Favre vs. Marino

[HarveyWallbangers]

From Peter King. Their stats are remarkably similar. When you consider the fact that Favre has played for a cold weather team, and that has hurt his stats to some degree, they are even more similar. I researched this previously. If you gave Favre the stats that he had in non-bad weather conditions for all of his games, his stats would be about 1/2 a season's worth better.

Stat of the Week I

"How many games has Brett played, anyway?'' Dan Marino asked the other day. I had called on an SI mission, an assignment about the imminent likelihood of Favre passing Marino in the second of three major QB-stat categories. Favre passed Marino last year in completions, he'll pass him soon in touchdowns, and he may or may not pass him in passing yards.

Amazingly, as it turns out, Sunday's season-opener against the Eagles was the great equalizer. The 16-13 win over the Eagles drew them even: 242 regular-season games apiece.

Marino missed 24 games due to injury in a 17-year career. Favre has missed zero because of injury in his 16-year career. (The 16-year thing is misleading, though; in Favre's rookie year, in 1991 in Atlanta, he played only twice, both in mopup duty. So it's basically been a 15-year career for Favre, prior to beginning this season.)

As you can see by these numbers, there are remarkable similarities to their careers.

Marino vs. Favre

QB      G     Wins  Comp.   Att.    Pct.   Yards    TDs-Int.  Rating
Marino  242   147   4,967   8,358   .594   61,361   420-252   86.4
Favre   242   148   5,044   8,265   .610   57,706   414-274   84.9

[PackerBlues]

I was a little young when Marino played, and have just a few memories of his last couple of years, when he was not quite as mobile from all the injuries he recieved during his awesome career. Kinda weird, but watching McNobb yesterday reminded me of Marino, he was still mobile, but I thought people were giving him to much credit, cause to me, he did look a little stiff and slow.......perhaps wishful thinking on my part due to my dislike of the guy (McNobb, not Marino), I dunno.

Back to your post Harv, the one thing that I have heard from others that I like to echo, is the fact that Favre has never really had a constant WR threat like some of these other guys like Marino. Not knocking Marino or any of the other greats, nor making excuses for Favre, but look at all the great receivers Favre has had.........then look at the amount of time that he got to play with each of those receivers, before having to move on to build chemistry with someone else.

Just as an example, Manning has had Harrison with him his entire NFL career I think, I dunno that Favre has had anyone around for more than 4 or 5 years. It is something to think about I guess.

(Very similar stats, irregardless of their situations though.)

[rpiotr01]

What else can you say? They're two of the best all time. There's absolutely nothing to take away from either of them.

[The Leaper]

The cold weather thing probably isn't as big of a deal as you might think.

Marino had to play all of his divisional road games every year in outdoor cold weather climates (NYJ, NE, BUF), so he played at least 1 game a year in cold weather, often 2. Favre usually gets 2-3 cold weather chances in Lambeau, but is spared from having to face the elements in DET or MIN.

I would venture a guess that if you look at the number of cold weather games both players took part in, the number would be only slightly in Favre's favor...although I would certainly think Favre played far better in cold weather than Marino did.

[HarveyWallbangers]

No, I looked at it specifically. Favre seems to have played considerably more games in cold weather than Marino.

Favre has played 40 games in cold weather. The situational stats only go back to Marino's last 6 years, but in those 86 games (missed 10 games due to injury), he only played 2 games in cold weather. I can't imagine that he played much more than 10 games in cold weather for his career. Marino would have been guaranteed to play 50% of his games in December in warm weather. Don't forget that he had 4 division opponents when he played, and one (the Colts) played in a dome. Many of his non-divisional opponents could have been warm weather teams or dome teams. Favre, on the other hand, would have been guaranteed to play 50% of his home games at Lambeau. Plus, one divisional opponent in Chicago and any other non-divisional games in cold weather cities. Who knows? Looking at the splits, it looks like the NFL was very kind in their scheduling for the Dolphins late in the year--at least in his last 6 years. Besides, you don't see temperatures as cold in Boston and New York in December that you do in Green Bay, Chicago, or Buffalo for that matter. Playing in those 10-20 degree games is a lot different than playing in 40-50 degree temperatures.

[b bulldog]

Cold games are a factor and both are two of the grerats but Dan never had a running game to work with and as we saw yesterday, that isn't very helpful for QB's. Manning will probably beat both of their numbers combined

[HarveyWallbangers]

The converse is true. Manning has had a great running game (Edge, now Addai) and great receivers (Harrison, Wayne, now Clark).

[b bulldog]

Manning is great and has a great cast also. IMO, in a SB i'd obviously take Brady but Manning would be my choice in every other area and that is no disrespect to any of the rest but he can put that ball into places that is unreal.

[The Leaper]

avre has played 40 games in cold weather. The situational stats only go back to Marino's last 6 years, but in those 86 games (missed 10 games due to injury), he only played 2 games in cold weather.

I can't believe that in 6 years, Marino played in only TWO cold weather games when he had to face NYJ, NE and BUF 18 times on the road in those 6 years.

Also, what determines "cold weather"? Below freezing?

[HarveyWallbangers]

I can't believe that in 6 years, Marino played in only TWO cold weather games when he had to face NYJ, NE and BUF 18 times on the road in those 6 years.

According to Yahoo, cold weather is anything under 40 degrees. It doesn't usually get bitterly cold in New York and Boston. It does in Buffalo. I know the NFL used to avoid cold weather games. I remember Green Bay getting short-changed a lot on December home games. That doesn't seem to be a factor anymore.

[MJZiggy]

I can't believe that in 6 years, Marino played in only TWO cold weather games when he had to face NYJ, NE and BUF 18 times on the road in those 6 years.

According to Yahoo, cold weather is anything under 40 degrees. It doesn't usually get bitterly cold in New York and Boston. It does in Buffalo. I know the NFL used to avoid cold weather games. I remember Green Bay getting short-changed a lot on December home games. That doesn't seem to be a factor anymore.

Global warming...

[Patler]

I was a little young when Marino played, and have just a few memories of his last couple of years, when he was not quite as mobile from all the injuries he recieved during his awesome career. Kinda weird, but watching McNobb yesterday reminded me of Marino, he was still mobile, but I thought people were giving him to much credit, cause to me, he did look a little stiff and slow.......perhaps wishful thinking on my part due to my dislike of the guy (McNobb, not Marino), I dunno.

Are you kidding? The Packers had 1 sack yesterday, simply because four other times McNabb was able to turn sacks into "tackled on rushing attempts" by getting passed the line of scrimmage before getting "sacked". He had 4 rushes for 9 yards. All could have been sacks, but for pretty good mobility and strength by McNabb.

Marino was virtually a statue for a good part of his career. In his later years he didn't even try to avoid the rush but would go down easily to try and protect his knees.

[b bulldog]

ala Lynn Dickey

[The Leaper]

According to Yahoo, cold weather is anything under 40 degrees. It doesn't usually get bitterly cold in New York and Boston. It does in Buffalo. I know the NFL used to avoid cold weather games. I remember Green Bay getting short-changed a lot on December home games. That doesn't seem to be a factor anymore.

It may not get bitterly cold in NY or Boston, but it can get ridiculously windy...which is just as bad for the passing game. 45 degrees and windy doesn't seem any better to me than 32 degrees with a light snow.

[4and12to12and4]

I'm sorry, I was daydreaming, I couldn't get past PackerBlues saying that he was too young to watch Marino play in his prime, which shocked me considering that his chosen name is "Veteran Rat"!! WTF?

[MadtownPacker]

Veteran Rat is the default for a poster with more then 500 post.

[MJZiggy]

I'm sorry, I was daydreaming, I couldn't get past PackerBlues saying that he was too young to watch Marino play in his prime, which shocked me considering that his chosen name is "Veteran Rat"!! WTF?

That's the generic rat name you get when you don't have a custom one.

[4and12to12and4]

ok, the world makes sense again.