NFL Preview Preview!

Yes, there will be an elaborate NFL Preview.

I'm not there yet. I'm not all that familiar with a number of NFL teams, and I don't have my head wrapped around the big picture yet. I do have some thoughts on one NFL story, so I'll start there.

Brett effing Favre
Way back in 2005, we were a few seasons into wondering when Brett Favre would retire. He'd had a long run and clearly his sharpness had started to decline, as evidenced by his league-leading 29 interceptions that year. The Packers had jack shit behind him and had done nothing to address their future at the position. Then, lo and behold, a guy who'd been in the discussion as the first overall pick in the draft slid way, way down in the first round and fell into their laps. Most likely, Ted Thompson and the Packers organization had considered taking a quarterback late in that draft, a project type player they could groom for a few years behind the legend, but they couldn't pass up such a gift. They took Aaron Rodgers and designated him the quarterback of the future. I'm not sure this move bothered Brett Favre, but he's spent every off-season since making the Packers wait to find out if he would retire before the following season. That's the history.
When Favre retired, the Packers did what I would have done, which is take the guy at his word and move on. Mike McCarthy heard rumblings that Favre wanted to return all spring and through the early part of the summer, but he went about the business of preparing his team to play football with only the players on their roster. March finished up with Favre still retired. April came and went with a rumor of a discussion between the Packers and Favre in which his hypothetical return was considered. Favre did not return. June came and went without Brett Favre on the team, but the rumors were growing a lot stronger. At some point McCarthy had to address the talk. What was he supposed to do? He told the media and anyone listening that the team had moved on and Aaron Rodgers was their quarterback. What else should he have done? Should he have told the world that, despite turning the team over to a new quarterback and spending all the OTAs and all of mini-camp preparing to roll with that player, Brett Favre would immediately have his position back if he maybe someday decided to come back? What is the statute of limitations on when a legend can waltz in and just have his old spot back? And besides, what does that do to the confidence of your new quarterback? And remember, we're not talking about a guy nursing an injury. We're talking about a guy who said he was done with pro football forever and was officially out of the league at the time.
Because Brett Favre is an egomaniac, he was insulted by that. How dare they let someone else play quarterback in Green Bay? He took that personally, spoke to some loser on Fox News, and stirred the pot. Suddenly, Favre's return was imminent, but it didn't sound like he wanted to play for Green Bay at all. Why? Because they were letting someone else play quarterback?
So into July we go, and it has become virtually certain that Favre wants to come back to the NFL. But he still hasn't filed for reinstatement, so he's still officially retired. OTAs are over. Mini-camps end. Training camp is looming ever nearer, and Favre is still retired. McCarthy is forced to address the situation over and over again, and his line remains the same: "We have a quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. Brett Favre is retired. We're moving forward." Apparently, this bothers Brett Favre some more.
Now we're into August. Here's where I'm getting confused: Brett Favre retired from football. That was March. It is now August, and Brett Favre just days ago filed for reinstatement. The Packers have spent the entire off-season preparing to play without Brett Favre, not because they traded him, not because they cut him, not because he's holding out, not because he's injured, not because they dropped him on the depth chart, but because he is no longer a professional football player. Let's put this into perspective: for all intents and purposes, Brett Favre has been as available to the Green Bay Packers as a player as Sean Taylor has been to the Redskins. Unbelievably, Brett Favre is insulted, and the media is up in arms because the Green Bay Packers 1. believed him when he said he was retired; 2. installed a quarterback; 3. spent the entire off-season working under the reality that Brett Favre was no longer an NFL player and therefore not part of the team; and 4. expect that, if he's deciding to return to action just weeks before the start of the regular season, that he might have to earn his old spot back from the guy who now has that job. And it's extra funny because Brett Favre agrees with them about that last part! Perhaps the only evidence that the whole world hasn't gone bizarro is the Brett Friggin' Favre agrees that the job has been given to Aaron Rodgers and it wouldn't be fair to just hand it back to him if he decides to show up.

What, then, is Favre's problem? What is the media so worked up about? Am I the only person here who is wondering why the same people who assert that it might be tough for Favre to make it work arriving so late at Jets camp go on to express incredulity that the Packers might have reservations about handing over their starting quarterback position to a guy that hasn't spent one minute of the off-season as an active NFL player? Just because we know what the guy looks like in a Packers uniform doesn't mean he can step right in without getting any work at all in the off-season, supplant the team's starting quarterback, and lead them to success!

I watched Mike McCarthy's press conference last night, and I thought he came off pretty well. I heard him say he never thought Favre would actually return, and despite rumblings through the summer, he had to deal with the team he had and that meant putting together an offense with a new quarterback. I heard him say that he had a long conversation with Favre, that Favre feels burned by what has taken place, and that because of those feelings and Favre's publicly expressed inability to get over those feelings, he can't return to the Packers. It seems to be the one thing McCarthy and Favre agree on.

But asses like Mike Golic and Mike Greenburg are incredulous. I don't understand this. Golic is shocked that the Packers haven't just turned the team back over to Favre with the understanding that he gives them the best chance to win right now. I don't happen to agree that he necessarily is the best choice for them, but that aside, it's not that simple an equation at all. Brett Favre was retired from football. The Packers had no choice but to move on. McCarthy never said there was no chance Brett Favre could ever play quarterback for the Packers again, he simply said that if Favre wanted to return, he'd have to prove that he gave them the best chance to win (perfectly reasonable), and if he didn't give them the best chance to win, he'd have to ride the pine (also perfectly reasonable). What the hell is wrong with that? If Golic is upset because he thinks Favre gives them the best chance to win and a team should always go with the guy who gives them the best chance to win, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the above scenario. And Favre AGREES WITH ME.

Ultimately, this is what I think happened: Favre retired for emotional reasons. His only reason left to play football is to try to win a Super Bowl. He's not sure he can endure any failed attempts at that goal, and I understand that. Early on after his retirement, he started to have doubts, so he put feelers out there to see if the Packers would welcome him back. He wasn't sure he wanted to come back, but he needed to see if the door was totally shut (by the way, it really says something about the relationship between the Packers and Favre that a) he wasn't sure whether they'd welcome him back to the team only a month after he left, and b) that they might actually not have welcomed him back to the team even then). He found out it wasn't totally shut but it wasn't wide open either, and it irked him a little. He took a look around the league and spotted the Vikings, with their dominant run game, incredible offensive line, great-and-getting-greater defense, familiar offense, and glaring hole at quarterback, and started to salivate. He wants to win a Super Bowl and would be willing to play in a situation that gives him a great shot at that goal, and Vikings look like a great combination of elements. So he tried to engineer a comeback in such a way that he wouldn't end up in Green Bay but would also have the best chance of landing on the Vikings, which is by forcing the Packers to release him. Unfortunately, the media was wise to his interest in Minnesota, and somehow the Packers got wise as well, causing them to grip like a vice their rights to Brett Favre the player. That really pissed him off. The media is a step slow in figuring out that Favre isn't upset about not having a spot on the Packers, he's upset that they're deliberately standing between him and the Vikings. Even though Brett Favre has himself publicly agreed with Mike McCarthy's stance that he should have to win his spot back with the first team offense, the media is so gay for the Favre legacy that they're stuck on this idea that he only wants to play for Green Bay and they're somehow smothering him and locking him out. Everyone keeps going around and around with the same misunderstandings: the media thinks Favre wants to play in Green Bay, Favre thinks Green Bay doesn't want him on the team, both Favre and Green Bay have assumed that the media understands the intricacies of the issues, etc.

My solution: the Packers need to deal Favre to either Tampa Bay or New York for a ham sandwich. Put the ball in his hands. Still have football in your blood, buddy? Here's your ticket. Go play. The Packers can enjoy their ham sandwich, Favre can play out the remainder of the itch. If he balks or vetoes the trade, he looks like an asshole who wants his cake and to eat it too. On the other hand, maybe it'll give him a chance to really consider whether it's football he misses or the glory. Most of the time you have the former without the latter, but I think he's a bit spoiled in that department. Maybe he gets a good look at what his return might actually smell like and remembers why he retired in the first place. That's what I'm hoping for. I'm not a huge Favre fan, but damn I hate an un-retirement. When this cat said he was done, I was ready for him to be done, and I'm eager for him to get on with it.