Bretsky
09-27-2007, 11:23 PM
Favre's reliability shines amid NFC North's pathetic QB picture
Posted: Sept. 27, 2007
Tom Silverstein
E-MAIL
Green Bay - If the Green Bay Packers should be celebrating anything about quarterback Brett Favre this week, it is that they have had the luxury of calling him theirs for all these years.
If you needed to be reminded why the Packers have been living a charmed life since the day general manager Ron Wolf swung the most one-sided trade in NFL history, take a look around the NFC North.
In Chicago, the Rex Grossman era mercifully came to an end Wednesday when the Bears benched him because he is another quarterback who couldn't win them a Super Bowl. Maybe Brian Griese will be the Bears' savior, but given the history of this division during the Favre era, you have to doubt it.
The Bears' quarterback saga is almost biblical in its sorrow and hardship.
If it were a chapter in the old testament it would start out something like "Shane Matthews begat Cade McNown begat Jim Miller begat Kordell Stewart begat Craig Krenzel begat Chad Hutchinson begat Kyle Orton begat Rex Grossman" and would end with a tale of "interceptions, fumbles and heart-breaking losses raining down upon the disenchanted kingdom."
Yes, it's bad. Here's a stunning fact about the Bears: They have not had a quarterback voted to the Pro Bowl since Jim McMahon in 1986.
Compared to the Lions, however, they're a quarterback factory. The Lions haven't had a Pro Bowl quarterback since Greg Landy in 1972. Their current starter is 35-year-old Jon Kitna, whose career record is 41-57.
Minnesota has done significantly better. Daunte Culpepper made it to the Pro Bowl in 2000, '03 and '04, Randall Cunningham made it in '98 and Warren Moon made it in '94 and '95. But what do the Vikings have to show for it? A couple of NFC championship game appearances and a current quarterback mess that threatens to bury them at the bottom of the division.
None of this is brought up to make the Packers appear a superior franchise, although in the cultivation of quarterbacks they've done far better than their division brethren over the years (e.g., Ty Detmer, Mark Brunell, Matt Hasselbeck, Aaron Brooks, Aaron Rodgers (?)). It is merely to point out that the Favre era, while not producing the number of Super Bowls Wolf probably dreamed of when acquiring his prize quarterback, has given the Packers stability no one else in the division can claim.
Almost every year the Packers have begun a season with Favre, they have had expectations of making the playoffs. And why not?
Since Favre took over as the team's starter on Sept. 27, 1992, the Packers have won more games than any other team in the National Football League, qualifying for the playoffs 10 times and appearing in two Super Bowls. In only one of Favre's seasons have the Packers finished below .500, and that was the only season in which they weren't in the playoff hunt going into the final week of the season.
That stability is why the Packers have a chance to be back in the playoff picture again. Unless the first three games of the season turn out to be an anomaly, the Packers are going to be a legitimate contender for the division title just two years after finishing last in it.
The advantage the Packers have with Favre isn't just that they have a quarterback they know will be in the lineup every Sunday or will give them a fighting chance to win every game - provided he doesn't flip back into that stupid-interception mode - but that they have the same guy under center who reads defenses the same way every week and expects his receivers to be in the same place he does.
In Chicago, the receivers have practiced with Griese, but it's going to take them time to know exactly where he's going to deliver the ball and when. In Minnesota, the receivers are still learning about backup Kelly Holcomb, who joined the team in late August and isn't the same quarterback as injured starter Tarvaris Jackson.
During a seven-on-seven passing drill Wednesday inside the Don Hutson Center, Favre took some time off because of a cut he suffered on his finger at home Monday and stood in the middle of the field where the defense would normally be located. As Aaron Rodgers took the ball from center, Favre would move to a position where he expected a defender to cover one of the receivers.
After one of the plays, Ruvell Martin came over to Favre to discuss his route. Then Vernand Morency did the same after another play. Then Ryan Grant. Then Greg Jennings. In each case, you could presume that Favre was telling his receivers how he expected the defense to play them and how he thought the route should be run.
It's not the first time Favre has done this and it certainly doesn't preclude him from throwing four interceptions this weekend, but there is a constant there that other teams in the division rarely have. The receivers and tight ends and running backs change, but the quarterback and the way he sees the game don't.
All the receivers have to do is get on the same page with him.
"I'm not a coach, but I feel I have to talk some things through with these guys based on my experience and what I've seen," Favre said Wednesday. "They still have to play the game and you still have to learn from your mistakes. But I think that's where I come in, where the experience part comes into play."
It's a pretty sad state of affairs at the quarterback position in the NFC North and that perhaps more than anything gives the Packers a chance to win the division. Favre finally has a few more options in the passing game to help him put up the numbers he has during the Packers' three-game winning streak, and the defense is making it so he's not playing from 10 or 14 points behind.
The Packers are re-tooling, and if they don't make it all the way back this year it won't be because they aren't settled at quarterback. Their advantage over everybody else is having the same quarterback they had last season and the season before that and the season before that ...
Posted: Sept. 27, 2007
Tom Silverstein
Green Bay - If the Green Bay Packers should be celebrating anything about quarterback Brett Favre this week, it is that they have had the luxury of calling him theirs for all these years.
If you needed to be reminded why the Packers have been living a charmed life since the day general manager Ron Wolf swung the most one-sided trade in NFL history, take a look around the NFC North.
In Chicago, the Rex Grossman era mercifully came to an end Wednesday when the Bears benched him because he is another quarterback who couldn't win them a Super Bowl. Maybe Brian Griese will be the Bears' savior, but given the history of this division during the Favre era, you have to doubt it.
The Bears' quarterback saga is almost biblical in its sorrow and hardship.
If it were a chapter in the old testament it would start out something like "Shane Matthews begat Cade McNown begat Jim Miller begat Kordell Stewart begat Craig Krenzel begat Chad Hutchinson begat Kyle Orton begat Rex Grossman" and would end with a tale of "interceptions, fumbles and heart-breaking losses raining down upon the disenchanted kingdom."
Yes, it's bad. Here's a stunning fact about the Bears: They have not had a quarterback voted to the Pro Bowl since Jim McMahon in 1986.
Compared to the Lions, however, they're a quarterback factory. The Lions haven't had a Pro Bowl quarterback since Greg Landy in 1972. Their current starter is 35-year-old Jon Kitna, whose career record is 41-57.
Minnesota has done significantly better. Daunte Culpepper made it to the Pro Bowl in 2000, '03 and '04, Randall Cunningham made it in '98 and Warren Moon made it in '94 and '95. But what do the Vikings have to show for it? A couple of NFC championship game appearances and a current quarterback mess that threatens to bury them at the bottom of the division.
None of this is brought up to make the Packers appear a superior franchise, although in the cultivation of quarterbacks they've done far better than their division brethren over the years (e.g., Ty Detmer, Mark Brunell, Matt Hasselbeck, Aaron Brooks, Aaron Rodgers (?)). It is merely to point out that the Favre era, while not producing the number of Super Bowls Wolf probably dreamed of when acquiring his prize quarterback, has given the Packers stability no one else in the division can claim.
Almost every year the Packers have begun a season with Favre, they have had expectations of making the playoffs. And why not?
Since Favre took over as the team's starter on Sept. 27, 1992, the Packers have won more games than any other team in the National Football League, qualifying for the playoffs 10 times and appearing in two Super Bowls. In only one of Favre's seasons have the Packers finished below .500, and that was the only season in which they weren't in the playoff hunt going into the final week of the season.
That stability is why the Packers have a chance to be back in the playoff picture again. Unless the first three games of the season turn out to be an anomaly, the Packers are going to be a legitimate contender for the division title just two years after finishing last in it.
The advantage the Packers have with Favre isn't just that they have a quarterback they know will be in the lineup every Sunday or will give them a fighting chance to win every game - provided he doesn't flip back into that stupid-interception mode - but that they have the same guy under center who reads defenses the same way every week and expects his receivers to be in the same place he does.
In Chicago, the receivers have practiced with Griese, but it's going to take them time to know exactly where he's going to deliver the ball and when. In Minnesota, the receivers are still learning about backup Kelly Holcomb, who joined the team in late August and isn't the same quarterback as injured starter Tarvaris Jackson.
During a seven-on-seven passing drill Wednesday inside the Don Hutson Center, Favre took some time off because of a cut he suffered on his finger at home Monday and stood in the middle of the field where the defense would normally be located. As Aaron Rodgers took the ball from center, Favre would move to a position where he expected a defender to cover one of the receivers.
After one of the plays, Ruvell Martin came over to Favre to discuss his route. Then Vernand Morency did the same after another play. Then Ryan Grant. Then Greg Jennings. In each case, you could presume that Favre was telling his receivers how he expected the defense to play them and how he thought the route should be run.
It's not the first time Favre has done this and it certainly doesn't preclude him from throwing four interceptions this weekend, but there is a constant there that other teams in the division rarely have. The receivers and tight ends and running backs change, but the quarterback and the way he sees the game don't.
All the receivers have to do is get on the same page with him.
"I'm not a coach, but I feel I have to talk some things through with these guys based on my experience and what I've seen," Favre said Wednesday. "They still have to play the game and you still have to learn from your mistakes. But I think that's where I come in, where the experience part comes into play."
It's a pretty sad state of affairs at the quarterback position in the NFC North and that perhaps more than anything gives the Packers a chance to win the division. Favre finally has a few more options in the passing game to help him put up the numbers he has during the Packers' three-game winning streak, and the defense is making it so he's not playing from 10 or 14 points behind.
The Packers are re-tooling, and if they don't make it all the way back this year it won't be because they aren't settled at quarterback. Their advantage over everybody else is having the same quarterback they had last season and the season before that and the season before that ...