Line of Scrimmage: Favre Detractors Are Missing the Point
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05/07/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame outfielder Rickey Henderson was still stealing bases in the big leagues at the age of 44, and in a quest to continue doing what he was clearly born to do, played for seven different MLB teams after his 37th birthday.
One of his baseball contemporaries, Julio Franco, was still getting major league base hits at the age of 49.
In the NFL, future Hall of Famers like Johnny Unitas and Warren Moon were opening-day starters past their 40th birthday, and fellow QBs such as Vinny Testaverde and Doug Flutie were effective spot-starters into their 40s.
If a cross-section of the populace was arguing at the time that any of the above past-their-prime players had worn out their welcome, those voices were in the distinct minority.
Yes, their skills had diminished, but in most cases, the players were celebrated for their obvious love of the game, their will to compete, their fortitude and resolve in hanging in there against players that were young enough to be their children.
The same type of sentiment doesn't seem to exist for Brett Favre, who appears on the verge of signing with the Minnesota Vikings.
Favre still has his supporters, but even some of those who have loved to watch the guy play during the better part of the past two decades are greeting this latest episode with an eye-roll.
Mostly, it's because Favre has played the Boy Who Cried Wolf often enough to make us wish that the Wolf would just devour this guy already. We don't like it when our heroes lie to us (hear that, A-Rod?), and we can't stand it when they're indecisive, whether on or off the field.
Unlike the sycophants at ESPN, we're just a little bit sick of celebrating Favre's storied career, when we know that anything short of death or dismemberment fails to rule out the possibility of an un-retirement. There will be another Rocky sequel, my friends, and No. 4 will trot out on another NFL field. We'll just have to see whether Favre will require as much HGH to get the job done as Stallone did.
The rest of the anti-Favre sentiment derives from the fact that the league's all-time leading passer has been exposed in recent years as something less than the amiable hillbilly most of us were conned into believing he was. He may own a tractor, but he's as much a prima donna as pretty much any high- profile athlete of our time.
Complains about his supporting cast, coaches, GMs, has trouble communicating with coaches, teammates, and front office personnel, uses the media to leverage his self-serving contract demands, squabbles pettily with the organization that made him who he was...the only thing keeping middle America from hating Favre is a garish Italian suit and 50 pounds of diamond-encrusted jewelry.
As it is, most of middle America, and America in general, feels less hatred for Favre and more nausea over the way his continued antics have tarnished his legacy and tainted our image of him.
But that doesn't mean we should wish him to stay away.
Let's remember that Favre, who will turn 40 in October, is still capable of playing football at a reasonably high level. He looked pretty good through the first three months of 2008, when the Jets were 8-3 and Favre was in the discussion for league MVP honors. Then, a biceps injury took all the life off his fastball and seemed to impact his decision-making abilities.
The Vikings are going to want some assurances that Favre's arm is healed, but if they get them, is there any reason to believe he can't be at least as effective as he was during the first 11 games of 2008? Is there any reason to believe that, even at 75 percent of his powers, he's not better than Sage Rosenfels, Tarvaris Jackson, or John David Booty?
Favre was instrumental in taking the Jets from four wins to nine last year. A five-game improvement with the Vikings would make them 15-1, and if that happens, unless Gary Anderson is doing the kicking, I like their Super Bowl chances.
It's difficult on May 7, 2009, to greet Favre's "return" as the historic event that it is and could continue to be.
But on May 7, 2019, when Favre is long gone from the league (presumably) and the unseemliness of his tired offseason shenanigans has eroded, we'll be left with a Hall of Fame quarterback - whether he wins big as a Viking or he doesn't - who we know gave everything he had to give.
If the marriage with Minnesota doesn't happen, well, Favre isn't Jim Brown or Barry Sanders walking away in his prime, but you could sure compare his case to that of Joe Montana before he became a Kansas City Chief.
Montana, 37 years old and with an airtight Hall of Fame resume', could have moseyed off into the sunset when the 49ers made it clear that Steve Young was going to be their future. Instead, Montana went to Kansas City, took the Chiefs to the playoffs twice, and generated some magic that wasn't quite his 49ers magic, but was magic nonetheless.
The football world was better for Montana's two years in Kansas City, just like we'll be better for watching Favre as a Viking. The chapter gave both Montana and the NFL public some closure, and with the Minnesota opportunity hanging out there, there's no way we'll get closure now if Favre stays on the farm in Mississippi.
You wouldn't want to look back in 10 years time and wonder what might have happened had the best quarterback of his generation seized on a chance to play with the potential No. 1 running back of his generation, Adrian Peterson, a couple of talented receivers in Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian, behind a better offensive line than he's had since the glory years with Green Bay, and alongside a high-quality defense.
There might not be more glory in Favre's future, but there's no un-ringing this bell either.
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.