The NFL Exoerience abd Brett Favre

Today, the modern iron man of football hung up his cleats. He says he just does not have it in him to trudge out there for another year. Opinions about that are flying around the net at light speed as everyone with a keyboard and an thought are taking shot after shot at the real reason for his departure. You have heard everything from an apethetic Green Bay front office to the lack of a true playmaker at wide reciever as the reason. You have heard that he cannot stand the cold, and you have heard that the final loss took more out of him than everyone thought. You have also heard that he does not think the Packers can repeat last season, and mediocre football is not something Farve is interested in playing.

But, very few players in history have had the career Favre has had, and even less have walked away on their terms. Pictures run rampant in my head of Joe Montana trying to rekindle the magic one last time in Kansas City as Joe Cool became Joe Average. Favre is walking away on his terms and doing so while peaking as a player last year. Who besides Jim Brown has done that? Who left more potential on the field than those two players.

I can answer that very simply. No one. When Elway retired, he was nothing near the player he had been even three years prior. He played fewer games, got fewer yards, and while he won a championship that year, against Favre and the Packers, it was Terrell Davis who stole the show that season and got them to the dance. Of all the players in the last two decades, Elway comes the closest to mirroring Favre, and he is not even close.

Consider this, Favre is the same age as Elway in his final season. In his final year, with significantly less talent around him, he threw for over 1200 more yards than Elway. But for a fluke game against the better coached Giants, he would have had a shot at hoisting the Lombardi one last time. That is how off the charts his last season was. At age 38, his year was significantly better than Joe Montana, Steve Young, John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly (who retired at age 36) at the same age or thereabouts. These guys are considered the best of the generation, and Favre outdid them all in his final year.

The only comparison that makes any sense what so ever is Jim Brown. In the long run, while the debate over who the best is will wage for decades, Favre and Brown will be the quintessetial answer to the question of who left the most football still on the table.

So, the question is going to be asked for a long time as to why Favre left the game after a 13-3 season in one of his best years, but for me, the question is always going to be, why not.