The Brett Favre soap opera took another turn yesterday as FoxSports.com reported that the Packers have filed tampering charges against the Vikings for allegedly contacting Favre during the offseason.
The Packers claim that Darrell Bevell, Minnesota's offensive coordinator, who was an assistant coach with the Packers, and is a friend of Favre’s, has been in contact with him during the offseason.
Some reports even claim Favre had a conversation with Brad Childress.
If the charges turn out to be true, the Vikings will probably lose a draft pick.
Let's assume the Childress-conversation rumors are just that, rumors.
I'm curious—if Favre and Bevell are friends, short of a tape-recorded conversation, how are they supposed to prove the two were talking business and not pleasure?
I’m so insanely sick of the Favre situation.
The man is a me-first, limelight seeking, overrated, has-been quarterback who hasn’t had a decent postseason run since I was in high school.
His esteemed career has featured some of the most atrocious postseason games in NFL history.
He’s the only player to throw a pick in overtime in a playoff game on two separate occasions.
He consistently makes two team-killer plays for every one highlight-reel play.
He plays his worst in the biggest games (watch his wonderful performance against the Cowboys this season).
He famously demanded, through the media, that Javon Walker show up for camp because it was the right thing to do for Brett Favre. Of course, it wasn’t the right thing to do for Javon, who quickly blew out his knee and nearly blew his chance to make Brett Favre-type money.
He called his teammates out and claimed they weren’t good enough, demanding his roster be upgraded.
Every single offseason has to be about Brett Favre. Last offseason, he famously called a press conference to announce that he had no announcement to make on whether or not he was retiring.
This season, after announcing his retirement and telling the world that he just didn’t care enough about football anymore, he decided he wanted to come back.
Not in July, as was reported initially, but in March.
The Packers, who had already committed to Aaron Rodgers, agreed to have him back. They even made plans to hold a press conference and a nice little ceremony announcing his un-retirement.
But Favre backed out. Only to try the same thing again—except this time he’s serious. Really. Seriously.
If you were running the Packers, you wouldn’t take him back either. You have two quarterbacks on the roster right now that you like in Aaron Rodgers and Brian Brohm. If Favre comes back, you’re probably going to lose Rodgers (a first-round pick) without ever seeing what he can do as an NFL starting quarterback.
No way they can allow that to happen. There isn't a team in the NFL that would allow that to happen.
Brett Favre, for whatever reason, is an NFL deity. Especially in Green Bay. I’ll never understand it. Ever.
Plenty of guys have won Super Bowls. Is it because he talks with a southern accent and smiles while he’s on the field? Do we ignore all of his off-the-field issues simply because he smiles when he plays?
I mean, this is a guy who somehow completely escaped criticism even though he once admitted to being addicted to prescription drugs. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are vilified for taking drugs, but for Favre, it just added to his charm.
I just don’t get it.
The Packers don’t want Favre back. They shouldn’t want Favre back. If he has a problem with that, he can feel free to cry on his good friend Greta’s shoulder again.
And for anyone who does want him, all I can say is: buyer beware. I’m not sure a rocket arm and a smile on the football field is worth having to deal with a nearly 40-year-old crybaby who thinks the world should revolve around him.
I’ll take my chances with Aaron Rodgers, thanks.
Sean Crowe is a Senior Writer and an NFL Community Leader at Bleacher Report. You can email him at scrowe@gmail.com. His archive can be found here. You can find everything he writes, including articles for other publications, here.
comments (7) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
I never understood this love affair with him either. Overrated.
about 1 month ago
Nice article, Sean. I would be the least surprised if Bevell was 'tampering' with Favre this off season. He certainly isn't writing up plays for the offense...
If I were a Packer fan, I would want to stick with Rodgers, like you. As a Viking fan, I hope Favre stays retired, but I have a secret wish to see Favre in purple.
about 1 month ago
Okay, I have turned on Favre the man because he has proven to be a little boy. But I have to defend Favre the player.
Aside from being #1 in virtually every category, he did so with less surrounding talent than others putting up those numbers. Everyone wants to talk about Brady, Bradshaw, Montana, etc. because of championships. That's a TEAM accomplishment. Brady won his because of Bellichick's D. So did Bradshaw (well, not BB's, but Knoll's). Montana had the best receiving corps ever and one of the top three backfields and offensive lines in the game at that time.
As for playing his worst in big games, that is also simply not true. He is second all-time in 4th quarter comebacks. He has won more road playoff games than he's lost at home (three vs. two), with a winning record overall. He made big play after big play in Superbowl XXXII, when his defense let him down--we lost a game by seven we didn't even look competitive in. He has a winning record against every single division rival.
He has a 1.56:1 TD:int ratio (better than Aikman, Fouts, Bradshaw, Unitas, Starr, Tarkenton, and many others in the Hall), so he certainly did not make two team killer plays/highlight reel play. And he didn't escape criticism for his painkiller addiction--maybe you just don't remember it because you weren't old enough (like I suspect 2006 sticks out more than his three consecutive MVP years in the 90s do). He hasn't suffered from that as much as Clemens BECAUSE HE OWNED IT! He wasn't trying to pretend he was innocent, but actually came forth on his own.
I will agree with you on any other character issue criticisms (other than playing through pain) of Favre. And I am so sick of hearing his name you would not believe it. If I had a Favre jersey, I'd sell it to one of his crazed loyalists. If he gave me an autograph, I would burn it and flick it back at him. But he is absolutely one of the five or six best quarterbacks of the Superbowl era, and if you don't believe that you need to read a couple of my posts on the matter--one of my earliest articles here (just click "read more of MJ's articles" and look for The Great Quarterback Debate) and another I wrote elsewhere (http://mvn.com/nfl-packers/2008/06/27/why-brett-favre-is-unequivocally-a-top-five-qb/).
about 1 month ago
That seems a little harsh, eh Sean? I mean, here is a guy who did a lot for the franchise. Of course, he wants what's best for him and the team, which can explain his more vocal approach towards things. But there were some things in this article i did realize about him. This whole ordeal is over-hyped. But the Packers owe him enough to give him a quarterback battle throughout training camp. Imagine Peyton Manning gets traded to the Bengals. Would the team say that "Carson Palmer is our quarterback."? Would they say that Peyton would be holding the clipboard? I think they'd give him a fair shot at winning the starting spot. But I wouldn't say that they would flat out give him it. The Packers can bring a good player back into the mix. However, both them and Favre are eating sour grapes. They both need to suck it up. Nice article, showing a contrast towards all these stupid "Evil Packers Org." articles.
about 1 month ago
Amen
about 1 month ago
Sean, you 're forgetting something very simple here: Brett Favre in his prime was better than any quarterback currently playing in the NFL and that includes your precious Tom Brady. Did Brady have the single greatest season by a QB in NFL history from a statistical standpoint? Yes. Would I take Brady over mid 90's Favre? No way
When Brett won back-to-back-to-back MVP's, guys named Young, Aikman, Elway, Marino, Moon, and a healthy Mark Brunell were playing the position along with Brett. Right now, the only guys even CLOSE to belonging int he same sentence as those aforementioned signal callers are Brady, Manning, and Favre last season. You could make a case for Roethlisburger and Romo, but the former threw too many picks and played too poorly in big games, and the latter, isn't even close to proven.
Favre matched up against all of those guys and yet in his MVP seasons lead the league in TD passes, TD% and a slew of other statistical categories. Oh and he went to two Super Bowl's an NFC championship game and a gut-wrenching playoff loss. In 17 years he has had ONE losing season. No player in NFL history has effected the outcome of his team more than Brett Favre positively or negatively. No one could win a game single-handedly like Brett (Manning needs Wayne and Harrison, Brady needed Moss and Welker).
I am not a Brett Favre apologist, but the cries of overrated are completely misplaced. In his prime, Brett Favre was the baddest man on the planet, the most feared offensive weapon in football and someone who was so good that YOU couldn't beat him, he had to make the mistake himself, which he sometimes did. But that is what made him so great.
You will never understand why he has gotten so much slack from the media or Packers fans because Patriot fans don't love Tom Brady the way Brett Favre is loved. No one can ever understand it the way Packers fans can because Favre and Packers fans are special.
It makes me so sad to see this ugly off-season, because younger fans will forget the way he took the NFL by storm in the mid 90's just a few seasons after taking the reigns as the starter.
about 1 month ago
Enjoyed the read Sean...
For me now there should be a mission to stop with all the damn swooning over this 39-year old man who has proven that he is just as selfish as any other star athlete, just as much of a great player, but is ultimately just as human as any other human. The press needs to wait until there is something to report before reporting it and stop trying to make stories where there are none just to keep the legend of Brett Fav-ray alive.
write a new comment