Favre Rides Off Into The Sunset

After coming in second in the NFL's MVP balloting last year with one vote, taking his team to the NFC Championship Game and breaking just about every QB record that exists, Brett Favre has called it quits.

I'm not buying it.

Just last week he was actively campaigning to sign Randy Moss, going so far as to call Moss personally. I know that the Packers and Favre both say that Moss signing on with the Patriots had no bearing on his decision to retire but I don't buy it. What if Moss had signed on with the Packers? Would Favre have retired. The answer is no and we all know it.

I think that Favre is quite possibly the best quarterback to ever play the game. Yes, even better than Joe Montana, Peyton Manning and Cleo Lemon. Favre was what Tom Brady is today. Recievers excel with the Patriots because of Brady and his ability to get them the ball at the right time in the right spot. Look what's happened to all of the so-called integral recievers the Patriots have lost over the years- David Givens, Deion Branch, Reche Caldwell and the list goes on. Those guys all have one thing in common once they leave New England. They suck. Same with the recievers from Green Bay. Favre has made a career out of turning mediocre recievers into stars because of his ability to get them the ball at the right time in the right spot.

Favre never played with a Jerry Rice or Randy Moss type of reciever and, yet, he holds nearly every concievable passing record that exists. Here's a sampling of the records he holds:

Most TD passes: 442 (Peyton Manning already has 306, ranking fourth)
Most passing yards: 61,655
Most wins by a starting QB: 160
Most interceptions: 288 (sorry, that's a bit of a cheap shot)

Favre is also leaving with his record breaking streak of 253 consecutive regular season starts by a quarterback in tact, which is actually 275 including playoff games.

Part of me wants to believe that Favre is walking away from the game like so many players should- on their own terms, at the top of their game and with their health in tact. But I don't think Favre is the kind of guy who can sit home and drive the kids to school or get into television. Remember, this is a guy who has an addictive personality and playing quarterback in the NFL in sold out stadiums with the crowd chanting your name is an addiction.

Favre told reporters and team management that he was "mentally tired" but that he "could still play." Here's the thing, though- every NFL player this time of year is mentally tired, especially with the prospect of training camp in July and five months away from home looming over you.

So for now, the Packers will turn their team over to unproven 2005 first round draft pick Aaron Rodgers, who has one career TD in his three years of playing clip board holder for the Packers. I hope he has lots of clean underwear because he's going to need it.

And for now, Favre is a retired quarterback. Until an injury in training camp forces a team to reevaluate their QB situation, or a team gets off to a horrendous start and realizes that Kyle Boller isn't their answer at QB, or until the Packers realize that Rodgers quite possibly could stink, or until the addiction of playing QB in the NFL starts to gnaw at Favre and he hears the crowd chanting his name in his sleep and he wakes up and realizes he made a mistake, that he still has something left in the tank, that he can still play at a high level, that, above all else, football players play football.