The idiocy of the Favre trade

By Bob Smizik | Posted at 12;10 p.m.

Maybe now that quarterback Brett Favre has reportedly told the New York Jets he is retiring some sense can be made of the team’s decision to bring Favre on board in a season when he was going to be 39 years old.

This was the kind of move the Steelers would never make. And that’s why the Steelers are Super Bowl champions and why the Jets have not been in the game since 1968.

Maybe this will clear the name of Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson who was widely criticized for trading Favre, a Wisconsin icon, to the Jets last summer. Thompson did the absolutely right thing in trading Favre. In trading for FavreFavre, the Jets did the absolutely wrong thing.

A fan might have been blinded by the fact Favre, at 38, had an outstanding season with the Packers in 2007. But a general manager should not have been. A professional talent evaluator should have looked beyond the Packer’s 13-3 season in 2007 to see the real Favre. The signals were glaring.

In 2005-06, the Packers were 12-20. Favre threw for 38 touchdowns and 47 interceptions.

What’s hard to figure out about that?

When they acquired Favre, the Jets released Chad Pennington, who had completed 69 percent of his passes the previous season and had a 86.1 passer rating. Favre completed 67 percent of his passes and had an 81.0 rating, while leading the NFL in interceptions.

Didn’t the Jets know that, at best, Favre was a one-year solution and that playing in the same division as the New England Patriots one year wasn’t much? As it turned out, the Patriots lost Tom Brady in the first game of the season. But that didn’t help the Jets, as the Miami Dolphins, with Pennington at quarterback, won the AFC East ane the Jets still finished behind New England.

While the Dolphins are set with Pennington, who will be 33, the Jets will go with Kellen Clemens or seek a quarterback in the draft. In three years, mostly as a backup, Clemens, a former second-round draft choice, has a passer rating of 59.3 with five touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

The Jets fired coach Eric Mangini after the season. It would have made more sense to fire general manager Mike Tannenbaum.

Posted Feb 11 2009, 12:07 PM by Bob Smizik
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Comments

dcsump2 wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 12:34 PM

The Jets deserve all that goes wrong from this ordeal.  My one hope is that Favre stays retired once and for all.  I can't bare have ESPN go all Brett all the time as they did last season.  

snoel wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 1:17 PM

what do you suppose Faneca is thinking right now?

dcsump2 wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 1:28 PM

You'd like to think Faneca is kicking himself but his thoughts are probably more along the lines of, "I'm rich.  I don't care."

JL58 wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 1:51 PM

Would the Penguins trade for him, if he could score from the wing?

Heth wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 2:56 PM

Brett Favre, always on the fence about when to end his HOF career, final retires after the Jets bring on Matt Cavanaugh as their QB coach.  Coincidence?  

conrail97 wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 3:24 PM

Same Old J E T S!!! Will they ever learn that a quick fix spending spree is not the way to an NFL Championship? probably not, as they are stuck in the past, 1968 specifically.

They have not fielded a champion in 40 years and it may another 40 before they do.

Compared to the Steelers, The Organization in the NFL, the Jets are rusted junk just waiting for the scrapper.

snoel wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 3:56 PM

Before his death, Howard Cosell always said of the Jets that "they know how to loose."  Very prophetic indeed.

joerevs300 wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 5:24 PM

I find it quite interesting that Pennington experienced a revival in Miami, with not nearly the quality at WR that the Jets have, while the Jets are most certainly going to take a major step back this coming season.

And Farve is going to do what he does...let's just hope this time he means it and will stick to hunting down in Mississippi instead of going back on his word.

JL wrote re: The idiocy of the Favre trade
on Wed, Feb 11 2009 6:14 PM

Farve was supremely selfish, in his final days as a Packer. And that the Jets jettisoned Pennington, and now have nothing to show for it, serves them right. But I would hardly use this as an excuse to take a dig and Alan Faneca. All he ever did was perform wek in and week out at the highest of levels for us, while he was here. And don't forget, the Steelers are the ones who didn't offer him an extension. He would have preferred to re-sign.

Now the question to be asked is, are the Jets in Byron Leftwich's future? I wish Byron well, wherever he end's up. And if it's with the Jets, let hope the Jets get their act together for him.