SCOTT JACOBS

The morning that the Jets made their huge trade to acquire Brett Favre from the Packers– officially ending what felt like the longest, most drawn out process in recent memory– I was listening to talk radio.  All day, the analysts and sports radio talk show hosts were breaking down what it meant, how good the Jets could be, even what would happen to Chad Pennington.

And I remember vividly the analysts proclaiming that Favre made the Jets an 8-9 win team, 10 tops, but that was only if the stars truly aligned. He will make them better I remember them saying, but he will not make them great.

Not even a year later, the Jets were better, but not great.  They weren’t even good enough after an 8-3 start to make the playoffs, and they couldn’t break the 10 win mark.  I just remember thinking, for once, the analysts were spot on.  They had this thing pegged from the start.  Brett Favre was not what he once was.  The Jets found that out the hard way.

And so today, Brett Favre, the man, the mystery, the larger than life Wrangler Jean wearing quarterback from Mississippi called it quits– for good, leaving behind him the game that he just could not leave.  His last game, a disappointing loss to the Miami Dolphins.  His last pass, an illegal forward pass.  His final moment on the football field: running off the field as the Dolphins celebrated an improbable, unbelievable, unexplainable AFC East title.

It is what it is, were along the words that Favre used.  He looked frusturated, but not devestated. The experiment, playing for Gang Green resulted in a five win improvement from the year before’s four win nightmare, but it still cost Eric Mangini his job, and ultimately now that Favre is retiring for good, leaves the Jets with one heck of a mess at the QB spot.

If you’re a glass half full/glass half empty person, then it was only fitting that Favre’s final game netted him 20/40 for 233 yards passing, and one touchdown.  And he left the game he loved doing what he did best- throwing interceptions (three of them in fact).  For all of Favre’s greatness and for all of his remarkable records, he also leaves the game with the dubious distinction of being one of the NFL’s greatest risk-takers, and the career leader in all time interceptions.

Who could have possibly foreseen the former Southern Miss star becoming one of the NFL’s most iconic figures?  No one, that’s who!

But that was how Favre played.  Sometimes his decisions were baffling, other times shocking, but he darted that pigskin all across the the field during his long and illustrious 18 year NFL career, one of the most spectacular and exhilarating careers the NFL has ever seen.  Favre was a gritty, hard nosed player, whose passion for the game probably caused him to overstay a little longer than he probably should have, but that was who he was, a great player, who for the longest time refused to give in, and give it up.

He leaves the game with some remarkable numbers:

Ever since the start of the 1993 season he has played all 16 games each season, and holds the all-time record, a mark that may never ever be touched, never-mind threatened of starting the most consecutive games ever, 291 including the playoffs.  Constantly labeled a warrior, one of the most enduring memories of Favre was when he decided to play a Monday Night football game against the Raiders in Oakland, even after his father had passed away.  Number four had one of his greatest games that night, and dedicated his performance to his father, and that captivated a nation to embrace the man who was already larger than life in Green Bay.

Favre’s marvelous career began in Atlanta, where as a rookie he played in two games, going 0-4 on pass attempts, while throwing up a pair of picks, and a 0.0 QB rating.  Needless to say, the Falcons and most likely every other NFL team probably weren’t too devestated when Favre was traded to the Packers after the 1991 season.  Who could have possibly foreseen the former Southern Miss star becoming one of the NFL’s most iconic figures?  No one, that’s who!

It’s kind of entertaining, the idea that Favre started his career on a forgettable note, and ended it not on a magic carpet ride, singing “I’m going to Disney” but in a statement to the Jets that said he was done.  Favre started as a relative unknown and closed his long and incredible career almost as quietly as he started (at least the second retirement that is).

Favre’s dumbfoudningly insane numbers go like this: 273 regular season games, 5720 completions, 9280 incompletions, 65,127 yards passing,  464 touchdowns, 310 picks, and 169 regular season victories.  While many of his records were achieved during not his prime, but during the tail end of his long career, it’s undeniable that he earned everything he got.

So while we will never forget Favre’s horrible handling of a botched retirement with the Packers, and the summer long circus that followed it, until he was shipped to the Jets,  it’s important to remember that before he became a side show, Favre was the show.

A three time league MVP, Favre led the Green Bay Packers to a 35-21 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, and at the time, few probably thought that would be his first and only Super Bowl title.  But after leading the Packers back to the Big Game the ensuing season, and losing to John Elway and the Broncos, Favre never got back.  He got close, such as the 2007 season when the Packers were a Favre pick away from possibly winning the NFC title, but never got over the hump.

So however you choose to remember him: just keep this one thing in mind: Favre was great.  He failed spectacularly, he succeeded epically, and he played the game the right way.  Like anybody, he made mistakes, many of them on the field, and a few off of it, but he was only human.  And while he probably should have hung up his cleats about three to four years earlier, his retirement as a battered Jet and not a glorified Packer doesn’t tarnish a legacy that stacks up there with any of the NFL’s greats.

So farewell Mr. Favre.  It’s been one hell of a run.

The show is over.  It’s the end of an era.

All of the dominant quarterbacks of the 1980’s and 1990’s have officially hung up their cleats, and moved on.  Favre joined that group today, and surely in due time he will join them in the Hall of Fame as a first ballot Hall of Famer.

It’s been fun.  It’s been interesting.

Photo: Reuters

However, New York wasn’t the best place for him to get traded. Want media coverage? New York is the home of media coverage. If Favre could get all those reporters to the nowhere-land of Green Bay, imagine what he could accomplish in New York. All you have to do there is say, “Coach Mangini might have made a few mistakes last game,” and it’s a national story.

My man Colin Linnwweber hails from New York. He hasn’t commented much on Brett Favre yet, but you can never be sure. Colin is the blogging equivalent of the New York media. And since the average blogger is already as over-the-top as the New York media, that would make Colin like a New York journalist on acid, like Hunter S. Thompson on acid–or maybe like Hunter S. Thompson off acid, if that’s possible to imagine.

A selection of some of his past few article titles reads like so:

The “Idiot” Is Not Wrong…Edwar Ramirez Should Be Suspended
The 5 Most Villainous Athletes Of The Past Decade
Jose Canseco Is “Rotted Inside Out”
Injuries to Yanks Hughes and Kennedy are as real as Pam Anderson’s breasts
Manny Ramirez Is A Thug

What do you have to say about Favre now? Are you gonna jump on his bandwagon as he turns you into a “Super Bowl contender” like the New York media did with Eli Manning when they first got their hands on him?

Are you going to come crashing down on him the minute he becomes a distraction or doesn’t play well enough like the New York media had been doing to Manning with headlines like this every year until he won the Super Bowl?

SHOULD HAVE PASSED ON ELI DEAL
WHAT KIND OF MANN IS HE?
STRUGGLES FUELING QUESTION OF GIANT MISTAKE

Up in Green Bay, I know what those idiots are going to be doing: “Oh, no, Aaron Rodgers sucks! Lets throw bottles at him!”

New York Jets General Manager Mike Tannenbaum sought and received permission to speak with former Green Bay Packer Brett Favre about his interest in playing for Gang Green, according to reports published last Friday.

If the Jets acquire Favre, 38, a 3-time NFL MVP and 7-time All-Pro selection, they will instantly gain credibility and become a legitimate contender in the powerful AFC. New York’s brass should do everything in their capabilities to finalize an agreement with the Packers to attain the iconic quarterback who threw for 4,155 yards and 28 touchdowns last season.

The Jets, who were on the fringe of selecting the University of Southern Mississippi star in the 1991 draft before the Atlanta Falcons swiped him with the 33rd pick, spent like Eliot Spitzer on whores this off-season and they are a win-now team that would be completed by adding a signal-caller of Favre’s caliber.

In virtually every capacity, dealing for Favre is an obvious move for Gang Green’s hierarchy.

Unfortunately, if the Jets say “hello” to Favre, they will have to say “good-bye” to one of the classiest and most underappreciated athletes in the annals of Gotham, Chad Pennington. Pennington, 32, who brought his Jets playbook on his honeymoon and has thrown for 82 touchdowns in comparison to 55 interceptions for his career, is likable and simply an easy man to cheer for.

Pennington’s ragamuffin arm is clearly an issue and the lack of zip and distance he puts on his throws does stunt the Jets offensive schemes. Nevertheless, despite his drawbacks, Pennington is the most accurate passer statistically in the history of the NFL and he is a warrior who has proven that he can win in the playoffs.

If the Jets are able to obtain Favre, they could be on the cusp of flying towards a special season. On the contrary, if New Yorkis unable to complete an agreement with the Packers for number four, Jets fans should supply Pennington (who will defeat Kellen Clemens in the impending quarterback competition) with the unbridled support that he deserves. If the Jets faithful does not provide Pennington, the 2006 NFL Comeback Player of the Year, with the affection that he warrants, it will be the most disgusting and repulsive display seen at the Meadowlands since the Gate D “show your tits” fiasco last autumn.

When I turn on my TV in the morning, I am now barraged with Titletown AND Brett Favre. (T.O. recently saved a reporter. Why doesn’t SportsCenter get on that?)

This morning, I was too tired to actually get up and do something else, so I kept watching even as the words “Brett Favre” crept accross the screen.

This is what I saw:

Not rumors about who he’s getting traded to. Not demands that the Packers release him. Just a few cliched answers by his teammates about who is going to be the starting quarterback.

“Yeah, Aaron Rodgers has been our starter this offseason… Brett Favre is a legend…”

You think?

SCOTT JACOBS

The Green Bay Packers didn’t wait long to put Brett Favre in his place. The team announced today that they would welcome back the legend who never wants to leave, but not as the starting quarterback.

I commend them. I really do. There is no win either way here, but what makes Green Bay’s stance impressive is that they’re sticking to it. No one player is bigger then the team, and that is the message Green Bay is sending. Favre is trying to bully the team he’s played for 16 years with, into a corner so he can sign with whoever he wants.

Sorry Brett. It doesn’t work like that.

You’re either going to be a backup (highly unlikely) or you’re going to be elsewhere, but no, not on your terms, on Green Bay’s.

Just because you were great doesn’t give you leverage to spin the Packers on your little finger and point which direction you want to fling them. No, it doesn’t work like that.
Not anymore that is.

Green Bay has made their decision (for better of worse) and they’re sticking with Aaron Rodgers as their starter.

Rodgers has to be thoroughly relieved. Had the Packers brought back Favre I actually wouldn’t of been surprised if Rodgers publicy asked for a trade. Rodgers was a first round pick four years ago, and he nearly went #1 to San Fran before slipping way down the draft boards. Now he finally gets his shot and big bad Brett is going to take it away? No, I don’t think that’s fair.

Rodgers is not some guy who doesn’t know the system, doesn’t know the players. He’s been waiting in the wings, watching for years, and quietly hoping he would get his shot. Well, now here it is, and I am very impressed the Packers are sticking to that.

Favre still has the right to play football, but he doesn’t have the right to bully the organization that’s been so good to him. If he wants to end his career with another team, fine, so be it. No one wants to see that happen. Not at least purist football fans. But if that’s what he wants. Well, he’s earned that.

But the Pack also have the right to keep him in Green Bay.

They’re screwed into eternity either way as far as PR goes, so they should almost just bring Favre back and make him the backup. If he doesn’t want to be the backup, then fine, he can retire.

Green Bay gave him ample opportunities to play.

Favre said no.

Green Bay has put their foot down. It’s official: they’ve moved on.

This is getting ugly. No one wanted that.

But the Packers are doing the right thing.

They’re sticking to their guns. In a world of quick fix solutions, it’s certainly refreshing to see.

SCOTT JACOBS

Poor, poor Aaron Rodgers.

It’s not often I actually feel sorry for an athlete, but there’s an exception to every rule.

Succeeding a legend is hard enough.

Succeeding Brett Favre is damn near impossible.

Because, well, the guy never wants to retire!

With word breaking out that Favre wants to be released from the Packers, Green Bay is officially in a PR slaughterfest. They’re damned if they do. They’re damned if they don’t.

If the indication is that they want to move forward and officially END the Brett Favre era, then I commend them. Aaron Rodgers has been sitting down long enough, don’t you think the Pack should find out if he can be “the guy?”

Meanwhile, “The guy” that has quarterbacked Green Bay’s offense for 16 years is once again not sure what the heck he wants to do.

It’s as ugly as it is stupid.

Favre retired. He cried at the press conference. It looked as official as retirement press conferences go. A mere few months later, he wants to come back (we think).

This story is 90% speculation, and 10% truth. Do we know for a fact the Packers don’t want Favre back? No. Green Bay hasn’t come out and said that. Do we know for sure if Favre isn’t pulling a Dan Marino (aka: exploring options elsewhere, before ultimately saying no)? No.

So the details are scattered all over the place, like a Brett Favre play when the offensive line breaks down. Does Favre really want to play for someone other then Green Bay? Does he really think this late in the season a team that has committed to it’s starting quarterback for months is going to just bring him onboard just because he’s “Brett Favre?”

This we don’t know.

But I reiterate that if the Packers think Aaron Rodgers is the guy, and clearly they’ve groomed him to be just that, then they need to cut ties. The Packers are a good team. They won 13 games last year. They came one drive away from a Super Bowl appearance.

But, they can’t constantly throw the keys to their franchise on the ground, and wait months at a time to see if Favre wants to pick them up. The Packers have to move on. Yes, I understand your window of opportunity in the league to win a championship comes and goes, but the Packers have set themselves up for Life After Favre.

They seem to understand that Favre can’t toy them around like they’re some kid of puppet. Favre doesn’t understand the concept that there’s no “I” in team. He has been dynamic, spectacular, downright inspirational in his wonderful future Hall of Fame career with the Pack, but it’s time to move on.

The Packers don’t want to bring Favre back, give him another year, and then find out a few years later, that they totally destroyed Rodgers confidence, thus setting them back five years or so.

Confidence is the ultimate tool for a quarterback. Aaron Rodgers is in the ultimate confidence cruncher. Sandwiched between Favre rumors, will he or won’t he come back and take your job, stories of successors to legends that have failed, Rodgers has had a very un-smooth, unsettling transition this off season.

If Favre wants to play he has every right to.

But, he shouldn’t be the one to tie Green Bay’s hand behind their backs. If Favre still has the spark and still thinks he can win a Super Bowl then maybe Minnesota or Tampa Bay or wherever could be a good fit for him.

But he’s tugged the Packers around enough.

It’s been glorious. It’s been fun. But now the Packers need to come out and say we’re done.

Remember, they’re the team, Brett Favre is just one player.

But you wouldn’t know that from the annual tug of war Brett puts on the Pack.

And another thing: if Favre was anything but a quarterback this wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But the QB is the engine and the smarts that make a team go. He’s the brain and the heartbeat of a team’s offensive attack. It’s easier to let say, a defensive lineman come back a few weeks before the season out of retirement. But the QB is too important. Confidence is too fragile.

Aaron Rodgers is already against the odds.

Let’s not build that electric wall any higher then it needs to be.