Brett Favre: Schoolyard Quarterback

The below is an excerpt from Max's Pocket Guide: The 50 Greatest Quarterbacks of All Time

In the modern NFL jaws drop and fans fawn over the types of throws Brett Favre built his career off of. 

He was a stubborn maverick, a Super Bowl Champion, the unequivocal best Quarterback of his era, and a three time MVP.

Not only was Favre MVP three times, but he was so for three straight years: 1995, 1996, and 1997. With that era of dominance it is clear and obvious that Brett Favre was not only the best Quarterback at the time, but he also had a claim to being the best player in the game.

He made a career of making questionable throws many coaches would scoff at, which is probably why one of his NFL records is most pass interceptions of all time at 336, but it is also why he was able to throw for 508 touchdowns and 71,838 yards.

Favre played the game his way. When he saw Cover 2, which is a type of coverage most Quarterbacks try to avoid throwing into, Favre would just throw the ball harder to beat the safety clamping down on the play.

Triple coverage never meant someone wasn’t open to Favre, it just meant that the window was a little tighter, but he was still going to squeeze the ball in there. 

In fact, Brett threw the ball so hard that he sometimes broke receivers fingers as they tried to catch the ball. One can just imagine being Antonio Freeman, Greg Jennings, or Bubba Franks on a cold day in Green Bay as Brett Favre rolled out and fired a ball in your direction. Better be ready.

Favre not only made plays with his arm, but he also made them with his legs, helping to considerably redefine the idea of what a “Pocket Passer” is. 

He moved to extend plays, forced players to whiff on sacks, converted on shuffle passes, no look passes, and would sometimes scramble for first downs.

Brett Favre played the game with the mentality of a school yard kid, he was the unequivocal best Quarterback in the game for multiple seasons, and he was a fierce competitor.

It was never a complete Brett Favre game without a running, leaping, joyful touchdown celebration, and with that mentality he was a winner in an incredible 20 year career.