Brett Favre vs. Aaron Rodgers II; Week One

(Photo by Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)

Welcome friends to the return of the Brett Favre vs. Aaron Rodgers series. Last season this series proved to be one of the more...interesting...on Bleacher Report. With Favre's recent unretirement, the series is prime for its own comeback.

Last season, I predicted that Brett Favre would be playing football in 2009. Well, I was right, granted I did not predict the events that lead to the gunslinger moving to Minnesota.

Let's not forget the other participant in this thrilling contest. Last season, Aaron Rodgers burst onto the scene as one of the top quarterbacks in the league. His individual statistics are often overshadowed by his team's 6-10 record.

Last season, Rodgers won the individual competition over Favre 9-8 and was awarded the season ending victory as well. With expectations high for both quarterbacks, the pressure will be on them to win. Which big-arm quarterback will take the Master vs. Student Trophy this year?

Enough with the introduction, you know how I like to do things.

Minnesota Vikings 34
Cleveland Browns 20

Favre: 14-of-21, 110 yards, 1 TD

The Good: Favre played the position of game manager today, and he played it very well. Favre completed 66% of his passes and didn't try to force anything. His touchdown pass to Percy Harvin was a classic bullet by Favre.

The Bad: Well, the stat line was rather unimpressive. 110 yards? That's pathetic. Then again, you don't need to do much more than that when Adrian Peterson is rushing for 180 yards and 3 TDs. Favre didn't throw anything deeper than 10 yards downfield. It was a flurry of quick slants, screens, and check downs.

The Vikings coaching staff did a great job of not unleashing Favre too soon. However, if they want to go anywhere after December...they will need to start throwing downfield.

Green Bay Packers 21
Chicago Bears       15

Rodgers: 17-28, 184 yards, 1 TD

The Good: Aaron Rodgers spent most of the first half on his backside, yet managed to avoid crippling interceptions. He didn't try and force anything, and ate the ball rather than throw it up.

For the most part, Rodgers was accurate and made great decisions. Rodgers also earned his first game-winning drive of his career (don't listen to NBC...those two against the Lions are not classified as game winning drives...christ...they'll do anything to glorify quarterbacks nowadays, won't they?).

The Bad: The only thing Rodgers did poorly in this week, was he struggled a little bit with his deep accuracy. Sure his 50-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings was on the money, but he missed Donald Driver a few times early in the game.

All in all, a solid game from Rodgers. Perhaps 17-28 is not what McCarthy is looking for from Rodgers, but he'll take zero interceptions for eleven incompletions.

The Pick

Aaron Rodgers had roughly the same stats as Favre, but he had that precious game-winning drive. It's not what Favre didn't do, it's what Aaron Rodgers did do.

So with the first week coming to a close, Rodgers gets off to a 1-0 lead.

A Look Ahead....

Brett Favre and the Vikings get the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. In week one, the Lions allowed Drew Brees to throw for SIX TOUCHDOWNS and over 350 yards. If there was ever a week to take off Favre's training wheels, it's next week.

Aaron Rodgers' Packers get a cupcake match up as well. The Bengals come into Lambeau after their heart-breaking loss in week one.

Thanks for reading!

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