Brett Favre was booed on Sunday at Lambeau
Field, and he was cheered a little, too. As FOX's cameras scanned the crowd
upon Favre's entrance from the tunnel, I saw one lady wearing a Packers jersey
who was applauding with her hands, booing with her mouth.
Such is the mix of emotions that Packers fans have towards Favre at this moment
in time.
But anyone lamenting the possibility that Favre's name will forever be mud
among the very loyal supporters of the franchise that Vince Lombardi built
should be reassured. Though it might be hard to fathom on the first day of
November, 2009, in 15-20 years or maybe sooner (like when he is enshrined in
Canton), Green Bay fans will have forgiven, even if they haven't totally
forgotten.
Favre's exile from Green Bay will ultimately be written into history as a
battle between Favre and general manager Ted Thompson. Thompson felt it was
time to move on and didn't try hard enough to keep the league's all-time
leading passer and legendary waffler. Favre felt he had earned the right to
waffle, and generally felt unappreciated by the organization.
History is unlikely to judge Thompson well relative to this decision. Favre
made the Pro Bowl in his first year with the Jets, and is in the early running
for another appearance as a Viking. Minnesota, now 7-1 after its 38-26 beat-
down of Green Bay, is a Super Bowl contender thanks in large part to Favre, and
though Aaron Rodgers has played well, the Packers don't look close to
replicating their Favre-era magic any time soon.
Even if it's an oversimplification, the record will show that Thompson was
wrong, that he did indeed underestimate Favre's abilities, and that the
quarterback's hand was forced in going to the Twin Cities.
Also, there's the little matter of the public being naturally predisposed to
siding with great players, not management. General managers are sometimes
respected, but never beloved, and Thompson would have to win multiple Super
Bowls with Rodgers in order to look sympathetic here.
Frankly, Thompson isn't a good enough GM to win at or near that level, so
chances are he'll be fired or quit under pressure some time in the coming
years, and to leave Green Bay roughly as unloved a figure as he is right now.
There's no question that any future discussion of Favre's tenure as a Viking,
even years after he finally hangs the cleats up for real, is going to be
painful for Packers fans. But ultimately, Green Bay supporters will find it too
difficult not to renew their love for a player that gave so much to the
franchise, and any residual anger they harbor will be directed to the clueless
suit that let it happen, not the fun-loving gunslinger who - let's face it -
was complicit in this whole fiasco too.
Favre didn't get a free pass from his former fans on Sunday, but it won't be
long until he is awarded absolution.
Some non-Favre thoughts out of Week 8:
I WAS SURPRISED THAT...
...the Giants never got off the bus in Philadelphia. It was hard to know what
to make of either of these teams heading into their battle at Lincoln Financial
Field on Sunday, though it seemed unfathomable that a team with so much talent
could lose three in a row. But lose the G-Men did, 40-17, in a game that saw
them fall behind 13-0 in the first-quarter and never really recover. New York
gave up a bunch of huge plays to seal their fate, including touchdown runs to
fullback Leonard Weaver (41 yards) and LeSean McCoy (66 yards), and touchdown
passes from Donovan McNabb to DeSean Jackson (54 yards), Jeremy Maclin (23
yards) and Brent Celek (17 yards). Big Blue (5-3) dropped to third place in the
NFC East behind the 5-2 Cowboys and Eagles, and are searching long and hard for
answers.
...Ted Ginn was a factor for the Dolphins. It was a rough week for Ginn, who
was demoted after a poor showing against the Saints last week and had his
toughness publicly questioned by every former Dolphin this side of Bernie
Parmalee. Ginn's answer was to score two critical touchdowns off of kickoff
returns, providing the clear difference in the team's 30-25 season-saver at the
Jets. The former first-rounder had touchdowns of 100 and 101 yards, both in a
wild third-quarter, becoming the eighth player in NFL history to have two
kickoff returns for touchdowns in a single game and the first since Green Bay's
Travis Williams in 1967 to do it in the same quarter. Ginn didn't catch a pass,
but helped Miami (3-4) win a game in which it managed just 104 yards from
scrimmage.
...the Rams picked up win number one of the Steve Spagnuolo era. You should
never be greatly surprised when the Lions lose, but it did appear through the
season's first seven weeks that Detroit was just slightly ahead of St. Louis in
the race to rebuild. That perception changed on Sunday, when the Rams snapped
their 17-game losing streak with a 17-10 triumph at Ford Field. Steven Jackson
was the main man as usual for St. Louis, rushing 22 times for 149 yards and the
team's first rushing touchdown of the season. For the Lions, Matthew Stafford
(14-of-33, 168 yards, 1 INT) was not particularly sharp in his return from a
knee injury, leading just one scoring drive on the day.
...the Cardinals relapsed into inconsistency. It seemed that maybe, just maybe,
after their impressive road win at the Giants last Sunday night, that the
Arizona Cardinals would not morph back into the talented group that simply
refused to stack wins during the 2008 regular season. But the '09 Cardinals
proved they're just as incapable of keeping their collective foot on the gas,
dropping a 34-21 decision to the visiting Carolina Panthers. Kurt Warner
committed six turnovers (5 INT, 1 fumble) and a formerly strong Arizona run-
stopping unit allowed DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart to run wild for a
combined 245 yards.
I WAS NOT SURPRISED THAT...
...the Ravens got well, while the Broncos finally fell. This was a classic case
of a team that couldn't afford to lose exhibiting steely focus against an
opponent that came to town holding much higher ground. Baltimore is not really
30-7 better than the Denver Broncos, but made sure it pulled out all the stops
and finished the job after a three-game losing streak had dropped John
Harbaugh's team two games back of the Bengals and Steelers in the AFC North win
column. Denver (6-1), which was at worst going to have a two-game lead over San
Diego after Week 8 shook out, looked generally listless in its first loss of
the Josh McDaniels era. The Ravens defense led the charge, limiting Kyle Orton
and the Denver attack to just 200 yards on the day.
...Steve Slaton got benched. Texans head coach Gary Kubiak had made no secret
of the fact that Slaton was on "zero tolerance" after fumbling six times during
the team's first seven games, and after Slaton coughed up his seventh in the
first quarter of Houston's eventual 31-10 win at the Buffalo Bills, he spent
the rest of the day standing next to Kubiak on the Houston sideline. And Slaton
could be there next week at Indianapolis too, because understudy Ryan Moats
made the most of his opportunity with 23 carries, 126 yards and three
touchdowns against the porous Buffalo run defense. Moats' play was the good
news for Houston (5-3), the bad was the first-quarter knee injury that will
reportedly knock emerging tight end Owen Daniels out for the year.
...the 49ers gave the Colts all they could handle. San Francisco had not
recently lived up to the promise shown during its 3-1 start, but the Niners had
continued to play hard for head coach Mike Singletary and got a major spark
from Alex Smith in the second-half of a near-rally against the Texans last
week. The Niners weren't able to pull off the monumental upset in Indy, but led
for most of the day before a trick-play touchdown pass from Joseph Addai to
Reggie Wayne helped Indy finish off an 18-14 win. Smith acquitted himself
reasonably well, completing 19-of-32 passes for 198 yards with a touchdown and
an interception in his first start since 2007, though the former No. 1 overall
draft choice did not lead a scoring drive in the second-half.
...the Cowboys kept rolling, and the Seahawks kept rolling backwards. Dallas
and Seattle were in a similar situation this week as the one that faced them
last Thanksgiving, when Dallas outclassed the depleted Hawks, 34-9. It was a
little closer this time, but only slightly, as Tony Romo and company completed
a 38-17 triumph that moved them into a tie with Philadelphia atop the NFC East.
Romo was 21-of-36 for 256 yards and three touchdowns in the win, completing
passes to 10 different players, and Matt Hasselbeck (22-of-39, 249 yards, 2 TD)
and the Seahawks (2-5) didn't have the firepower to answer.
...the Titans picked up win number one. Tennessee wasn't nearly as untalented
as it had looked in those recent blowouts against the Colts (31-9) and Patriots
(59-0), games that got out of hand mainly because the injury-scarred Titans
didn't have the bodies to match up against the future Hall of Fame quarterbacks
they were opposing. But playing this week against the limited David Garrard
(14-of-27, 139 yards, 2 INT), and with cornerback Cortland Finnegan and safety
Vincent Fuller back from injuries, Tennessee looked much more confident in its
30-13 win over the Jaguars. Vince Young was a solid 15-of-18 for 125 yards and
a touchdown in his first start of the year, and Chris Johnson (24 carries, 228
yards, 2 TD) and the Tennessee rushing attack amassed 305 yards on the day.
Whose jersey will Jeff Fisher be wearing this week?
THREE PEOPLE WHO SHOULD GO AWAY FOREVER
1. Larry Johnson. You've scored five touchdowns in the past two years. When you
get four yards on a carry, it's a miracle. You're a spoiled baby who just got
suspended for a combination of an anti-gay slur and calling out your coach on
Twitter. You went to college but can't spell the word "briefly," though it's
the word that best describes the amount of time you were relevant. Please
leave.
2. Tom Cable. You beat up your assistant coaches (allegedly). You beat up your
wives and girlfriends (allegedly). At least every other week, your team gets
down by two touchdowns and completely quits on you. You look like Arn Anderson.
Go be a bouncer.
3. Daniel Snyder. You don't know what you're doing. No one can get within three
square miles of your giant sterile stadium without paying $40 to park. You
refuse to hire good, competent football people and let them do their jobs. You
throw millions of dollars at free agents without thinking. You've alienated one
of the great fan bases in all of sports but are too big a coward to grant an
interview. But please stay forever...you're too much fun to root against.
QUIZ TIME AGAIN
Back by popular demand is another sporcle.com quiz challenge, which we suppose
has just become a regular feature until the good people at Sporcle stop
cranking out fun quizzes. This week's task is to rattle off all the 4,000-yard
single-season passers in NFL history to date. And no, Hugh Millen and Todd
Philcox are not on this list. 68 out of 74 for me. Good luck.
http://www.sporcle.com/games/nfl4000season.php
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