With the (not-so-shocking) news out of Minnesota that Brett Favre has the spine of a jellyfish, and the integrity of Nick Saban, football ‘experts’ all over the country are falling all over themselves to say how much better the Vikings are due to Favre’s arrival .
But what if they are wrong?
“But Dave, how could all of these people that are paid to come on TV and present their opinions as fact be wrong about this?”you ask.
I know, I can’t imagine it ever happening either. These are the same people that think Jay Cutler is a great fit for the Bears despite his having disagreements with Brian Urlacher and Devin Hester before the first real game is played.
Anyway, not only am I not convinced that the Vikings are significantly improved with Favre, I am pretty convinced they are actually going to be demonstrably worse.
Bollocks, you say. Favre is a Golden God and the rest of us are merely his minions; placed here on Earth to bask in the reflected glow of his majesty.
Whatever.
Here are 3 specific reasons why the arrival of Favre at Vikings camp makes me think they will be worse with him under center:
1 – Meet the new boss, same as the old boss – As I drove back to my hotel this evening, I heard a guy on KJR 950 am saying that Favre is better left-handed than either Rosenfels or Jackson is right-handed. This genius dismissed out of hand any notion that there could be a question whether Favre is better than either of the Vikings quarterback.
This guy is a moron (unfortunately I didn’t catch it or would be calling him out by name).
People that believe Favre is still an elite quarterback are more stuck in the past than the music on my iPod. When this scenario first came up, here is what I wrote comparing the three quarterbacks.
Personally, I am not sure how bringing in a nearly 40-year old quarterback who hit a wall after the 11th game last year solves the Vikings problems. Is Favre really an improvement over Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson at this point?
Favre’s quarterback rating last season: 81 (no games higher than 62 after week #11)
Rosenfels quarterback rating last season: 79.5
Jackson’s quarterback rating last season: 95.4
Factor in that both Rosenfels and Jackson (especially Jackson) are still young enough to continue improving while Favre is certainly not at an age where he will improve unless he has been working out with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez in the off-season.
Add in a questionable shoulder and joining the team late and I am failing to see how it is a given that Favre can perform better than Jackson or Rosenfels.
But let’s for a minute assume he is better…
2 – Chemistry 101 – As has been proven repeatedly, rarely does the most talented team in the NFL win it all (see Dallas Cowboys). Maybe more than in any other sport, football is a team game. And when do teams bond and forge the camaraderie to help them through 17 long weeks during the season (not to mention get conditioned so that they don’t fall apart worse than Simon Kurtz in Airplane II around week 11)? During training camp. You know Training Camp as the period of time that it has become abundantly clear Favre was trying to avoid with his little song and dance over the last couple weeks. So the Vikings are going to line up behind a guy who specifically avoided training camp with them? That is how you become a leader – by avoiding the hard work and bald-face lying as to your intentions?
When Favre inevitably throws a bad interception to cost the Vikings a game at some point this year, you don’t think there will be at least one or two players in that locker room thinking “if he hadn’t f***ed around all summer and come to training camp, that wouldn’t have happened”?
Look, we all know Favre isn’t going to be perfect – even back when he was great he wasn’t perfect (<cough> career interception leader <cough>). When the going gets tough, are the Vikings really going to rally behind some guy they hardly know, just because he won a Super Bowl when they were still in junior high school? I doubt it.
But, say Favre sheds his icy locker room personality and becomes the glue of this Vikings team. He becomes beloved and his teammates would jump on a live grenade for him. There is still one minor problem…
3 – Identity Issues – A year ago the Jets spent the entire offseason shoring up their run game. They had Thomas Jones and Damion Woody and Alan Faneca. They were turning into a hard-nosed running team.
And then Brett Favre showed up, the coaches went all goo-goo eyes for him and threw the playbook out the window. ”Forget the running game we coveted just a couple months ago, we are going to ride the arm of the gunslinger to post-season success”, they thought. How did that turn out? Well you can ask head coach Eric Mangini because he got canned and you can now find him in Cleveland.
Is it much a stretch to assume that Brad Childress will be tempted to do the same? When a guy who looks like he stalks school girls starts acting like one instead by blatantly lying to the press about the team’s interest in Favre, is it really hard to imagine him modifying the offensive playbook to keep the ‘future hall of famer’ happy?
It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if a team that has relied on the most talented young running back and one of the best offensive lines in the game finds some excuse to start opening up the offense. Favre didn’t come back to hand off to A.P. 30 times per game. That wouldn’t feed his massive, out-of-control ego. He needs to be the star, the center of attention – something he has been all of his career. You think he went through all of this to be a facilitator? No way.
It could be argued that the situation is analogous to Elway’s last couple years in Denver, when be basically ceded the role as primary offensive weapon to Terrell Davis. But that was different because Elway was desperate to win a Super Bowl, any way he could. Unlike Brett, he hadn’t retired 17 times and was playing purely for ego.
Favre wants to come in and stick it to all of those Packer fans who thought he was too old two years ago (you know, after he threw an interception to lose the NFC Championship game). You don’t do that by handing off to A.P., you do that by throwing for 300 yards and 3 touchdowns.
With Favre demanding passes and A.P. looking for runs, what does Childress do? Every successful NFL team has an identity on offense. Some are running teams that can grind out wins. Some are passing teams that outrun and outscore their opponents. No good teams try to be both simultaneously. Childress is no Bill Belichick. Would you trust him to figure out how to make this work?
Me neither.
Oh well, let’s hope after Favre costs him his job this season and shamelessly flirts with yet another star-struck team a year from now, Childress lands on his feet somewhere.
Maybe Cincinnati.
Then he and Mangini can curse Favre twice a year together when the Bengals and Browns meet.
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