If you’re looking for an NFL analyst to call out Brett Favre for his poor play… Michael Irvin was your guy last night. Between Tirico, Theismann, Kornheiser, Stuart Scott, Steve Young, Tom Jackson, and Michael Irvin… Irvin was the only guy who would flat out say that Brett Favre is not a real good quarterback right now. Here’s the transcript, following Steve Young making a ton of excuses for Favre’s play:
Irvin: I respect Brett. I’ve watched him play some great games. I’ve played against him a lot of times. But let’s be honest here. First of all, I’m tired of hearing people talk about ‘Well, he’s playing with a lot of young guys.’ Hey man. These guys are in the pros. They will collect checks on Tuesday, no matter what. Second of all, Brett made some bad throws tonight. Bad throws. It wasn’t that his guys were in the wrong place. He made some bad throws, ball in the ground.
Young: Are you saying that I’m covering for him?
Irvin: I don’t know what you’re doing. You’re loving him a little bit too much. I am not violating myself in my job, my obligation is to ESPN.
Young: It’s hard for me to hear a guy who hung out by the Gatorade talk about a quarterback who’s in the hashes every down.
Irvin: I was one of those guys that Brett was hanging out tonight, getting killed. That’s what I’m talking about. He made some bad throws, guys.
And Favre was hanging guys out to dry all night… it seemed like every time Donald Driver attempted to make a catch, his head was getting snapped back by an Eagles safety who had him lined up.
Anyway… that’s as blunt as I’ve ever heard an analyst get on Favre, and there was still room to take it even further. Kudos to The Playmaker.
WBRS Sports Blog
I have never seen so many missed catches as I do whenever I watch a Packers game. So many times it seems like Favre’s ints come as a result of his own WRs being unable to make the catch and also tipping it into the air to a defender.
October 3, 2006 at 7:49 am
chris
I think maybe you’re just looking for that, subconciously
October 3, 2006 at 8:46 am
Pacifist Viking
I think some of those old Cowboys still dislike Favre, or think less of him. Sometimes Aikman showers the requisite love on Favre…but other times he’s willing to attempt an objective analysis of Favre’s play, even when his boothmates aren’t. And Irvin obviously isn’t afraid to go after him.
Those Cowboy teams did beat Favre’s teams in the playoffs three straight years. Maybe they see something in Favre the others don’t (after all, Steve Young’s teams usually got beat by Favre’s teams).
October 3, 2006 at 9:14 am
jerloma
What’s the state of broadcasting when someone gets kudos for stating the obvious?
October 3, 2006 at 9:44 am
Rob G
It was beautiful, perhaps the highlight of Irvin’s career
October 3, 2006 at 9:52 am
Chucky Atkins Jr.
It’s about time that somebody in the media started criticising Favre’s play. Dude hasn’t been good in about the last four years, and I’d say the last three years he’s actually been bad for the Packers. Yes, he was once awesome. But I don’t think that should earn him a lifetime of media blowjobs. Whatever happened to calling a spade a spade?…Favre sucks. I’ve got a $200 bet with a co-worker who insists that Favre won’t lead the league in interceptions this year. Now, there is some terrible quarterback play in the league, but other QB’s get pulled for repeatedly throwing picks. Favre’ll be slinging balls at defenders all year long with no reprecussions. And I’ll be picking up a nice little post-Christmas bonus from our inter-office Favre apologist.
October 3, 2006 at 10:24 am
Spaceno34
While I agree Farve is on the decline and people like say Peter King have their head up Farve’s ass, last night some of it was his receiver’s fault. The first Eagle int bounced off his receiver’s hands.
Farve (Who I could never stand) does get a free pass nowadays for mistakes but didn’t he earn it some for his past performance.
Funny, Owen’s thought that if the Eagles had Farve last year they would have been a better team.
“I am not violating myself in my job, my obligation is to ESPN.” Hahah! Irvin thinks TO is god and that the Cowboys will win the Superbowl every year. Talk about being in denial.
October 3, 2006 at 11:24 am
RyanBeingManny
One out of every three balls Farve threw was DRASTICALLY over-thrown. I’m talking like ten yards. One pick bounced off his WR’s hands, but he was terrible last night. The worst part was after yet another over-throw Kornheiser talks about how Farve makes throws no one else can make (his upper arm strength). Well, if accuracy is no measuring point, shit, i can chuck the ball up too.
October 3, 2006 at 11:41 am
JTS
Favre is terrible right now, but even worse are guys like Kornheiser and Theisman who will literally twist the facts and their own good judgement beyond any recognition to make excuses for him. Yesterday, when the score was something like 24-9, Kornheiser said, “Can we officially call the game over now?” Now that’s a dumb question, because if the announcers declare the game over people turn off their televisions and ESPN loses viewers. But Theisman’s answer was even worse. “No! Brett Favre is on the other sideline!” Really? Does everyone at ESPN (Irvin excepted) realize this isn’t the late 90′s? Favre hurts his team more than he helps it at this point. After Theisman’s comment, the Pack didn’t get back in the game. They fell farther behind, thanks, in part, to Favre’s shitty throws that got picked off.
And let’s just say this: Favre gets endless media love and free passes that no one else gets (though I’ll bet Brady will get them later in his career) because he’s a hall of famer and he’s been through a lot in his personal life, but also because he’s white, photogenic, almost stupidly excited to play football, and the all-american guy. None of these things are “good at playing the game he is paid to play.”
October 3, 2006 at 11:48 am
Jay Peg
Brett has looked bad for a year and a half now, it’s not just last night.
And it’s hard to blame a *tipped* ball on a receiver, because many times a *tipped* ball is too high to be *caught*.
Hence it being tipped.
He’s not as bad off as Kurt Warner right now, but he’s getting there.
October 3, 2006 at 11:59 am
Bouj
The Gatorade line was an outstanding comeback, though.
October 3, 2006 at 12:45 pm
Matt Moore
Last week you praised Theesman, this week Irvin. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
October 3, 2006 at 2:42 pm
James
There are guys like Favre and McNabb that seem to always get a pass when they deserve to be taken to task for their erratic and poor play.
Favre has done nothing but hurt the Packers since the whole will I or wont I retire fiasco. They should be doing just what the Titans and Cards are doing and that is using this rebuilding year to groom the future QB.
Many of these athletes just cant be trusted to walk away when its over. The same drive that made them great that now makes them a liability.
October 3, 2006 at 3:45 pm
The Dynamic Hispanic
You shouldve put “no pun intended” when you put thats as blunt as you have heard it. And I think Irvin was in the hash more than Favre.
October 3, 2006 at 4:23 pm
The Dynamic Hispanic
By the way, whats happening to Favre is just karma for hanging his organization out to dry on whether or not he was coming back.
October 3, 2006 at 4:31 pm
HuangKong
JTS, love your analysis. nice work.
October 3, 2006 at 6:08 pm
The Big Picture
michael irvin’s pissed at favre that brett couldn’t hook michael up with some vicodin.
October 3, 2006 at 7:31 pm
KP
You guys are crazy. Favre is still better than half the QB’s in the league. Is arm is stronger than 90%. He had no receivers last year and no running game. Peyton Manning would throw almost as many picks with that kind of talent.
When you’re always playing from behind you have to force things. I agree the media overdoes it with him, but he doesn’t suck.
And I don’t think being white has anything to do with it JTS, but if thinking that makes you feel better, that’s great.
October 3, 2006 at 7:40 pm
The Frog
Wow, Irvin actually made a good point. His honesty is definitely his best quality – but his screaming and yelling and his TO slurping I could do without.
Also, not sure what this means: “I am not violating myself in my job, my obligation is to ESPN.”
October 3, 2006 at 8:02 pm
jorite
Brett Favre had a 6-interception playoff game five years ago against the Rams. That was the last year he was arguably a consistently good NFL quarterback. He’s done some good things, a few great things, he’s a nice story and his consecutive games streak is truly amazing. But he’s still a quarterback with the same number of rings as Mark Rypien, Brad Johnson, and Trent Dilfer–and he had tons of talent around him in the ’90s. If Favre were as good as the media would have us believe, he’d have 5 rings, not 1.
October 3, 2006 at 8:05 pm
Zee
“They” keep talking about stuff that happened to him….personal tragedy…Come on we all loose people and shit happens but we gather our behinds and get back to work or get fired..so Thiesmann and co need to get off his peepee..
October 3, 2006 at 10:25 pm
The Fan's Attic
now, if only Irvin could stop fellating former Miami players. that guy thinks every Miami player in the league is the best at their position.
October 3, 2006 at 11:55 pm
James
Favre threw 29 picks last year. The second worst was Drew Bledsoe with 17 and he had a horrible year.
He threw 20 touchdowns. Thats the saem number as Kerry Collins and he had a horrible year.
His passer rating was 70.9. Thats worse than Kyle Boller and Anthony Wright and in fact the wrost in
the league among starters.
This year he is the 23 rated passer in the NFL. Behind Duante Culpepper and Kurt Warner.
If he doesnt suck he is sure hanging out in the stat books with people who do.
October 4, 2006 at 3:09 pm
Adam
It’s nice to have a reason other than “Well, uh, he played really well for my favorite team” to like Mike Irvin.
October 4, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Ryan
Statwise, who does Brett Favre most resemble the last three years?
Can you say Jake Plummer?
Actually, they’re very similar quarterbacks. Both are gamblers who can make spectacular plays…and very, very boneheaded ones. This is not to say that they’re on the same level, I think that Favre was a good deal better. But there is something to the idea that Favre demands a lot of his receivers. Just look at how many of them have been injured or gotten laid out on a regular basis throughout his career. It’s getting even worse, now.
And the worst part is that the Packers’ coaches seem unable or unwilling to coach a living legend and tell him that, quite frankly, he needs to change.
October 5, 2006 at 12:40 am
Michael Erler
Sorry, I gotta call bullshit on this. While technically Irvin’s analysis of Favre is correct, there is nothing “objective” about it. The guy will praise the players who are his friends like TO and the guys from Miami, and criticize those who aren’t.
It’s obvious he is not friends with Favre and never has been, so he takes delight in pointing out his failures. Still, this is not objectivity.
I thought ESPN should have fired Irvin personally, because he used his pulpit on their shows to get TO to mess with McNabb with the “they’d be undefeated with Favre” stuff, and also because Irvin kept derisively calling out Keyshawn Johnson who had a perfectly good year for Dallas last year. Irvin had more to do with getting TO to Dallas than Jerry Jones and Drew Rosenhaus put together. That’s tampering.
We’ll see how funny Irvin finds this when ESPN fires him in four years because TO will be available to say outrageous things as a studio analyst and he’s a fresher face for a newer generation of fans. Wonder if they’ll be friends then.
October 5, 2006 at 12:48 am
father figure
This is about a different piece, but I think Irvin deserves another sticker. Tonight on Sportcenter (after the Broncos win over the Ravens), Irvin placed the Ravens at 5th in his “AFC power poll,” above the Broncos. He explained his decision by pointing out Jake Plummer’s absolutely pitiful quarterback play. He asserted that the Ravens have more talent than Denver, and will eventually be a better team. That is a completely acceptable position to take. Denver was one bounce of the ball (on Jake Plummer’s fumble) away from winning the game, which was a home game. Steve Young, Tom Jackson, and Stuart Scott were incredulous. Then, after berating Irvin and claiming that Irvin just wanted “more face time on TV,” Steve Young placed the Bengals ahead of the Patriots in his poll!!!!!! The Patriots CRUSHED the Bengals In CINCINNATTI!!! He impaled Irvin for doing the exact same thing less than one minute before. Steve Young has to go…
October 10, 2006 at 1:30 am