Rhino + Vinny + Alcohol = Brett Favre is Overrated

I sat in my office this evening, doing the Lord's work and generally making the world safe for large American corporations, when Vinny called to inform me that he was in my building's lobby, and that it was time for me to buy him a beer. That sounded reasonable to me. As we imbibed we discussed a wide range of topics: foreign policy, the war, taxes--in other words, lots of stuff we knew nothing whatsoever about.

Fortunately, I'll spare you those bloviations. If you want that crap, there are only about a trillion other places on the Internet where you can get. You come here looking for sports drivel or, if you're like the 1,100 people who've been here since yesterday afternoon, lesbian cheerleaders. Make that hot, naked, lesbian cheerleaders (that ought to give us another 5,000 hits!).

Anyway, eventually the topic turned to sports, and after a few diversions relating to bad Cavs draft picks (think Tragic Langdon), we somehow stumbled onto Brent Favre, and specifically onto how overrated this guy is as a quarterback.

Now, don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like about Brett Favre, but people who think he's in the same class with the likes of Joe Montana, Horseface, Tarkenton, Broadway Joe or The Great Johnny Unitas, peace be upon him, are smoking crack. Like many of today's QBs with inflated stats (think Marino), Favre owes quite a bit to rule changes that have stacked the deck against defenses for much of the last 25 years. For example, think of the illegal chuck rule, the changes in blocking rules that "legalized" holding, the ability to avoid an intentional grounding call by getting outside the tackle box and throwing the ball away, the stupid interpretations that result in roughing the passer calls if a defensive player hits a QB a split-second after he releases the ball.

I will give Favre credit. He is one tough hombre and a very good--borderline great even--NFL QB. He's got a ring and three MVPs, and is a lock for Canton, but he has hung around for way too long and been given way too much slack by a media that has absolutely fallen in love with him. Boomer Esiason was the first member of the media with the stones to point out that the Emperor has no clothes, when he called Favre out for his truly bizarre decision to throw an underhand shovel pass on the last play of the Packers' final drive against the Bengals a few weeks back.

I saw that play too, and it reminded of a bigger gaffe by Favre in a bigger game--one that was so bad that any other QB would have heard about it all offseason.

What I'm talking about is the play that took place just before halftime in the Packers' playoff game against the Vikings last season. Green Bay was down by 14 and had driven deep into Minnesota territory. On third and five from about the 15 yard line, Favre dropped back to pass, got pressure and then started to run. For some inexplicable reason, about a yard short of a Packer first down, the Great One threw a weird underhand basketball pass across his body to a receiver for a touchdown. Brilliant improvisation, but the problem was that Favre was past the line of scrimmage--way past--when he did this. That meant no touchdown, no first down, no fourth and short, no chance to close the Viking lead to a touchdown at halftime. Instead, Favre got a penalty, and the Packers had to try a field goal, which they missed.

AND NOBODY SAID ANYTHING!!! This may be the stupidest thing I've ever seen on a football field, but because it was Brett Favre, nobody mentioned it. Sure, it was overshadowed by the jackassery of Randy Moss, who chose to moon the Green Bay faithful that day, but c'mon--this is a really, really bad decision that the guy should have been called on the carpet for. But, because he's The Great Brett Favre, nobody said squat.

Come to think of it, I will have another beer.