Brett Favre, as usual, speaks from the hip and his current view of the Packers’ offense does not exactly instill Packers’ fans with confidence. Favre spoke to the media Monday and expressed his concerns about wanting to win now but trying to do so with a semi-pro team around him. He sounded more like Paul Crew than Brett Favre. He basically said he doesn’t have confidence in his receivers running the right routes or the ability to build the chemistry needed to win a championship. I, for one, have never seen Favre this frustrated.
While Favre said he could play five more years, it’s obvious he’s having second thoughts about even playing this season. Backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ stellar performance against the Steelers after Favre’s four three-and-outs can’t help much either. Rodgers seemed to have some chemistry with his receivers. You can say Rodgers’ performance was against the second-teams and it was, but the guys who stand out against the second-teams get promoted to the first team. I’m not saying it’s time to pass the torch, but I think it’s about time somebody put some pressure on Favre.
One quote from Favre that struck me was this: “two ways to look at this year: You’re a young football team with a mature quarterback who’s seen it all with a defense that is our best phase, so don’t make any mistakes as a quarterback. Or, as a team so young that it needs its quarterback to to carry it on his shoulders, take some chances and make something out of nothing”. Certainly Favre leans toward the latter, and so do I.
Head coach Mike McCarthy seems to be trying to make a robot out of Favre. McCarthy said “it’s not the old days, but to me that’s good, because I don’t need him to play like a wild stallion anymore. We’re not built that way.”Wow! I think “wild stallion” worked pretty well. One Super Bowl Championship and two NFC Championships are not bad bullet-points on a quarterback’s resume. Maybe it’s McCarthy who has this all wrong? Maybe the Packers should be putting the ball in Favre’s hands and letting him do what he does best, and take the good with the bad. The team’s refusal to address its woeful stable of running backs has no explanation, neither does trying to change a three-time Most Valuable Player’s style of play.
Like I said, Favre wears his emotions on his sleeve, but this might have been the most discouraging press conference I have ever heard from him. When confidence should be high after a four-game winning streak to close out last year, Favre seems to be totally lost. Very strange. One thing is sure, my confidence in the Packers improving on last year just took a huge hit. If Favre doesn’t think they can improve, what chance do they have? Can you say Aaron Rodgers?
by Al Davis