No Game for Old Men: Collins, Favre, and Warner Are All Better With Age

The NFL is supposed to belong to the young man, right? It's a world dominated by high-speed, illogically agile, ridiculously strong superhuman athletes filing in through a revolving door. Many men enter, only a handful leave.

Once players reach a certain age, their careers become a countdown to their official retirement. It's no longer about their experience or ability—it's about how much of a liability they are on the field; it's about their cost-effectiveness as the youth movement is initiated by the team that's exploited their bodies.

Should fans expect an organization to hinder the growth of their youth for an older player that won't be around in the near future? How can a team reasonably gauge how much someone has left in their tank?

As of Week 11, three NFL teams holding first place in their divisions are led by three of the league's more tenured quarterbacks—three quarterbacks most fans had been expecting to write-off simply because they're on the wrong side of 35.

Refusing to believe that their best football was behind them, Kerry Collins, Brett Favre, and Kurt Warner all took the field by storm in 2008. And they are now redefining people's perceptions of age in the NFL. How old is still young?

All three men have had their successes and their pitfalls, their glory and their misery—and in 2008, they are all enjoying some of the best seasons of their illustrious careers in a league that's infatuated with the next young phenom.

Kerry Collins: The Right Man at the Right Time

Raise your hand if you believed the Tennessee Titans were in trouble when Jeff Fisher named Kerry Collins as his starting quarterback.

Stop lying and raise your hand.

Kerry Collins had fallen off the map for two years when he was enveloped by the black hole in Oakland. His final year with the Raiders wasn't a bad one—throwing for nearly 4,000 yards with 20 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2005. But his age was more significant than his stats. His best years were supposed to have been left in New York.

When Oakland chose to part ways with Collins, he had difficulty finding a new team until the Titans came calling days before Week One of the 2006 season. He was expected to be the supportive, veteran presence for their shiny, new quarterback. An insurance policy, if you will.

Never did the Titans imagine that he'd be the leader of their undefeated team two years later.

Perhaps it's Collins' wisdom of the game. Maybe it's the exceptional running game in Nashville. Whatever it is, he's enjoying one of the greatest seasons he's ever had in a long career peppered with disappointments.

His Tennessee Titans are owners of a long win-streak, and he's doing more than anyone wanted to give him credit for during the first half of 2008. He may be helped by two young running backs, but when they were taken away by the opposition, Collins reminded everyone that he can still throw the ball.

He may not be threatening any of his previously established career highs, but he's enjoying the same kind of efficiency no one believed he had left in him after 2005.

Better with age? There's not much to write that hasn't already been printed regarding his troubled history with the Carolina Panthers. But his success depends upon one's definition. Do statistics define success, or does his ability to do what needs to be done cement his place among the elite in 2008?

Obviously, his time with the New York Giants was the most glamorous, but Collins has continued to be the warrior that everyone overlooks. 

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