That’s what a commenter called “Cheeseheads” wrote to protest our labeling of Peyton Manning as a “whiner.” This Manning fan also wrote that Favre has been “stuck in mediocrity” for years. (Anyone in reading the entire comment can do so at the end of this post. If you do read it, be sure to treat yourself to PackerBelle’s devastating smack-down immediately afterwards.) Let me address that second point first, because it’s so easily dispensed with, and return to the second.
A quick check NFL.com’s passing statistics rankings for 2007 show that this guy simply has no idea what he’s talking about. Brett Favre is #4, Peyton Manning is #7. Favre had three fewer touchdowns than Manning and one more interception. But Favre had more yards, a higher completion percentage, a higher yards/game average and was sacked six fewer times than the cement-legged Manning. Put simply: Favre was better this year than Peyton Manning. And Favre was statistically the fourth best quarterback. That’s not mediocre.
The “interception machine” point is something you hear frequently about Favre. Yes, the guy threw a lot of interceptions. 288 to be precise. But what this kind of claim fails to recognize is that Favre threw more passes than any other quarterback in NFL history. When you consider interceptions-per-attempt, Favre’s numbers are worse than several Hall of Fame quarterbacks and better than several others.
Brett Favre
Att: 8759
Int: 288
Ratio: .0328
Peyton Manning
Att: 5405
Int: 153
Ratio: .0283
Joe Montana
Att: 5391
Int: 139
Int: .0257
Troy Aikman
Att: 4715
Int: 141
Ratio: .0299
Steve Young
Att: 4149
Int: 107
Ratio: .026
Dan Marino
Att: 8358
Int: 252
Ratio: .301
Johnny Unitas
Att: 5186
Int: 253
Ratio: .0487
Bart Starr
Att: 3149
Int: 138
Ratio: .0438
packergeeks 
May 1, 2008 at 10:36 am |
You dignified ‘Cheeseheads’ with an actual POST?
May 1, 2008 at 10:50 am |
Nah, just used the comment to make two points I’d wanted to make anyway. That’s why I didn’t post the whole thing.
Coming back at you on the grades issue when I’ve got five mins.
May 1, 2008 at 11:20 am |
I have no doubt.
😉
February 13, 2011 at 4:03 pm |
Well Marino threw a lot of INT’s and Unitas and Starr were from a different era. Tarkenton was “the man” because he had numbers closer today’s QB #’s as far as INT’s.
The sport has changed so dramatically as far as being within the same zip code as receivers. This accounts for the change in the # of INT’s from the older generation to the modern generation.
As for the modern generation alone, the difference between .021 and .039 is a LOT.
Lastly Favre’s regular season INT’s went down later on in his career, but not in the playoffs when the pressure was on.