@Gargamel,
Gargamel wrote:
Clearly the Packers' failures last year ought to be attributed to Rodgers' 4038 passing yards and 28 TDs.
His passer rating was 93.8. Brett's passer rating for the Pack the previous year was 95.7. No doubt that with those extra 3.1 points we would have made the playoffs again.
In fact, Brett's 2008 line--3472 passing yards, 22 TDs, and 22 interceptions last year--was probably the push the Pack needed to contend for a championship.
Please... Brett took the Jets to 9-7 after taking over a 4-12 team. Rogers took the Packers to 6-10 after taking over a 13-3 team.
Brett = Plus 5 victories.
Rogers = Minus 7 victories.
He's a good kid who shows some promise, but that's no excuse to not offer the starting job to the most qualified guy… the productive quarterback in history... the guy who's never missed a start since 1992. The guy who turned in a spectacular season the year before. Yeah, he waffled in the off-season about whether or not he wanted to retire. So what? During his tenure, the Green Bay Packers were the winningest team in the NFL, they were coming off one of their best seasons, and were poised to make another Superbowl run the following year.
Enter the moron, Ted Thompson, who had previously made the idiotic decision to ignore Brett's pleas to bring Randy Moss to town, believing Moss was washed up (eh, no)... next decides that the legend of Green Bay must obey his demands to make up his mind on his timeline or he was going to make arguably the best QB ever sit on the bench behind an unproven kid with virtually no experience.
Were I Brett, I wouldn't feel terribly welcome or appreciated either.
Result: Packers go from dominant to mediocre, revenues suffer, and a legend is tarnished. Now people expect said legend to not pursue his career out of loyalty to the team he set virtually every NFL record serving, while never, ever, missing a start let alone a day of work? Ridiculous.
After playing 5 times longer than your average QB, few things could be more predictable than difficulty deciding whether or not it's time to retire. After being thoroughly insulted by the idiot Thompson, few things could be less understandable than a guy who's already given ten-fold more to the Packers than anyone could reasonably expect from any one human being, to question whether or not he wants to subject his body to more punishment and his family to less attention for another season. These are off-season concerns, and Brett made it very clear for many years that he would only return if he could commit 100%. Over one of the all time greatest careers in football, no one could deny that Brett Favre was among the most committed players DURING FOOTBALL SEASON who ever played the game.
As a general manager, Ted Thompson is supposed to field the best Green Bay Packers team possible. There can be no doubt he failed miserably.
As a general manager, Ted Thompson is also responsible to run the best business possible. Again, he failed miserably.
Wins, down. Attendance, down. Gear sales, down. Optimism, down. Prognosis, down. All because Ted Thompson, who had and has accomplished very little, valued his ego more than he did the proper management of the Green Bay Packers and in so doing caused a riff between loyal Packer fans, and their most loyal, most productive, most beloved player in modern history... if not ever.
As a stock-owning shareholder of the Green Bay Packers, as a fan of the Green Bay Packers and a fan of football in general, I am ashamed of how the living legend, Brett Favre's decade and a half of dedicated service was tarnished over an unproven nobody's ego, and an unproven beginner's feelings.
I will remain a loyal fan of the Green Bay Packers my entire life... but I will NEVER fault the greatest Green Bay Packer in history's desire to play the game he loves, for as long as he wishes to do so, and will forever be ashamed that he was denied his well earned right to finish his career in Green Bay with the respect and dignity that he earned. This privilege was well earned by Brett Favre, but moreover, the privilege of his continued service would have been ours.
One need only look at the soaring ticket sales in Minnesota, the soaring ticket prices in Green Bay for the Minnesota game, and the expert predictions for the black and blue to see how very wrong Ted Thompson really was. Discredit is a pretty soft word for such horrendous incompetence. I for one will be wishing the very best for the legend that delivered so many spectacular moments over his incredible career of dedicated service. You should too.
Now drop to your knees, close your eyes, and beg Vince’s forgiveness!
Vikings Championship odds were cut in half at the stroke of Brett’s signature on the dotted line. Please give discredit where it’s due:
