By the (My) Numbers: Brett Favre

Whoever is up there, thank you for making Brett Favre retire. It’s been a rough 17 years.

I doubted him, I found him overrated more than a few times. But deep down, I’m a numbers guy, and I when I look at his numbers, he was certainly one of the best.

It’s true; anyone can manipulate stats to prove anything. And right now, I’m about to do it to prove that Sal Paolantonio is wrong in his column about Favre being one of the most overrated quarterbacks ever. Read it.

Quarterbacks, by nature, are overrated or underrated. It might be the only position in professional sports where, unless you are truly horrible, it is impossible to judge a player. Paolantonio lists Favre as the second most overrated quarterback of all time, behind Joe Namath.

First of all, the fact that Bob Griese isn’t on this list is ridiculous, look at his numbers, courtesy of Pro Football Reference:

Year G GS Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD INT
Career 161 151 1926 3429 56.2 25092 192 172

Of course, it’s impossible to compare eras. Two stats that are telling to me, no matter what, is TD/INT ratio, and completion %. Griese’s is 1.12 td/int. A completion % well under 60%. To add to his overhype, he had a season in which he threw 12 Tds, 17 INTs, and was selected as an All-Pro. Ridiculous. Let’s look at an actual great QB in John Elway:

Year G GS Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD INT
Career 234 231 4123 7250 56.9 51475 300 226

Elway was truly amazing. He won two Super Bowls, went to another two, and might have been the best QB, pre-Brady, in the clutch. His TD/INT: 1.33.

Sal Pal tells us that Favre wasn’t even the best QB in Packers’ franchise history, giving that title to the legendary Bart Starr. Starr had fantastic playoff success in a completely different era in the NFL. The AFL was hardly integrated, there were little or no playoffs, and the running game and defense were supreme. But, for fun, let’s look at Starr’s numbers:

Year G GS Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD INT
Career 196 158 1808 3149 57.4 24718 152 138

Starr had impressive playoff stats, as are shown in Paolantonio’s article, but his career numbers are truly pedestrian. Starr may have retired as the NFL’s most accurate passer, but, as you’ll see when we show Favre’s stats, he’s certainly slipped far behind. If Eli Manning would get run out of New York for Favre’s numbers, there may have been an effigy for some of the seasons Starr had. 1958 he threw 3 TDs and 12 INTs. In 1967 he threw 9 touchdowns and 17 INTs. Truly Rex-ian.

Finally, let’s look at Favre’s breakdown:

Year G GS Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD INT
Career 257 253 5377 8758 61.4 61655 442 288

TD/INT: 1.53. The end of his career, Favre had one brutal season, in 2005 when he threw 20 touchdowns and 29 INTs. In 2004 he went for 30/17, in 2003, 32/21. He only had three full seasons in which he threw more INTs than touchdowns, less than Starr and Griese, and same amount as Elway. Elway never had seasons of 39/13, 38/13, 35/16, or even 32/15. Completion % : 61.4%.

Making the case that Montana, Marino, even Unitas were better, those are at least arguable and pretty true. Montana was more accurate and won more Super Bowls; Marino had a better TD/INT. I can manipulate statistics just as well as Sal Pal, and I think I’m right.

I just stood up for a Packer. I feel dirty.

AJD