Archive for November, 2010

I’ve heard the term “NFL Royalty” thrown around a lot over the past few days when Brett Favre is being discussed. What the fuck are you people talking about?

In his illustrious career, Brett Favre has had one magical year, one great year (a long time ago), some pretty good years, and some real bad ones. This year, he leads the league in turnovers.

Throughout Brett’s career, he has almost as many turnovers as he does touchdowns. Statistically, there’s about a 55-45 chance Brett Favre is going to throw the critical interception that loses you the game. This year, the chances are closer to 2 to 1 that you’ll see him hand the ball over.

When I think of great quarterbacks, I think of Montana, Young, Manning, Brady, Aikman, etc.  And when compared to Brett, all of them have considerably better touchdown to turnover ratios. And the fact is, as has always been the case in the NFL, nothing negates 400 passing yards and two tds like three interceptions. Turnovers are killers, and other than last year, usually what you’d see from him.

They say you can’t sit Brett because he’s “NFL Royalty”, and I can’t believe how silly that statement is. Kurt Warner was a waaaaaay better quarterback, at one time commanding The Greatest Show on Turf.  He got hurt, started turning over the ball, and before you know it, he’s replaced by Marc Bulger, passed over for Eli Manning, then teaching Matt Leinart how to do his job. Fortunately, Kurt would get his shot and lead his team to a Super Bowl. For the third time. The difference is, his start streak was a non-issue.

The last time I checked, you had to play football well to have a job. Let me put it this way: Do you think Tom Brady would be leading the league in turnovers? No. It would never, ever happen. You wouldn’t see press conference after press conference  of Tom saying, “Ummm… I don’t know what to say. It’s sad. I like winning. I do. And I think I can still help this team win. I don’t know. I like football. We’ll see what tomorrow brings, I guess. Tom sad…”

As I look around the NFL, I really can’t identify any other player that’s sucking as much as Favre is sucking and is still playing. Nothing is more common than people passing their prime and being benched, cut… and that’s especially the case for a man in his forties. When you say he’s royalty, is he the King of the NFL? Should I be bowing when I watch him? I’m just trying to get this whole thing straight.

I believe the only reason he’s playing is the same reason he’s played 30 games over his career he shouldn’t have played, and that’s his start streak. No one wants to take that away from him, especially friends and those who have admired him. And look at what has happened to that team because of it. A man lost his job because the only thing he could fix, he couldn’t touch. And neither can the new mechanic.

One of Leslie Frazier’s first announcements was that Brett Favre is the starter. Shocker. So, Brett has dodged yet another bullet and what should be falling on his shoulders has ended a man’s career. Now he has the opportunity to show that he’s not the problem, and that it actually was the coach credited for turning around their organization and leading their team to the NFC championship all along.  I knew it.

When people lose their jobs and families are uprooted because one man refuses to say, “You know, Coach? My ankle is broken, my arm hurts and I’m a liability this week, I probably shouldn’t play,” and at least give him the chance to turn it around without you, because you are the problem, then just know that his passion and livelihood came at the expense of your 300 legacy.

With that, I guess I understand the term “NFL Royalty”. It means you get whatever you want, when you want it, no matter who pays the price.  And Brett has become a shining example of it.