Bretsky
04-20-2006, 10:24 PM
Will there ever be another Brett Favre?
Posted: April 20, 2006
Bud Lea
E-MAIL
In a world without Brett Favre, who would be king?
Would it be Peyton Manning, who has yet to take a team to the Super Bowl after eight years with the Indianapolis Colts? He saw a season that began 13-0 evaporate into a stunning home playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and later ripped his offensive line for five sacks.
Would it be Tom Brady, the quarterback who never lost? He buckled under pressure from Denver blitzes as the New England Patriots were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.
Would it be Cincinnati's Carson Palmer, who suffered a devastating setback in the playoffs when he tore up his knee against the Steelers and his status for this season is unclear?
Would it be Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, who in the Super Bowl completed just nine of 21 passes for 123 yards and threw two interceptions for a 22.6 QB rating.
Brett Favre, still pondering his future with the Green Bay Packers, has been a one-of-a-kind performer at QB.
Would it be Atlanta's Michael Vick, who went 13 of 32 for 122 yards and one interception (25.8 rating) in a crucial late-season game against the Chicago Bears?
Would it be Jake Delhomme, whom Sports Illustrated predicted at the start of the season would lead the Carolina Panthers to the NFL championship? In a playoff showdown at Seattle, Delhomme ran out of comebacks with a 34.9 QB rating.
The Super Bowl always has been a quarterback's game. But the biggest play of Super Bowl XL came from Pittsburgh wide receiver Antwaan Randle El who heaved a 43-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward to seal the Steelers' victory in the fourth quarter.
All Matt Hasselbeck had to show for completing 26 of 49 passes for 273 yards was one touchdown in Seattle's 21-10 loss to Pittsburgh.
For quarterbacks, greatness is an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you measure up to the moment that matters, or you do not. You win when the world is watching, or it will decide there is nothing to watch.
Was it just one of those years? Or is the NFL turning into a league with a quarterback crisis?
While his team kept crumbling around him, Favre kept playing like a confident gunslinger, throwing for an NFC-leading 3,881 yards and 20 touchdowns. But he also had 29 interceptions and a passer rating of 70.9, the lowest in his 14 seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
It isn't surprising that Favre's 36-year-old arm is one of the most coveted by peers. When The Sporting News polled 56 quarterbacks last December and asked them which fellow quarterback's arm they would love to have, 27 of them named Favre. Retired John Elway was runner-up with six votes, followed by Michael Vick (5), Tom Brady and Daunte Culpepper (4), Peyton Manning (3), Carson Palmer (2) and (1) for Kerry Collins of the Oakland Raiders; Byron Leftwich of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Aaron Brooks of the New Orleans Saints and Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Teams are struggling more than ever with what to do at quarterback. The old rule of thumb still applies: you can't win without one. The new rule: you can't be sure where to get one.
The Minnesota Vikings thought so little about Culpepper that they traded their veteran quarterback to the Miami Dolphins and got even less (a second-round draft pick) than they did for the trade of Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders in 2005.
That means Brad Johnson, who turns 38 in September, will run the Vikings offense. The team shifted from a vertical passing game to one based on ball control after Johnson took over for Culpepper, who tore up his right knee on Oct. 30.
Culpepper, considered a franchise quarterback, fired 39 touchdown passes compared to just 11 interceptions in 2004. How the mighty have fallen.
Since 1957, the Detroit Lions have sent only one quarterback to the Pro Bowl. He was Greg Landry, after the 1971 season. The Lions were 7-6-1 that year.
The Lions are always searching for the right guy. The latest "right guy" candidates are John Kitna, who was the wrong guy in Seattle and Cincinnati, and Josh McCown, who was the wrong guy in Arizona.
Gone is Joey Harrington, who was penciled in as the Lions' starter after Rod Marinelli was hired as head coach. Harrington was 18-37 as a starter, but the Lions figured to keep him having invested a lot in him since drafting him third overall in 2002.
After seeing Harrington at the Lions' quarterback school, Marinelli changed his mind and said the team is moving on without him.
There's nothing like a new quarterback. Even if it's someone else's old quarterback.
In Chicago, a smoldering quarterback controversy looms for the Bears.
Rex Grossman might be the Chosen One, the player drafted to lead the Bears to their second-ever Super Bowl. But there is a big difference between Rex Grossman and Rex Grossman's potential.
He hasn't proved that he can survive a handful of games without serious injury. So the Bears signed free agent Brian Griese, who chose Chicago over Cincinnati or a return to Tampa Bay for the opportunity to play and eventually start.
The player most obviously affected by Griese is Kyle Orton, who won 10 games as a rookie starter and is No. 3 on the Bears' depth chart.
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo hasn't ruled out drafting a quarterback in the first three rounds. "Until you get it right, can you have too many?" he asked.
Brett Favre is accustomed to standing alone. He has started 241 games at the quarterback position. That's a record - 120 more games than anybody else.
He also has won three NFL MVP awards. Again he stands alone. No other player has ever won more than two.
Favre also had a feeling of standing alone last year, but for a different reason. The Packers finished 4-12. It was his first losing season in 14 years at Green Bay. He's not a 4-12 quarterback.
A lot of teams still would love to have him, even on his worst days.
Posted: April 20, 2006
Bud Lea
In a world without Brett Favre, who would be king?
Would it be Peyton Manning, who has yet to take a team to the Super Bowl after eight years with the Indianapolis Colts? He saw a season that began 13-0 evaporate into a stunning home playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and later ripped his offensive line for five sacks.
Would it be Tom Brady, the quarterback who never lost? He buckled under pressure from Denver blitzes as the New England Patriots were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.
Would it be Cincinnati's Carson Palmer, who suffered a devastating setback in the playoffs when he tore up his knee against the Steelers and his status for this season is unclear?
Would it be Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, who in the Super Bowl completed just nine of 21 passes for 123 yards and threw two interceptions for a 22.6 QB rating.
Brett Favre, still pondering his future with the Green Bay Packers, has been a one-of-a-kind performer at QB.
Would it be Atlanta's Michael Vick, who went 13 of 32 for 122 yards and one interception (25.8 rating) in a crucial late-season game against the Chicago Bears?
Would it be Jake Delhomme, whom Sports Illustrated predicted at the start of the season would lead the Carolina Panthers to the NFL championship? In a playoff showdown at Seattle, Delhomme ran out of comebacks with a 34.9 QB rating.
The Super Bowl always has been a quarterback's game. But the biggest play of Super Bowl XL came from Pittsburgh wide receiver Antwaan Randle El who heaved a 43-yard touchdown pass to Hines Ward to seal the Steelers' victory in the fourth quarter.
All Matt Hasselbeck had to show for completing 26 of 49 passes for 273 yards was one touchdown in Seattle's 21-10 loss to Pittsburgh.
For quarterbacks, greatness is an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you measure up to the moment that matters, or you do not. You win when the world is watching, or it will decide there is nothing to watch.
Was it just one of those years? Or is the NFL turning into a league with a quarterback crisis?
While his team kept crumbling around him, Favre kept playing like a confident gunslinger, throwing for an NFC-leading 3,881 yards and 20 touchdowns. But he also had 29 interceptions and a passer rating of 70.9, the lowest in his 14 seasons with the Green Bay Packers.
It isn't surprising that Favre's 36-year-old arm is one of the most coveted by peers. When The Sporting News polled 56 quarterbacks last December and asked them which fellow quarterback's arm they would love to have, 27 of them named Favre. Retired John Elway was runner-up with six votes, followed by Michael Vick (5), Tom Brady and Daunte Culpepper (4), Peyton Manning (3), Carson Palmer (2) and (1) for Kerry Collins of the Oakland Raiders; Byron Leftwich of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Aaron Brooks of the New Orleans Saints and Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Teams are struggling more than ever with what to do at quarterback. The old rule of thumb still applies: you can't win without one. The new rule: you can't be sure where to get one.
The Minnesota Vikings thought so little about Culpepper that they traded their veteran quarterback to the Miami Dolphins and got even less (a second-round draft pick) than they did for the trade of Randy Moss to the Oakland Raiders in 2005.
That means Brad Johnson, who turns 38 in September, will run the Vikings offense. The team shifted from a vertical passing game to one based on ball control after Johnson took over for Culpepper, who tore up his right knee on Oct. 30.
Culpepper, considered a franchise quarterback, fired 39 touchdown passes compared to just 11 interceptions in 2004. How the mighty have fallen.
Since 1957, the Detroit Lions have sent only one quarterback to the Pro Bowl. He was Greg Landry, after the 1971 season. The Lions were 7-6-1 that year.
The Lions are always searching for the right guy. The latest "right guy" candidates are John Kitna, who was the wrong guy in Seattle and Cincinnati, and Josh McCown, who was the wrong guy in Arizona.
Gone is Joey Harrington, who was penciled in as the Lions' starter after Rod Marinelli was hired as head coach. Harrington was 18-37 as a starter, but the Lions figured to keep him having invested a lot in him since drafting him third overall in 2002.
After seeing Harrington at the Lions' quarterback school, Marinelli changed his mind and said the team is moving on without him.
There's nothing like a new quarterback. Even if it's someone else's old quarterback.
In Chicago, a smoldering quarterback controversy looms for the Bears.
Rex Grossman might be the Chosen One, the player drafted to lead the Bears to their second-ever Super Bowl. But there is a big difference between Rex Grossman and Rex Grossman's potential.
He hasn't proved that he can survive a handful of games without serious injury. So the Bears signed free agent Brian Griese, who chose Chicago over Cincinnati or a return to Tampa Bay for the opportunity to play and eventually start.
The player most obviously affected by Griese is Kyle Orton, who won 10 games as a rookie starter and is No. 3 on the Bears' depth chart.
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo hasn't ruled out drafting a quarterback in the first three rounds. "Until you get it right, can you have too many?" he asked.
Brett Favre is accustomed to standing alone. He has started 241 games at the quarterback position. That's a record - 120 more games than anybody else.
He also has won three NFL MVP awards. Again he stands alone. No other player has ever won more than two.
Favre also had a feeling of standing alone last year, but for a different reason. The Packers finished 4-12. It was his first losing season in 14 years at Green Bay. He's not a 4-12 quarterback.
A lot of teams still would love to have him, even on his worst days.