Started 253 consecutive games (275 including playoffs), the Packers franchise record, longest stretch ever by an NFL quarterback, and league's second-longest streak ever recorded among all positionsHolds virtually every significant NFL career passing record, including touchdown passes (442), completions (5,377), attempts (8,758) and yards (61,655), plus most wins (160) as a starting QB.
He also holds the records for most INTs, most losses, and probably most sacks. Most of these records came as a result of him playing a huge number of games, not because he performed at a high level the entire time. There's a reason Favre rarely gets mentioned in the "who's the best QB of all time?" discussion.
First off, IMO most discussions about the best QB of all time begin and end with Montana and Unitas, if you're literally debating the best. On the other hand, if you are debating the top 5-10 QBs, there is no doubt Favre is in the discussion.Yes, no doubt he ranks first on the list in attempts, completions, passing yards, passing TDs, and wins due in large part to the fact that he has played the most games. But that isn't the only reason. For example, he is 42 TD passes ahead of Marino, and has played 26 more games. At the very least, that shows that he sustained performance equal to Marino's for longer. How can that be a negative?Yes, he's first in interceptions, also due in large part to the fact that he played so long. But only 5 HOF QBs have lower interception percentages (Montana, Young, Aikman, Marino, and Elway), and only Manning, Brady, and maybe Warner are active players who currently look like they could make the HOF with lower interception percentages.He is #6 in times sacked and IMO unlikely to end up at the top unless he plays beyond next season. (Elway is #1 with 56 more sacks than Favre.) Meanwhile, Favre has the 20th best career sack percentage of all time. Manning and Marino are the only QBs who were on the previously posted top 10 list that have better sack percentages.Also, people tend to focus on the compiled stats and not on the intrinsic value of a Pro Bowl to All Pro caliber QB starting every game for 17 seasons. That means in all that time his team never had to fall back to a weaker or less experienced player at QB, which can be taken advantage of by the opposing defense. In all that time, his team's players never had to adjust to a new QB in midseason. Not to mention the fact that the QB tends to be a leader and in a position to inspire his teammates to play better... and he was always there to do that. Heck, his GM never had to worry about making sure they had a good second QB until he got close to retirement. Sure, he has certainly lost some games with turnovers. But for 17 years, his teams have entered every game knowing that they had a good chance to win, due in large part to Favre (as much as it could be due to any single player).How about awards? Take the top 10 QB list that was posted earlier, and only Unitas and Graham have more than Favre's 3 1st team All Pro selections. The only player with as many AP MVP awards as Favre is Unitas; if we use the Joe Carr Trophy and UPI award before 1957, when the AP began giving NFL MVP awards, Graham also won 3. Of course, when Unitas got his awards, there were 12-16 teams, and when Graham got his, there were 7-8 teams in the AAFC (for 3 of the All Pro selections) and 12 teams in the NFL (for 4 All Pro selections and the 3 UPI MVPs). So IMO Favre's awards are arguably more meaningful, as he faced much more competition for them.Let's talk about wins and losses. Sure, he has the most of both in large part because he played so long. But consider that in 17 years as a starting QB, he has only had 1 losing season. He was at times surrounded by really good players and had a good coaching staff and front office. But all of those people and teammates turned over many times over and he was there throughout keeping the team in playoff contention, except for one losing season, which was due to a massive rebuilding effort moreso than to Favre himself.And he led his team to the playoffs repeatedly. This year will be the 12th time in his 17 seasons as a starter. And one of the 5 times his team missed was his first season in Green Bay, when he didn't play until the third game in relief, with the team 0-2 and trailing... so that season's near playoff miss was a credit to him (he was 8-5 as a starter that season).Now consider that before Favre started in Green Bay, they had made the playoffs one time in 19 years. They had won only one playoff game since Lombardi's last title in 1967. They only had 3 winning seasons over that 19 year span, with a cumulative record of 112-168-6. Compare that to Favre's Green Bay record as a starter of 160-93-0. Favre is currently tied for #5 in playoff starts, and will move to a tie for #3, tie for #2, or sole possession of #2 on that list in this year's playoffs, depending on how far the Jets advance.So it was dismal in Green Bay before Favre arrived. And now, in the first season he is gone, the team has a losing record and will miss the playoffs. There are a lot of reasons for it, and QB play is certainly one of them IMO. I think Rodgers has played well, especially for a first year starter, and he has been better than I expected. But I think those that think there has been no dropoff from what it would have been had Favre stayed are wrong.
For now, I expect Green Bay fans to write this contrast (before Favre, with Favre, after Favre) off as a coincidence or fluke. And it probably is this year. But I do think current Green Bay fans (at least younger fans) will come to appreciate Favre more over time, when 10 years from now they have not been able to maintain the same level of success they had with him.Now a lot of this doesn't have to do with Favre vs. Rodgers. But your post needlessly minimized his substantial legacy IMO.Furthermore, this substantial legacy is a reason, in addition to putting the best QB on the field, that I thought Green Bay should have brought Favre back. Water under the bridge at this point (and yes, I know Favre brought plenty of the problems on himself, no need to rehash it).
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I always appreciate the effort you put into you posts and the unique methods you come up with to make your points.
