By
Anthony De Franco 
September 30, 2009, at 10:00 am
Oh my god. He did it to me again.
Yes, Brett Favre did to this me personally. I know that the people who should really be upset are 49er fans, but I remain destroyed by another Brett Favre “just having fun out there” moment.
I spend a shocking amount of my life trying to untangle to web of Brett Favre man-love that the mainstream media has spun around the average football fan. Between this column, my website, and any radio that I do, I try to preach the following doctrine: Favre has been overrated since his days as a Falcon. He throws too many interceptions and has cost his teams as many big games as he’s won. He had some great years in the late nineties, but since then, he is more of the problem than he is the solution. Yet, people in our line of work make excuses for him every day because he’s weaved this “good ol’ boy” persona that the middle of this country loves.
In last week’s column, I listed who I thought the top eleven quarterbacks in the NFL are, and it made some waves. Some people agreed with me, and most didn’t, but the thing I was happiest about was that no one brought up number four. I felt vindicated.
But, that’s the worst part about this guy. He won’t go away. Every single time I think that I’ve convinced people that he’s awful, he’s got to go and do something like this.
This week, I sat through the entirety of Favre’s pedestrian performance against a good 49ers defense. In fact, I would go as far as to say that he had become a middle man between the center and “Purple Jesus” Adrian Peterson. He routinely missed on key third downs that could have put San Francisco away much earlier in the game. After all, Favre has always been sub-par on third down because he’d rather throw it down the field and miss than take the safe completion and move the chains.
On that final drive, Favre still hadn’t been anything special. He was dinking and dunking against a prevent defense and it looked like the clock would inevitably run out on him. Going into that last play, he was 23-of-45 with 269 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He had a quarterback rating of 67, for what that’s worth.
Then, he rolls away from pressure and throws a heave downfield moments before defensive end Manny Lawson ate his soul. A play where Niners coach Mike Singletary decided to rush only three and allow Favre all the time in the world to throw. This heave that should have been intercepted had safety Mark Roman not practically had a seizure in front of the receiver that he should have been covering. A heave to a receiver that had recently been signed because of his ability on special teams. This heave that made him a national hero again.
Within moments, Favre’s face was the on the front page of every major website. The world loved number four all over again. Now, I have to mention his 311 career interceptions. I have to mention his playoff failures that almost exactly match his playoff successes. I have to mention that he isn’t the reason that Vikings were even in that game; the run defense that allowed only 58 yards on 26 rushes was.
Just when I thought I was done, Brett had to pull me back in.