Favre Opinion: Crackback for a Crackhead

By jawarrener | Wednesday, September 02, 2009 | ( 0 )

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I'm sure we are all sick of hearing about Brett Favre. His charade of retirement/unretirement has been going on for years. He has always been such a die hard player that he has earned the respect of fans and players alike. His actions in the offseason and in this preseason have done wonders to erode any respect still held by fans or peers.

First of all, he's a career killer. Last year he crushed the hopes of the Jet quarterbacks, this year he has crushed the hopes of both Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels. Both of these players have their whole career in front of them. Now, one is a bench warmer and the other one is trade bait. These guys have to reconstruct their careers virtually from scratch, why, so that Brett can relive his glory/fantasy for one more year. Is there any serious thought that he will be back next year? Absolutely not. Will he flirt with the idea of coming out of retirement again? I can't imagine that he won't. However, ultimately, he will not be back and Minnesota will be without Jackson and with an emasculated Rosenfels.

I am from Tampa and I know all about throwing all your eggs in one basket for the shot at a ring. The Glazers did it. They sacked and traded and finally got their one ring. But what has happened in that wake? They have lost a core of players and an irreplaceable coach that has doomed them to mediocrity ever since. They kicked Tony Dungy to the curb after he quite literally saved the franchise, brought them from the laughing stock of the NFL to annual playoff contenders, meanwhile assembling one of the best defenses in the history of the NFL. Then, they proceeded to cut ties with the core of their talent: John Lynch, Warren Sapp, Warrick Dunn, Brian Kelly, and worst of all Derrick Brooks. Not just great players but great character guys as well (I can't really speak for Sapp and Kelly but the other three are saints). The glue that held the team together. Dungy coached the team since 1996 and only missed the playoffs in 2000 and even then was one win away. Grant it that Gruden finally go the ring but he won the Super Bowl with Dungy's team. Since then, the Bucs never regained their luster. They went 7-9 following the Super Bowl 37 and only made the playoffs twice in the next seven years, many times being under .500. Now one may argue that at least they got the ring but in order to get the ring one must first make the playoffs. You have a 0% chance of winning the Super Bowl if you don't make the playoffs. The Glazers gambled, they won, but ultimately they lost. They now have a bottom-feeder team that can't even sell out their season tickets. This is after they had a 20,000 person waiting list in 2003.

This has less to do with Favre and more to do with the franchise; back to Favre. The illegal crackback block that he put on Eugene Wilson of Houston is one of the most deplorable things I have seen in NFL football. It is utterly unforgivable for someone of such experience to pull a stunt like that. I would not accept this type of block from the dirtiest, smallest Kicker that ever played the game. First of all, Farve is bigger and heavier that Wilson. Second, he blindsided him. Third, he intentionally went after his knees. Is this not an exhibition game? Does this game mean anything when it's all said and done? Why in God's name do you do that to a guy in the first place, let alone an exhibition game? The extent of Wilson's injury is not known yet but whatever happens, Favre deserves to be fined, and suspended. No normal player would escape this type of punishment in the NFL. I sincerely hope that Favre's "star power" does not exempt him from the league handing down a just penalty. Do I think Goodell has the balls to do it? We shall see. But Favre now has the stigma of being a career-ender. Not just for players on his team but for players on other teams. Nothing short of a public apology and a regular season game(s) suspension can even begin to repair Favre's sinking reputation.

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