Advertisement
Guy could thread a football between three defenders with no more than a gnat’s eyelash between them.
Give Favre this:
He’s still got it.
The day after Aaron Rodgers incurred the wrath of Green Bay Packers fans everywhere, saying they should recognize him as the only quarterback in town or basically shut up, there was good, ol’ Brett to declare he had the itch to play again.
Take it away on the play by play . . . .
Favre’s rolling out, looking, looking . . . he’s got Public Relations wide open! Touchdown, Favre!
Four months after Favre’s teary retirement, even the most sentimental No. 4 backers were beginning to do the right thing. They were letting go, moving on and accepting the fact Rodgers was the guy. There was a sense of closure before the start of training camp.
Way to go, Aaron. Your first important timing route and you left Favre an opening through which he could drive his lawn tractor. Didn’t we warn you about learning from the master?
What a mess, what a colossal heap of green-and-gold mess.
If Favre has an itch, then the Packers’ brass has got to have a rash about the size of Brown County.
You know good and well Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy were more than ready to move on. Rodgers is Thompson’s guy. McCarthy’s gig is working with young quarterbacks. There was a sense of anticipation surrounding what a gifted, if inexperienced, quarterback could do with an otherwise loaded lineup.
Now, this.
If the Packers wanted to do right by all concerned, they’d respectfully decline. But how can they? They helped create this monster. Favre was bigger than the most storied franchise in NFL history, a position no player should ever assume.
Look, Favre was one of the three or four greatest players I ever covered. Certainly the greatest competitor. I wanted to see him play a couple more seasons as long as he didn’t embarrass himself on the field.
But once he made the decision to retire, that should’ve been it. No turning back. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone, not to himself, not to the Packers, not to the fans who are now welcoming the possibility of his return, and certainly not to Rodgers.
Yes, Rodgers opened himself to criticism for what he said to Sports Illustrated, but you could understand where he was coming from. His behavior under such intense scrutiny was exemplary for most of the off-season. He handled the near-impossible role of Favre’s successor as well as could be expected of a hyper-competitive 24-year-old.
So if the Packers allow Favre to return, they should do Rodgers a favor and trade him. Let him go somewhere he has the chance to play without getting the runaround for the next two or three years. If Rodgers suddenly isn’t the guy as Thompson and McCarthy declared him to be, it’s on them to thoroughly prepare a couple of rookies in case a 39-year-old starter goes down.
A man’s got a right to change his mind, but this isn’t becoming Favre’s legacy. Under most circumstances, I’d welcome the chance to see him play again. But this isn’t one of them. It has the appearance of the Packers forcing him out, only for Favre to play the PR card in staging a palace coup. I’m not sure I buy that, but the impression is there. I believe Favre just wants to play, which is fine because as he rightly said in March, he can still get it done.
So why didn’t he spare us all the inevitable drama and say that in the first place?
