Overrating Favre

Twice today on ESPN talking heads proposed that the maybe-retiring Brett Favre might be the greatest quarterback of all time. let's dispense with this nonsense right now. Favre's prolific statistics notwithstanding, during the era when he played alone there were at least five better all-time quarterbacks. In no particular order: Joe Montana, Dan Marino, John Elway, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady were all better than Favre.

Big Daddy Drew's Favre Issues

Suffice it to say, Big Daddy Drew is not happy (warning: his language makes me seem like a timid church mouse) at the prospect of Brett Favre joining his beloved Minnesota Vikings. Enjoy!

Amen, Bob Ryan

Brett Favre was a great player and very good both for the Green Bay Packers and for the NFL. But can we stop hyperventilating about him being one of the top five quarterbacks of all time? Bob Ryan writes some of the things I have been arguing for the last week or so. A sample:

Beyond that, I cannot rank Brett Favre much higher than 8 all-time, and that's just among the guys whose NFL careers began after 1970. I would definitely place John Elway, Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Troy Aikman, and Steve Young ahead of him. Oh, and was he really better than either Dan Fouts or Warren Moon? Then you enter into another generation from the '50s, '60s, and '70s that includes Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Norm Van Brocklin, Y.A. Tittle, Bobby Layne, Roger Staubach, Fran Tarkenton, Terry Bradshaw, Sonny Jurgensen, and, of course, Starr. Favre was better than some of these guys, but not all. And if you really want to get historical, consider Sid Luckman, Sammy Baugh, and Frankie Albert. Let's just say Brett Favre should be honored to be in their company.

That seems about right to me. Favre was a great player. And it is no insult to be one of the greatest of all time. But anything beyond that is hyperbole derived of presentism.