Terrell Owens gets a lot of flak because he loves him some him. Randy Moss has recently gotten criticized because of his penchant for not giving 100% during games. A ton of players around the league get a ton of shit for not being good team players. But why the hell is Brett Favre getting a pass?
I like Favre. Always have. The guy is good at quarterbacking. Except for that and driving a tractor, I don’t think he is good at much else. The man was put on the planet to throw a football. He throws it fast, he throws it accurately. His receivers are better for playing with him.
For three years now, he has dominated the NFL offseason with his indecision about playing. He still hasn’t retired. He still hasn’t played a season of football. I’m okay with that. At his age and with the demands that football takes on your body, I don’t blame him for being hesitant about playing or wanting to avoid training camp.
What I do have a problem with are these reports about Favre being selfish with the play calling. When he was with my favorite football team last year, there were stirrings about how Favre felt handcuffed in the offense. Even though the team had two very capable running backs and an offensive line built to run, the team still attempted more passes then runs. I don’t really trust Brian Schottenheimer as an offensive coordinator when it comes to game planning, so I’ll let that slide.
But now there is talk that Favre is being way too hands on with the offense. Audibling out of run plays and not being attentive to his head coach, Brad Childress. This is of course all after an embarrassing loss to a team knocked out of the playoffs, but lets look deeper.
At his current pace, Peterson will finish with 40 less carries than he did last year. But he has also never scored more touchdowns than he has this season. AD has also lost a career high 5 fumbles. Peterson is averaging 88 yards per game while putting up a career worst 4.4 yards a carry, both lows for his career. One of the biggest potential benefits of bringing Favre onto the team this season was forcing teams to spread out the defense to deal with both pass and run threats.
Let me break this down for you, and its completely crazy, but I can’t find other lines of reasoning that work. Peterson isn’t having a good year. The only stats that have improved are touchdowns, receptions and reception yards. Meanwhile, Favre is on pace to finish the season with his lowest interception total and best passer rating in his career. The team has the best record since 2000.
Favre is a diva, but the team is in a lot better place now than they were several months ago. They have finally tapped into the talent on the offensive side of the ball that isn’t named Peterson. Childress needs to accept that his team had a bad night in Carolina and ran into the buzzsaw that was Arizona weeks ago. If he rights the ship and wins next week, the team will have the 2 seed in the conference. When this team is playing for a right to go to the Super Bowl, and I believe they will, the media will be back to deepthroating Favre, believe it.
-JerseyYo!
The Squeeze 