Column: Favre amazes 16 years later
Published Oct. 2, 2007
Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is tough, durable, dependable and courageous. In his 16-year National Football League career, he has totaled three consecutive Most Valuable Player awards, two Super Bowl appearances and a championship. On Sunday, he added NFL all-time passing leader to his resume.
With only four games played this season, Favre has not only overtaken former Miami Dolphin Dan Marino as the career touchdowns leader, he has also become the career leader in wins and passes completed. He is within sight of the career passing yards as well.
And in a traditional Favre manner, he accomplished his feats unconventionally while disregarding the critics along the way.
Only last year, sports analysts and news talk radio hosts across the country called for Favre's retirement. He had finished the two worst seasons of his career where nine more interceptions than touchdowns were thrown, and where the Packers, once kings of the National Football Conference North, had lost 20 of their last 32 games. At the same time, the Packers appeared to be wasting their first round pick Aaron Rodgers by allowing Favre to start when the result was abysmal.
What critics, coaches and fans had forgotten was that Favre was never the prettiest on paper. He finished many seasons in the top 10 for statistics, followed by the bottom 15 and then won an MVP award.
He has also never achieved a 100+ quarterback rating in his 16 seasons, a feat common of almost all the 15 quarterbacks rated higher than him in the all-time quarterback rankings.
But Favre knew as well as anyone that his skill did not lie in his numbers but rather in his character.
Favre has started all of his last 241 games. Despite his father's death, his wife's diagnosis of breast cancer and his brother-in-law's death, Favre has brought his game every Sunday for more than 10 straight years.
Some of his greatest performances have come at his most challenging moments, and consequently, he is respected as a person as much as he is an NFL player.
Favre is also only two short of tying the career interception mark set by George Blanda. Many ask how good Favre can really be when he is on the verge of becoming what quarterbacks fear: a turnover machine. But to have success at the rate Favre did, one cannot fear committing faults.
The same pass that lost a game won many more. The defenses changed, the formations were different, but Favre's determination was consistent, leading him to victory.
Through all the trials and tribulations, Brett Favre has competed. Throughout his career, Favre has created his own roadmap while quieting the critics. Tough, durable, dependable and courageous: Brett Favre.
bmm34c@mizzou.edu