Thanks Tripp.
You see, it's the "all or nothing mentality that gets me" on this site.
Well, NONE of it was AROD's fault because the defense would "always fold".
I happen to remember at least 2 GAME ENDING picks thrown by Rodgers last year, and there were times when his play was less than stellar. But no one want's to admit that. They point to his "stats", etc. Well, Jeff George had good stats too, but he was no winner in my book.
Favre, on the other hand, won games in '08 because of his ability to read defenses, and carve them up like the proverbial Christmas goose.
Favre was able to win and put games away, and AROD wasn't. Simple as that. Favre had no running game, and offensive line in '07, yet he was still able to win games, so the excuse that the team was injured, or not very good is invalid.
Favre was still able to win ball games, and AROD isn't, at this point in his career. If AROD will EVER able to put games on his back and win them, well...that remains to be seen. The jury is still out on that one.
But we know that Favre was/is able to do it.
"dd80forever" wrote:
There is so much content in here worth reading that will be passed over without thought because you, like myself, are labeled a Ted Thompson hater.
No single person is to blame for winning or losing games. I don't pin the 6-10 season on A-Rod, though like it or not, there were times when A-Rod made a negative play that impacted the team. I also am not naive enough to pin the 10 losses on "injuries" and then give A-Rod the credit for all 6 wins either.
He is a piece of the puzzle, he contributed. Brett Favre was the same way, he made bad plays that contributed to losses over 16 seasons. It's part of accepting responsibilty and not laying the blame at the feet of a single person in a TEAM sport.
It comes down to intangibles and things that you are not going to find on "stat sheets". If you make a bad throw on 2nd and 6 thats not as bad as making that same bad throw on 3rd and goal. There were times when A-Rod played it safe, or perhaps it was Mike McCarthy's playcalling, that Brett Favre may have threw a rocket into double coverage. Were those balls sometimes picked off, sure. Were they sometimes completed, yes.
No stat line is going to show you that. Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy said Brett gave the Packers the best chance to win and I agree. It's not a knock on A-Rod but you give me a choice of Brett or A-Rod and I'll take the veteran proven QB, coming off a pro-bowl year, over the question mark.
A-Rod isn't Brett Favre, for better or worse. You may be thrilled that A-Rod doesn't heave up jump balls llike Brett did, in fact I am as well, but in the same breath, those plays are what made Brett one of the best ever. The fearlessness and never say die attitude can't be found in a box score.
We can argue all day long about which style is better and go nowhere. You have to have some "end result" to tell you the story. Like it or not the end result was substantially different when comparing Brett leading of a 13-3 team and A-Rod leading a 6-10 one.
It's like going back to the INT in the Giants game. We were in the NFC championship game. Brett made a bad throw, I'll agree, however he had us there. Is that worse than A-Rod throwing a bad INT in week 16 when we are already out of the playoffs? I hear how Brett choked when it mattered but in some peoples weird world that's worse than never putting yourself in a position to make that throw.
A-Rod made mistakes and Brett made mistakes. A-rod does good things, Brett does good things. The key is the balance between the two. I will take Brett's good over bad, over A-rods good over bad if the end result is 13-3 with Brett and 6-10 with A-Rod.
That's comparing the QB's contribution to the team. Now in know way am I saying 6-10 is all A-Rods fault or 13-3 is all Brett's doing. The team didn't play as well in 08' as it did in 07' but you can't give A-Rod a free pass either. I think Brett's intangibles over A-rods played a bigger role in the drop-off than most want to believe. It wasn't all the drop off-off in intangibles, nor was it all "injuries". It was a combination of the two, and not just at the QB position.
While A-Rod or Brett can't be held solely responsible, Ted Thompson can. He chooses the pieces to the puzzle. His job is to complete it. Thus far he has yet to find the right pieces to get it done, and I think moves like choosing A-rod over Brett in 08 has contributed to that.
"TheOldMan" wrote: