The numbers say that both teams would be better with their new QBs, but Greg Couch of the Chicago Sun Times says the Packers are worse off without Brett Favre.  His argument…

Guess what: Pennington, now in Miami, has the fourth-highest passer rating (95.1) in the NFL. Rodgers is ninth (91.8). And Favre? He’s 14th (86.5), about the same as Pennington’s rating with the Jets last year. Favre also leads the league in interceptions.

So in New York, they’re still waiting for proof about Favre, who has had three straight bad games. And in Green Bay, they’re in denial.

The thing is, Favre is a winner and a leader. That trumps numbers.

Any time I say something like that, the stat-heads start calling to disagree as they live in a world of numbers. But Favre is something they don’t have numbers for.

It’s a presence, a will. I don’t know what it is, really.

He leads. Others follow. And with pressure on, everyone on the team knows who’s responsible.

It’s impossible to quantify. Yet he’s in a slump now, and these past few games have had New Yorkers wondering. It’s possible the Jets could lose the last game to Miami, and Pennington’s Dolphins could eliminate Favre and the Jets.

In Green Bay, they only wish they could have such worries again, about whether Favre will save the day as usual or pull some really dumb move. He did blow it in the NFC Championship Game.

But you don’t throw away a star quarterback, even one who’s about to turn 39, when your team is so close to the Super Bowl.

The window just slammed on the Packers.

They don’t admit it, but they know. (Source)

Image by DavidErickson via Flickr

You are probably familiar with the rumors that Brett Favre helped the Lions prepare to play the Packers recently.  (Given how horrible the Lions are, the possibility of 0-16 looming, the Lions need all the help they can get.)

Perhaps if Favre had not thrown his general manager under the bus on national television, if had not denied reports last July that he was asking around the league to see if anyone was interested in trading for him, that he denied reports at his retirement that he was angry with the Packers for not trading for Randy Moss, if he had not thrown Mike McCarthy under the bus when he said the Packers should have hired his pal Steve Mariucci to coach the team and if had not discredited his own offensive line when he said the Packers should have re-signed guards Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera, then maybe people might believe him.

Or maybe if Lions coach Rod Marinelli, when asked if the reports were true, offered only a “no comment” on Sunday and then again on Monday.

Asked Monday by Detroit reporters why he wouldn’t comment if the story was not true, Marinelli responded, “I would just say no comment, and I’ll leave it at that.”

At the very least, that’s semi-damning evidence against Favre.

Then we have the whole oddity with ESPN, whom Favre has in his hip pocket, which has refused to touch the story on any of its family of networks. Very strange indeed. (Source)

Regarding ESPN not touching the story, the Sporting News has the scoop, here.

Source

“For the first month after the trade … really five or six weeks … it was really going well with the Favre sales,” Walters said. “Right now, Rodgers is selling the best.”

At the Packers Pro Shop in the Lambeau Field Atrium, Rodgers jerseys have been on the shelf since he was a first-round draft pick in 2005. But it has been an especially hot commodity this year.

“He’s started out the season very strong,” said Kate Hogan, director of retail operations for the Packers Pro Shop. “I think Packers fans want to show their support of him.”

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

From the Green Bay Post-Gazette….

If General Manager Ted Thompson likes what he sees in Aaron Rodgers over the coming weeks, he’s in excellent salary-cap shape to sign the quarterback to a long-term contract without hurting the Green Bay Packers’ future caps.
Advertisement

The Packers, according to a source with access to NFL Players Association salary figures, are more than $20 million under this year’s $116 million salary cap and will want to use a good chunk of that money to extend the contracts of two or three core players.

Rodgers, whose contract runs through 2009, will rank high on Thompson’s list if he can sustain a stretch of play anywhere near the level he showed in the Packers’ regular-season opening win against Minnesota. Rodgers along with receiver Greg Jennings and right tackle Mark Tauscher are the most likely targets for extensions, though Thompson also could go after another young player or two who emerges over the course of the season.

Rodgers, though, would be the biggest and most costly target. If the Packers approach him about an extension this season, he probably would seek a contract in the neighborhood of deals Dallas’ Tony Romo and Jacksonville’s David Garrard signed in the last year.

That would be in the neighborhood of 60 million with 15-20 million guaranteed.  Not bad for a guy that almost did not have a starting gig.