Friday, October 09, 2009

Favre most overrated?

By now you have probably already heard the news coming out of a Sports Illustrated poll of 239 current NFL players as to who is the most overrated player in the league. No? You haven't heard? Well, let's get you up to date then. Here are the results of this poll, which was conducted before Week #2 of the season:

  • Brett Favre 13%

  • Tony Romo 10%

  • Terrell Owens 8%

  • Eli Manning 7%

My oh my, how the mighty have fallen.

Surely, some players might be reconsidering their votes after Ol' #4's performance Monday night.

Or, maybe not. In a radio interview this morning on 620WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, Sports Illustrated NFL beat writer (and former NFL player) Ross Tucker said (paraphrasing) that the perception of universal love with which other players in the league hold Brett Favre is a myth. Some do, some don't, said Tucker. He noted that he feels, especially over the last couple years in particular, that Brett has damaged his reputation considerably.

Tucker said that while Favre contends he wanted to play with Minnesota because he wanted to have a chance to win, it was apparent what the real purpose was: revenge on the Packers organization. Tucker said if all Brett wanted to do was play and win he could have done that in New York with the Jets which held his rights. Favre, according to Tucker, manipulated the situation so that he could get out of his contract with the Jets and be free to go where he wanted to go in the first place to stick it to the Packers, as Brett himself said last February.

Tucker said that if someone is a true fan of the Packers he doesn't understand how they could still support Brett's actions. Tucker stated that in 2007, the Packers were open to having Brett return, he told them he was retiring, and the team moved on. "What were they supposed to do?," Tucker asked. He also pointed out that the performance of Aaron Rodgers has proven that the move the Packers made was right for the organization. (If the audio clip of this interview happens to turn up online we'll post a link here later.)