Bretsky
10-05-2007, 01:00 AM
Favre still passes muster
QB's ex-mentors not surprised by his renaissance season
October 4, 2007
After 16 years in the NFL, 265 games, 9,056 passes and thousands of hits, 37-year old Brett Favre is playing with the freshness of a 27-year-old and the wisdom of a 72-year-old. This season he has set NFL records for most victories and most touchdown passes in a career while putting together one of his best four-game stretches ever.
How is the Packers quarterback doing it? A "roundtable" of five of his former coaches was put together to address the subject (OK, so it actually was four separate telephone interviews and a conference call with a fifth—just imagine a little).
The participants:
•Mike Holmgren, the former Packers head coach and current Seahawks head coach who tamed the wild colt and took Favre to his only two Super Bowls. He coached Favre for six years.
•Steve Mariucci, Favre's first quarterbacks coach in Green Bay and currently an analyst on the NFL Network. Mariucci's comments were taken from a conference call he had with reporters.
•Andy Reid, Favre's quarterbacks coach in 1997 and 1998 and the current head coach of the Eagles.
•Marty Mornhinweg, the quarterbacks coach for Favre in 1996 when Favre won the Most Valuable Player Award and the Packers won the Super Bowl. He's the current offensive coordinator of the Eagles.
•Mike Sherman, Favre's head coach for six seasons and the current offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans.
Moderator: Gentlemen, statistically, Favre is off to one of the best starts of his career with a 97.3 passer rating, a 65.9 completion percentage and 7.1 average yards per attempt. The only other times in his career he had similar numbers after four games were in 1996 and 1998, two of the three seasons he was voted the MVP, and 2001. Do you think he has been revitalized?
Reid: I felt all along he has been fine. I just think the defense is better than it has been and he's not playing from behind all the time and trying to make something happen.
Mornhinweg: The biggest thing is it appears he has a much better defense and a better team around him than he has had the last several years. You put Brett Favre on a pretty good team and the man can still play—no question.
Moderator: At 37, almost every athlete loses a little something. Has Favre's arm shown any signs of age?
Holmgren: He still has his arm. He hasn't had any serious injuries to his arm. I watch him making his throws. The slant he threw to win against San Diego—that's the way he always has thrown that pass.
Reid: I can't see one thing different with his arm. He comes off the mound on certain throws, back leg comes up and everything else. Doesn't look any different. He surely hasn't lost confidence in it. He's still right up there with the strongest arms in the league.
Sherman: He throws it as well as years ago. He'll throw it until one day his arm just falls out of its socket and drops on the ground. His arm strength is not going to slowly decrease, his arm will just fall off.
Mariucci: I don't see his arm tailing off at all. He's still throwing a 100 m.p.h. fastball.
Moderator: What about his ability to run and avoid pressure? For about the last five years, he clearly has not been taking off and running as much.
Mornhinweg: I supposed his movement might be a little affected. But he can still move and groove a little. I have not seen his skills drop off much. I coached Steve Young when he was 37, 38, and his skill level didn't drop either. It looks like he's in real good physical condition; he has his aerobic base.
Reid: When he has to, he takes off and goes. He doesn't look awkward doing it, or stiff. Sometimes the older guys look a little stiff. His pants aren't baggy on him. Sometimes those things happen when you get a little older. He's still in pretty good shape.
Sherman: The only difference probably is he's not as nifty on his feet, but he still makes the first guy miss. It probably takes longer to recover from the hits he takes.
Moderator: Favre has said he has watched more tape than usual this year and Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said Favre is preparing better now than he did in the past. Does that surprise you?
Holmgren: There is not much he does that surprises me. But I always felt his preparation was pretty good. A quarterback who has been as good as he is for as long as he has been knows he has to prepare for games.
Reid: I thought he prepared well even back when. Getting married to Deanna and settling down had a big part of that. He stopped going out on Thursday and Friday nights.
Mornhinweg: Don't let him fool you. He always has prepared. He always knew what needed to be done.
Moderator: This season McCarthy has stressed that Favre not take risks with the ball. Favre subsequently has thrown only one interception for every 85 passes—by far the best ratio of his career. Has his mentality changed from when you coached him?
Sherman: My last year there we were beat up, I know he felt he had to lead us to victory and probably tried to do more than he should have. We had discussions about it. Brett's always going to be aggressive. I doubt very much that part of his personality is going to change. He has been that way since he was a rookie. Now he probably thinks we're playing good defense, so if I can play within the scheme we can win some games.
Reid: Just got done looking at him against the Giants. It's against two-man and he lobs a 46-yarder out there and drops it right over the corner into the receiver's path. Not too many guys can do that. He still is taking his shots down the field. It's just he knows it's not going to be the last one he gets in a quarter.
Holmgren: He always has checked down. If you look back, Ahman Green and his backs got a ton of [yards] on throws like that. His decision-making just gets crazy when he feels they're behind and he needs to do something.
Moderator: With the way Favre seems to be enjoying himself, do you think he is approaching his job with more passion? He hasn't shown as much outward enthusiasm in recent years.
Sherman: I think he always has played with passion. I've never seen him not play with passion. But he's excited about winning, obviously.
Mariucci: His role is a little different now being the captain of that team and a veteran and having to try to bring along these younger players. … But he still plays with the same energy, the same enthusiasm for the sport. I see him smiling and jumping around on his players. I love to see that, because it looks like he loves to play the game. Too often, you know, people look to it as work, and it's their job. But he still looks at it as a game.
Holmgren: They've won. He's all about winning. The guys are making plays for him, and he's really having fun. That's very important to him, because he has accomplished everything. I think he realizes too that there is an end to this at some point, and why not give it a go as far as I can go with it, whether it's this season or next. It appears as though he's approaching it with a real healthy attitude.
QB's ex-mentors not surprised by his renaissance season
October 4, 2007
After 16 years in the NFL, 265 games, 9,056 passes and thousands of hits, 37-year old Brett Favre is playing with the freshness of a 27-year-old and the wisdom of a 72-year-old. This season he has set NFL records for most victories and most touchdown passes in a career while putting together one of his best four-game stretches ever.
How is the Packers quarterback doing it? A "roundtable" of five of his former coaches was put together to address the subject (OK, so it actually was four separate telephone interviews and a conference call with a fifth—just imagine a little).
The participants:
•Mike Holmgren, the former Packers head coach and current Seahawks head coach who tamed the wild colt and took Favre to his only two Super Bowls. He coached Favre for six years.
•Steve Mariucci, Favre's first quarterbacks coach in Green Bay and currently an analyst on the NFL Network. Mariucci's comments were taken from a conference call he had with reporters.
•Andy Reid, Favre's quarterbacks coach in 1997 and 1998 and the current head coach of the Eagles.
•Marty Mornhinweg, the quarterbacks coach for Favre in 1996 when Favre won the Most Valuable Player Award and the Packers won the Super Bowl. He's the current offensive coordinator of the Eagles.
•Mike Sherman, Favre's head coach for six seasons and the current offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans.
Moderator: Gentlemen, statistically, Favre is off to one of the best starts of his career with a 97.3 passer rating, a 65.9 completion percentage and 7.1 average yards per attempt. The only other times in his career he had similar numbers after four games were in 1996 and 1998, two of the three seasons he was voted the MVP, and 2001. Do you think he has been revitalized?
Reid: I felt all along he has been fine. I just think the defense is better than it has been and he's not playing from behind all the time and trying to make something happen.
Mornhinweg: The biggest thing is it appears he has a much better defense and a better team around him than he has had the last several years. You put Brett Favre on a pretty good team and the man can still play—no question.
Moderator: At 37, almost every athlete loses a little something. Has Favre's arm shown any signs of age?
Holmgren: He still has his arm. He hasn't had any serious injuries to his arm. I watch him making his throws. The slant he threw to win against San Diego—that's the way he always has thrown that pass.
Reid: I can't see one thing different with his arm. He comes off the mound on certain throws, back leg comes up and everything else. Doesn't look any different. He surely hasn't lost confidence in it. He's still right up there with the strongest arms in the league.
Sherman: He throws it as well as years ago. He'll throw it until one day his arm just falls out of its socket and drops on the ground. His arm strength is not going to slowly decrease, his arm will just fall off.
Mariucci: I don't see his arm tailing off at all. He's still throwing a 100 m.p.h. fastball.
Moderator: What about his ability to run and avoid pressure? For about the last five years, he clearly has not been taking off and running as much.
Mornhinweg: I supposed his movement might be a little affected. But he can still move and groove a little. I have not seen his skills drop off much. I coached Steve Young when he was 37, 38, and his skill level didn't drop either. It looks like he's in real good physical condition; he has his aerobic base.
Reid: When he has to, he takes off and goes. He doesn't look awkward doing it, or stiff. Sometimes the older guys look a little stiff. His pants aren't baggy on him. Sometimes those things happen when you get a little older. He's still in pretty good shape.
Sherman: The only difference probably is he's not as nifty on his feet, but he still makes the first guy miss. It probably takes longer to recover from the hits he takes.
Moderator: Favre has said he has watched more tape than usual this year and Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said Favre is preparing better now than he did in the past. Does that surprise you?
Holmgren: There is not much he does that surprises me. But I always felt his preparation was pretty good. A quarterback who has been as good as he is for as long as he has been knows he has to prepare for games.
Reid: I thought he prepared well even back when. Getting married to Deanna and settling down had a big part of that. He stopped going out on Thursday and Friday nights.
Mornhinweg: Don't let him fool you. He always has prepared. He always knew what needed to be done.
Moderator: This season McCarthy has stressed that Favre not take risks with the ball. Favre subsequently has thrown only one interception for every 85 passes—by far the best ratio of his career. Has his mentality changed from when you coached him?
Sherman: My last year there we were beat up, I know he felt he had to lead us to victory and probably tried to do more than he should have. We had discussions about it. Brett's always going to be aggressive. I doubt very much that part of his personality is going to change. He has been that way since he was a rookie. Now he probably thinks we're playing good defense, so if I can play within the scheme we can win some games.
Reid: Just got done looking at him against the Giants. It's against two-man and he lobs a 46-yarder out there and drops it right over the corner into the receiver's path. Not too many guys can do that. He still is taking his shots down the field. It's just he knows it's not going to be the last one he gets in a quarter.
Holmgren: He always has checked down. If you look back, Ahman Green and his backs got a ton of [yards] on throws like that. His decision-making just gets crazy when he feels they're behind and he needs to do something.
Moderator: With the way Favre seems to be enjoying himself, do you think he is approaching his job with more passion? He hasn't shown as much outward enthusiasm in recent years.
Sherman: I think he always has played with passion. I've never seen him not play with passion. But he's excited about winning, obviously.
Mariucci: His role is a little different now being the captain of that team and a veteran and having to try to bring along these younger players. … But he still plays with the same energy, the same enthusiasm for the sport. I see him smiling and jumping around on his players. I love to see that, because it looks like he loves to play the game. Too often, you know, people look to it as work, and it's their job. But he still looks at it as a game.
Holmgren: They've won. He's all about winning. The guys are making plays for him, and he's really having fun. That's very important to him, because he has accomplished everything. I think he realizes too that there is an end to this at some point, and why not give it a go as far as I can go with it, whether it's this season or next. It appears as though he's approaching it with a real healthy attitude.