Favre ain't so great

I haven't really written about football much (if at all) in my blog. I am huge Bears fan and have been since I was 14 and the Bears were in the Super Bowl. Since then, I have stayed a true fan despite their lack of success. Anyway, today I read a story which puts forth the theory that I have long held: Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers isn't that great.

Using the league's interception formula (percentage of interceptions out of passes thrown) Favre is at 3.23, Elway at 3.12 and Marino at 3.02. But here's the intertesting thing about those statistics. Both Elway and Marino threw more picks per attempt during the first half of their career than in the second. Young QBs tend to be more of the wild, gunslinger variety. They learn caution as they get older; they figure out how to dump the ball off and avoid throwing into coverage.

Favre's stat line, though, shows the opposite. Under Mike Holmgren, during Brett's first seven years as a Packer, his pick percentage was lower than in his six post-Holmgren years. I don't think he's getting the same level of coaching. I think he's allowed to get away with too many sloppy habits, which are always covered up, occasionally even admired. Remember that weird toss that everyone loved, when Favre was way across the line and heading for the Vikings' end zone last year? He laughed about it, the announcers laughed about it. All it did was keep the Pack off the scoreboard.

Favre wins. You can't argue with that. But he's not the best quarterback out there.