Why Is Brett Favre Not Considered The Best Ever?

Yes, I realize Brett Favre "retired" which means he's going to come back soon, if not next year and thus skew his stats, but as of right now Brett holds the #1 spot in most statistical categories. Yet, when you ask essentially all sports analysts, they do not put Brett is the best QB of all time. What? If Brett is statistically the best ever, they why is not considered the best ever? If a baseball player had the best BA, OBS, SLG, HR, and (thus) OPS of all time, then he would be considered the best ever (assuming no steroids of course). But why is is not the same in football?

The main reason analysts give is that Brett only went to two Superbowls and only won one. Even though he has three MVPs (only one of two players to do this), his lone Superbowl win hurts his "all-time" ranking. My problem with this reasoning is that the QB is not the only factor in determining Superbowl winning teams. There are such things as a defense and linemen. So while Brett certainly helped his team win playoffs games and regular season games, it's NOT all on him to win Superbowls.

Brett is an extremely mobile quarterback who has the ability to make something out of nothing, the ability to throw the accurate long ball and the accurate short pass. He is an iron man and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet (so I've heard). So let's take a look at his stats, all of them, to see maybe why he's not the best ever.

Favre is first all time in YDS, TD, Games Started, WINS, Pass Attempts, Pass Completions, and of course INT. Being first in YRDS, TD, Pass Completions and Games Started should give a guy the best all time label right there right? I mean, yes we threw a lot on INTS as well, but still being first in all those other stats should give him the best QB ever.

Here's some other stats Brett has done well in. He's 9th all time YDS/Game, 4th all time is Pass Att/Game, 5th all time in playoff games started and 5th all time in Passes Completed/ Game. He has been to 10 pro bowls and three times was the first string. He also has 3 consecutive MVPs, something no one else has.

But it's when you take a look at some more stats that you start to see the entire Brett Favre picture: Favre is 78th all time in YPA, 190th in YDS/Completion, 26th in Net YPA, 17th in Pass Completion Percentage, 23rd in Adj Net YPA, and 20th in Passer Rating. I also remember reading an article on ESPN.com a few years ago saying Brett has just an above average DVOA. He has was also 2nd all time in fumbles lost and 5th all time is SACKS. It's these statistics here that you see Brett was really only a mediocre QB who ended up playing a shit ton of games. And THIS is why Favre eneded up being #1 in all those other statistics.

Now I still have massive respect for Brett Favre and I think he is most certainly top ten if not top five greatest QBs of all time. But I say this despite his Superbowls (or lack thereof).

My main problem I guess is ESPN telling us that Brett is Numero Uno in all these "Major Categories" yet still saying he's not number one of all time. It's like saying a player is the best in standard fantasy leagues therefore he's the best of all time. It also means my analogy in the beginning is a little bit off. What I guess was meant to say was that, "Imagine a baseball player has the best BA, SB, HR, RBI, and R of all time, is he the best ever" That's essentially what ESPN is saying about Brett Favre and it's a false comparison to make and is extremely misleading. And of course not true.

So like many of my articles before, fuck you ESPN and you're reasoning!