110 pass plays in two games. Difficult to believe we can’t do better this year. The Bear’s are hardly perfect. Is Rex Glassman going to actually produce next year? The Bears signed Brian Griese, who will undoubtedly hurt the development of Grossman when he takes the field in a starting role about week four of the preseason. Who would you rather face in December with a trip to the playoffs on the line: Brian Griese or Brett Favre?
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/Grossman.jpg
Time after time we see how this division unfolds. In the past it has been Culpepper and Favre, the two best quarterbacks in the division, leading their teams down the stretch. All the preseason hype becomes irrelevant and it ultimately gets right down to the heart of the matter: Who has the best playmaking quarterback in the division, who can pick up the clutch third down in December, and which team has a champion as their leader? These are the things that win the division, not hype and looking good on paper. The national media seems to forget this every year. I know who my money is on and he can keep "hurting" my team for as long as he'd like.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/killoran25/brett_front.jpg