Brady didn’t play bad, but he didn’t play great either. 1st half of the game he got sacked left and right. 2nd half the line protected him great. Overall the Jets dominated the receivers and played prevention.

There were two things that Brady could have done to improve the game’s situation. 1) run it a bit – and make that a threat and 2) Play with urgency in the 4th qtr, he was acting like it was still the third qtr and Brady’s at his best when he’s in an urgent state.

Lets see my earlier predictions.

Dallas – Conference – wrong
Saints – Division rd. Didnt make it that far
Colts – Division rd – didn’t make it that far but did clinch div.
Ravens – Div round. Yup
Packers – Conference – Yup.
Favre’s last play injury – yup.
Patriots – clinch div – yup, make it through wild card – yup.

All 3 of my favored teams made it to the playoff’s. Out of them only the Packers are still in it.

Not too bad prediction wise. The last prediction of it taking the Vikings at least 4 years to recover from the mistake known as the Brett Favre experience will take time to prove. It at least cost the Head Coach’s job as it should have.

At this point I’d like to see a Steelers/Packers Superbowl with the Packer’s winning.

CC: You’re not interested in the Packers/Bears game?

It would seem to hold a great deal of interest for you. It has two of the quarterbacks you’ve expressed a great deal of interest in over the years – Cutler and Rodgers – negatively and positively.

I’m certainly interested if Cutler continues his great play now that he’s on a team that knows how to win with a coach that knows how to win. And, I am waiting to see if Rodgers can continue his superlative QB play in the playoffs. This year and last he has been more than splendid – he has been Kurt Warner playoff splendid, and, from me, that’s high praise indeed.

I read that the only thing that saved Cutler from throwing a bad decision pick six was a set of ten butterfingers.

Yours,
Tom

Tom: Yeah, that one throw was a really bad throw. I’d call it a “bad decision” but, I hardly think there was any “deciding” going on, all instinct. He thought the defender was one of his guys.

And, I say “he thought” advisedly. In the time it took for that throw to be made, there was precious little “thought” going on. He probably thought “oh crap” about the time the ball left his hand, only then realizing that his mind had betrayed him…

Happens all the time to all of us. We find ourselves doing something we shouldn’t in a split second and then our conscious mind breaks in and says “wait a second…”

With the speed these guys play, and the “timing plays” they play — muscle memory kicks in so fast and quarterbacks find themselves throwing balls to where their guy should be (and has been all season on that play) even before the guy has even made his break for that place – often relying on pre-snap reads that tell them that the defense is going to be one thing while the defense is “disguised” so that it actually is a trap for the quarterback and the “timing play” that he might call (has called many times over the course of the season when faced with this formation) (Ask Manning last superbowl or Warner the one before that)

This is one of the reasons why I don’t harp so much on a couple of interceptions in a game in the normal course of events. Frequently, those interceptions are caused by the receiver (either not running the correct route or not fighting for the ball when challenged – as the play is designed) or the defense jumping the route (when doing so is a gamble – because, just as the quarterback throws the ball before the receiver has made his break, so, too, does the defensive back – potentially leaving it open for a big offensive play if he has read it wrong).

I don’t penalize the quarterback for good defensive play or poor receiver play.

Or poor play calling. (Unless he calls his own plays).

Or for forcing a play when he’s forced to do so based on game circumstance.

That throw by Cutler I’ll give him. Hell, I’ll give it to every quarterback every now and again. They all do it. Almost every game.

I agree that some quarterbacks make these “mistakes” more frequently than others. Cutler is one. Favre was another.

In some cases those recurrent “mistakes” are a result of poor play. Other times they are the result of bad decisions by the quarterback. But, many times, especially in critical situations, they are made because the quarterback is SUPREMELY confident that he can make the throw and is simply wrong. (This error could be caused by a nanosecond miscalculation as to just how large his “window” is – by an inch or two errant throw through an impossibly tight window – or whatever.)

With Favre, I give his a pass on many of his “mistakes” simply because, over the course of his career, the same throw under the same circumstance HAS been made and resulted in – well, more touchdowns than anyone in history, more completions, etc. etc. etc. Others (especially when it “lost” the game for the team) I give him due to circumstance, i.e., he HAD to do something to try to win the game (he and only he had the ball at that critical instant) and FAILED. Many other times he was successful.

Cutler? He hasn’t the track record (as yet) for his supreme confidence (and, I presume it is this, rather than poor play, which causes many of his “mistakes”) to give him a pass.

If the Bears win the superbowl this year, he’ll get a pass from the same talking heads who have panned him over the years – even though he’ll be playing essentially the same way as before.

Just as Favre did, but ONLY because he won a superbowl very early in his career. The talking heads who marveled at the exploits of the “good Favre” and chuckled at the mistakes of the “bad Favre” would have been all over him had he not “won” that Superbowl.

It’s not about the PLAY. It’s about the RING.

Suckers.

Throughout his career, Favre, like Elway, rarely ranked near the top of the only stat that does attempt to balance TDs vs interceptions, which is the “Quarterback Rating” statistic.

Neither of them are near the top in lifetime rating.

Both played several seasons longer than most QBs on the “elite tier” list. That accounts for some of their awesome stats.

Compared Favre to Elway and Montana.

Now Marino.

17 Year comparison. (Another long-lived all time great. Amazing how the ones with things like most yards, completions, etc. are the ones who played the longest…)

Favre threw 44 more touchdowns. 464/420

Favre threw about 50 more interceptions (308/252) resulting in Marino having a little better touchdown/interception ratio (1.6 to 1.5)

Favre had almost 1000 more attempts. (9276/8358)

Favre had over 700 more completions. (5720/4967)

Favre had a slightly better completion percentage. (61 to 59)

Favre threw for almost 4000 more yards.

How about Manning?

(I chose the earlier 3 because they played at around the same time under the same rules essentially. Manning/Favre will be compared for the years that they played complete seasons since Manning joined. 1998-2009)

Manning wins on pretty much all counts.

Touchdowns: Manning 366 to 315
Interceptions: Manning 181 to 222
TD/Int Ratio: Manning 2.0 to 1.4
Attempts: Favre 6602 to 6531
Completions: Manning 4232 to 4112
Completion %: Manning 64 to 62%
Total yards: Manning 50128 to 46729

How about Brady? Compare 1st 9 full years:

Touchdowns: Brady 261 to 255
Interceptions: Favre 116 to 103
TD/Int ratio: Brady 2.5 to 2.2
Attempts: Favre 4927 to 4710
Completions: Favre 2997 to 2993
Completion ratio: Brady 63 to 60
Total yards: Brady 34744 to 34706

Amazingly close. Now, if Brady can, with the new “no touchie” rules (both for the QB and the WR) continue (and get better) playing at this level for, oh…ANOTHER DECADE…as did Favre — then he will be in Favre’s league.

Maybe Favre believes in his arm because, as I have amply demonstrated, it is one of the finest arms in the history of the game.

Maybe Favre does believe in the ability of his teammates so much that he is willing to throw balls which might be intercepted if his receivers don’t fight for them – and he believes that they’ll fight for them.

There are few things which, when viewed from a distance, can’t be interpreted many different ways – and interpreted according to how our particular lenses view the world.

Maybe – but i doubt it highly.

the NFL has no shortage of talented players who – when it’s all on the line – fall up short. And it’s no big secret that interceptions can lose games, and lost games can lose championships.

As you’ve so amply demonstrated – Favre has the finest ability to throw interceptions in the history of the game.

Do they let sexual predators in the Hall of Fame?

CC: “Sexual predator?”

Do you KNOW who it is that he is alleged to have made untoward advances to?

CAN you be a “sexual predator” to willing prey?

Tom: Sorry, you’re correct. My calculation was supposed to be INTERCEPTION per attempt since that is the issue being examined.

Thanks for the catch!

CC: Wait a second.

Favre is alleged to have engaged in sending some unwelcome texts and pictures to a “reporter” (who had posed in Playboy and Maxim) who, after her large breasts helped her attain her career goals, announced that being the case, she was going to remove them. She made no complaints about this for nearly two years. You can draw whatever connection between when she brought her complaint (and didn’t) and when her television show was canceled.

The other complaints (again, some two years after the fact) apparently are along the lines of “This guy made passes at me while I worked at the Jets. After I turned him down, the Jets no longer hired me to rub men’s bodies with oil.”

1. We don’t know if any of this is true.

2. If true, we “should” consider just why these women didn’t say anything for nearly two years.

3. If true as to Sterger, we have no idea just what happened between the two of them (the jock and the cheerleader who apparently had no issue taking off her clothes for money or getting breast implants to promote her career based on her looks) – and whether or not those advances were “unwelcome”.

4. If “unwelcome” we have no idea whether or not Favre was aware that they were unwelcome or if he was led to believe that this wholesome chick wanted an illicit relationship with this rich, married man – or, based on what he observed and heard about her that she might be.

5. If “unwelcome,” we don’t know whether, once Favre became aware they were unwelcome, he ceased in his attempts.

6. There is no indication that any prosecutor anywhere is interested in pursuing a criminal complaint against Favre for this incident. (Again, the “harassment” suit filed against him by the masseuses essentially consists of “This creepy old guy with the Jets (Favre) made passes at us. After we denied him, we weren’t hired to rub oil on naked guys any more.”)

Big Ben was accused of RAPE.

I’m not sure why you equate the two.

Why do you read into what I’ve written what isn’t there?

I said Farve is “alleged” to have done certain things. I said that “if [the allegations were} true” then there were some unanswered questions. I said that no prosecutor was interested in pursuing a criminal case against Favre.

I said that Big Ben was “accused” of rape.

Nowhere did I indicate, here or elsewhere, that I believe the accusations against EITHER of them.

However, the ACCUSATIONS against the two are extremely dissimilar. You could make the argument that based on the ACCUSATIONS that Ben might be a “predator,” but NOT Favre.

Not unless you think that a middle aged jock who hits on beautiful girls who rub oil on his naked body or who have made a living off displaying their bodies is somehow a “predator.”

(And, they tried hard to bring a case against Big Ben, but the prosecutor decided against it. No such thing relative to Favre. There is NO QUESTION but that Ben had sex with that girl in that bathroom. The only question is whether it was rape or not. There is no evidence beyond the word of these untarnished virgins that ANY of what they allege is true (and again – as to the lawsuit – the ALLEGATION is that they were denied employment by the JETS after they turned FAVRE down – not that Favre did anything at all sexually untowards with them.)

CC: You, again, are assuming that the story against Favre is TRUE.

You don’t know it happened. You don’t know that, if it happened, it was unsolicited. You don’t know whether, if if happened, that, if unsolicited, Favre reasonably thought that they had been solicited.

Mighty charitable of ya, I must say.

The only “evidence” we have of whether or not it is true is negative. The “victim” didn’t complain of the supposed bad acts for nearly two years – to anyone, let alone to the Jets – or a prosecutor – or file a civil lawsuit – or talk to the papers. (It was only when it became clear that she would lose her job (unrelated to anything Favre is alleged to have done) that this old allegation came up. The “victim” wouldn’t even co-operate with the NFL investigation up until the very end (when it became clear that Favre wouldn’t shovel money at her to settle her alleged complaint…). The NFL said that forensic evidence couldn’t establish whether the pictures were of Favre. The e-mails, if by Favre, didn’t violate the personal conduct clause of his contract – so, either they weren’t unsolicited or weren’t obscene – or both. No prosecutor even looked into it to determine whether any criminality occurred.

Um…

Ben was accused of rape by the alleged victim. This is, in itself, sufficient to convict in a criminal court.

Mighty rational and reasonable of you to equate the two alleged acts. Especially when the ACT of one actor is admitted while the ACT by the other is denied.

But, in both cases, I find it remarkable that you conclude, based on what is available to be known by you, that each “did” the alleged act (in Ben’s case, that the act was rape rather than consensual – unless you place all the blame on the “victim” in that case as you imply you might.)

Oh, by the way, in most cases, prosecutors only get involved if someone presses charges. Yes, the state CAN initiate charges on their own, but doing so generally requires a sense that the target is a public threat. Otherwise unless someone files a criminal complaint, the police don’t get involved.

Why didn’t Jenn Sterger file a criminal complaint? My guess is that her lawyers told her that there wasn’t enough evidence to have a high probability to convict Brett of a crime. Brett is a very rich man who can afford to hire a team of very savvy attornies. Sterger’s reputation was already low enough, as your own comments about her demonstrate. I’m sure she decided it wasn’t worth having every sexual activity of her entire life dragged into public view.

Did she attempt to gain some monetary compensation from Brett? If Brett sent her unsolicited pornographic photos of his penis, or if SHE TRULY BELIEVES HE DID, then I don’t blame her for trying to soak the lech. In fact you are generally the one who champions these sorts of lawsuits as a way to discourage such behavior.

Oh, one other thing. According to two other girls, who worked as masseuses for the Jets, when they refused Brett’s sexual advances, they were promptly fired. Did Jenn Sterger know about that? Very possibly she did.

You give me grief for calling Favre a sexual predator and you have no problem calling Ben a “potential rapist” even though the actual prosecutors who have looked at the actual evidence, interviewed Ben and the actual women involved have concluded exactly what I’ve concluded and you’ve only seen the published information (which I believe supports the prosecutors’ conclusion anyway).

OK.

At least we agree that Favre is a creepy lech who doesn’t honor his wedding vows.

By the way, here’s a USA Today article titled “Adultery in many states is still a crime.”

Just a FYI.

No behavior is a “crime” if the state doesn’t punish you for doing it.

That is 1st day law school stuff. Those “crimes” which are still on the books for whatever reason but either have no punishment or are forbidden punishment by Constitutional (state or federal) law…

ain’t “crimes.” The behavior must be both forbidden and punishment must be attached – with the potential that the punishment will actually be enforced.

Adultery – in no state – can be punished by actual state sanction, whether fine or imprisonment. (See, e.g., Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003))

Now, I think we have some significant divergence in our definitions of “sexual predator.”

I mean…widely divergent. The one definition almost unrecognizable as defining the same behavior as the other.

If every allegation against Favre is true … (and here again, I must, again, point out to you that, again, I have qualified my words as to both Favre and Big Ben, with the qualification “if true.” You do understand that I’m not accusing anyone of anything? You do understand (as I’ve explicitly stated) that I don’t here, and haven’t elsewhere, stated that I believe the allegations against either of them. Please stop ascribing to me conclusions to which I haven’t jumped…. Now, I may not have used the “if true” qualifer (again) in the precise sentence to which you refer, but did so in the prefatory sentence two sentences prior. Even if you ignore the repeated “if true” qualifiers, you couldn’t miss (and even quoted) the “potentially.”)

Again, if every allegation against Favre is true, he is, at worst, guilty of sending nude photos to someone. This may be illegal, or criminal – but may not, depending on many factors and which jurisdiction(s) the actions falls under. It is likely no more than a misdemeanor anywhere, punishable by a fine of no more than $1000.00.

What it isn’t – is predation. Not by any definition I would consider appropriate to the term.

Now, the multiple allegations against Big Ben of drunken attempts at rape (and actual rape) – and again, I feel I must point out that I have stated that these are “allegations”) if true (points to “if true”) would make him a serial rapist, which, of course, would fit most of our definitions of predation.

Now, were I on a jury, and had only the evidence I could find on the internet, I might find Favre guilty of the allegations leveled against him as to Sterger and would likely find Big Ben not guilty (not “innocent”) of the latest charge against him.

But, I’m not on a jury. I don’t know if there’s any evidence which hasn’t been presented to the public. I don’t know if there are any conversations between Favre and Sterger which were not released. I don’t know if I know the whole story.

And, you don’t either.

I certainly don’t find the presented story hard to believe – as presented – but, too, I have absolutely no problem believing that there’s more to the story to which I’m not privy.

I’ve been down this road before, and it’s seldom that the whole story is every told when only one side is doing the telling.

“And if Favre actually got two girls fired for not sleeping with him, that’s pretty serious in my opinion. … Maybe not as serious as continuing on after someone says “no”. Hard to say.”

Um. No?

Rape, I think, in most people’s opinion (the vast majority of people in Western civilization, I believe – punishable in some states by up to life behind bars, and, until our generation – punishable by death…) is far, far, far, far, far more “serious” than “getting someone fired.”

Maybe you didn’t mean that the way I read it…

The allegations against Sanchez (which I haven’t researched and don’t intend to, since I could give a whit one way or another…we’re talking about your comparison of Farve to Big Ben…) remind me of the allegations against Tyson. Or Bryant. Or many other athletes (I think the percentage HAS to be much higher than the general public. I mean, it’s just gotta be…)

But, you surely understand that Farve couldn’t “get someone fired.” He didn’t have the power. He’s not management. I’m virtually certain that any “sexual harassment” lawsuit against him (workplace sexual harassment) would be dismissed on summary judgment. We’ll see. Bad facts make bad law…

And, I just can’t put Favre’s behavior in the same category as those who prey on others – take what they want – force themselves on others. If the allegations are true, I view him as an all too typical famous, rich, powerful man who is used to getting what he wants (take your pick – Clinton, Letterman, Barker) who engaged in risky behavior outside the bounds of his marriage (take your pick – Edwards, Woods, Sheen…) but didn’t FORCE anything on anyone.

I simply can’t equate this alleged bad behavior with that alleged of Big Ben, which, of course, is what started this conversation.

You really stretch it, don’t you? Somehow, you get, from the allegations in the petition which only imply that Favre might have had something to do with the Jets not hiring them after they denied Favre (precedence as causation…) that, not only did he do it, but that he did it to others – and that, even though there are no allegations by anyone, anywhere that even remotely resembles Favre threatening anyone with termination unless he was granted sexual favors – he did that too.

Sigh.

Yeah. We disagree.

Again. Really stretching it.

Is there any evidence anywhere that Favre used his position to “bully” anyone for any reason let alone for sexual favors?

He’s rich. He’s powerful. He (allegedly) seeks sex with people who work for the same organization. Is that, by definition, sexual harassment?

Of course not.

If the allegations that the JETS fired those body-rubbers are somehow established to have ANY relationship with their denial of Favre, then, it STILL isn’t “sexual harassment.” It STILL isn’t using his position to get sexual favors – unless you have some proof (or even a WHIFF of proof) that THEREAFTER he attempted to “persuade” some OTHER girls to have sex with him – girls who were AWARE of what had transpired AND who were subject to the same type of sanction.

Um…yeah.

Oh, and sending unsolicited pornographic pictures of your dong is, by definition, sexual harrassment. At least. It might even qualify as sexual ASSAULT.

And remember, your standard is “if all the allegations are true.” And Jenn clearly is alleging that Brett sent her unsolicited photos of his penis.

I didn’t miss it, you said I was “stretching it” when I said if the allegations were true that Brett was a bully, and then said he had done “nothing” that rose to the level of sexual harrassment. I suppose you meant “nothing EXCEPT the photos” but that wasn’t clear from your context.

And by the way, you definitely have me beat in legal training, but how many sexual harassment management training courses have you attended and how many certificates have you had to gain to remain employed? I’ve got at least 20 of them and have to go through refresher training courses every year. I can ASSURE you that the mere SUGGESTION of a LEGAL sexual invitation to a work mate opens the door for a sexual harassment claim. Sending a photo of my damn DONG would get me fired before the electrons in the network stopped oscillating. Plus it is a certainty that I would end up in court. We are coached to not even LOOK suggestively at a coworker. And believe me, I don’t. One of my employees was FIRED for asking another employee on a date after she said she wasn’t interested.

A DATE. Of course he was married and she had complained to HR and he had been warned, but he didn’t say, “Hey baby, here’s a pic of my willy, let’s do the dirty!”

Yeah. You’re just a hater.

He’s first ballot, call it in, see who else made it cause it ain’t news that Favre’s in Hall of Famer.

++++++++++++++++

Call it what you want – I suppose NOW you’re going to explain away his holding the RECORD for INTERCEPTIONS in NFL history couldn’t POSSIBLY LOSE games.

If Brett Favre didn’t spell his name with so many i’s – he’d be a better professional -and most likely would have more than 1 ring.

And absolutely love how earlier you claimed to not root for monkeys (which Brett Favre is)

but in the end – you go all out for them. (when it’s Brett Favre).

nice, you may enjoy this. For all I know you may like it if Brett Favre did it to your wife.

I certainly wouldn’t.

btw – you forgot to mention – Sterger never brought it all to light to begin with.