Brett Favre to the Jets (Updated)
(Update: For the best fan’s eye view analysis of this situation, make sure to bookmark Steve Hayes and Andrew Hayes’s blog, Packer Geeks. Hayes is the number one Packers fan in DC (sorry, VandeHei), and a super smart reporter to boot. Here’s Steve’s take on Packers GM Ted Thompson, for starters.)
I’ve held off posting about this because it just hurts too much. Brett Favre is one of my all-time favorite athletes; he’s the only guy still around from my childhood who I grew up cheering for. I have only owned one sports jersey in my life, and it’s got Favre’s name on it.
This is very depressing for me, but it’s what needed to happen. Let’s be clear: Favre never should have retired the first time. And let’s be more clear: when the Packers brass jetted down to Mississippi after Favre called them up a few weeks after his retirement and said “hey, I want to play again,” he shouldn’t have backed out of it the next day. Favre brought this all on himself. The Packers as an organization are bigger than one man, even if that man is one of the five greatest QBs of all time.
It would have been the best thing for everyone if Favre had just stayed retired. Now he’s playing for a second rate team with a minimal shot of making the playoffs, and a porous offensive line that has to face the Patriots twice next season. I really don’t think this is going to end well.