Brett Favre – Most Overrated Athlete of All Time

That’s right, we’re talking about none other than Brett Favre. Actually, we’re not talking about him, the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Mark Bradley is talking about him, and calling him the most overrated athlete ever.

In fact, Bradley (who will now forever be known around these parts as a douchebag that knows nothing about sports, and yet is employed as a sports writer) says Favre isn’t even among the top 10 quarterbacks of all time.

Favre isn’t the greatest quarterback ever. He’s not even in the top 10. He’s 20th all-time in passer rating, 17th in completion percentage. Yes, he’s No. 1 in yardage and touchdown passes, but he’s also No. 1 by some distance in interceptions. Put it this way: If you added Peyton Manning’s and Joe Montana’s INTs together, you still wouldn’t match Favre’s massive total.

Bradley, whom friends refer to as “Shitforbrains,” holds stats like passer rating and completion percentage in higher regard than touchdown passes, yardage, and wins. Brett Favre, of course, ranks first in each of the latter three categories. But hey, who needs wins when you have a nice completion percentage?

Bradley goes on to say:

… he wasn’t the best quarterback Green Bay had seen — Bart Starr was better — and to me he wasn’t as good as the guy who nearly won a championship with the Arizona Cardinals. That’s right. Kurt Warner. Who has won just as many titles as Favre, who has been to more Super Bowls, who has a better career completion percentage and a higher passer rating and a lower interception percentage but who had the misfortune of playing most of his career for the wrong Midwestern team in an unfrozen dome.

Yes, I see your steely logic here, Shitforbrains.

Anthony Stalter at The Scores Report had some solid commentary on Shitforbrains concrete logic.

What’s overrated in sports these days is the overrated statement itself. It’s not enough to sit back and enjoy a guy’s career, we have to pick it apart and compare it to every other player’s career in the history of the game. Favre didn’t play in Starr’s era, so you can’t compare the two. Peyton Manning has had the opportunity to play in the same offensive system since he was a rookie and Montana had Bill Walsh to learn from. If we’re going to compare things, you have to account for all variables – not just the ones that make your argument (i.e. stats).

OK, so, it’s clear that Shitforbrains is wrong, and really, totally off base. If I were his editor, I would fire him – Reason for Termination: general douchery.

So let’s get down to the issue and assess the question. Where does Brett Favre rank in terms of the greatest quarterbacks ever?

My answer is third, following Joe Montana and Johnny Unitas. Montana is the NFL’s greatest clutch performer (one thing we know Brett was hit or miss on is performance in the clutch) and Unitas not only redefined the position, but simply won football games.

To rank Brett first on the list, which I’m sure some of you want to do, would be like saying Emmitt Smith was better than Jim Brown because he holds the all-time rushing title.