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Jay Mariotti

To Preserve Legacy, Favre Must Leave

Posted Jan 23, 2009 9:31PM By Jay Mariotti (RSS feed)

Filed Under: NFL

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Brett FavreI don't want to see the beard turn white and the football flutter like a hot-dog wrapper. I don't want to watch a pariah booed in New York, skunked in the media and crucified by frustrated teammates. Pardon me, but am I the only one who'd hate to write next autumn that the most joyful little boy in sports shriveled into an unwatchable old man?

It pains me to observe the most hallowed legends -- Ali, Mays, even Jordan in the awkward colors of the Washington Wizards -- trying to conjure more miracles when the body and mind are screaming, "No more! No mas! You're killing me, dude!'' I'm hoping Brett Favre is wise enough to focus on his ghastly final month, when he threw nine interceptions for the free-falling Jets and was roundly ripped in his own locker room, and understand that a similar fate could await him if he returns. There is no Super Bowl to be won with merely a decent roster and a rookie head coach, Rex Ryan, who'll be fortunate to make the postseason in a killer division. Nor are there guarantees that Favre's right arm, which lost velocity after a biceps muscle was torn, ever will have the powerful zip of yore.

I, like many columnists, have a certain man-crush on Favre. It qualifies me to do something I never thought possible: beg and plead today that he retire from the NFL for keeps, this time without tears or regrets or even a press conference. Just bow out and let us remember the collage of wonderful moments, not the ugly picks and nasty commentaries that accompanied his final days.

"Bottom line is, it wasn't good enough," Favre said of his failed season. "I'm sure everyone is going to say, 'He's old, washed up and gray.' Maybe they're right. If that's the case, maybe it's time to do something else.''

Definitely, it's time.

He admits there is little to gain by playing as he turns 40. Isn't his legacy intact as maybe the greatest football player ever -- a champion and an ironman and one of the top five quarterbacks? What exactly is he doing, anyway, at a training facility in Florham Park, N.J., which couldn't be farther from his Mississippi roots and Cheesehead past if it were on another planet? Bada Bing Brett never has had a melodic ring to it; certainly, it sounded all wrong when the Jets, after beating the Patriots in New England and then-unbeaten Titans in Tennessee, tumbled from 8-3 to 9-7 and somehow missed the playoffs. They blamed Favre for the collapse and rightly so. Does he really want to experience another crash? At what point does his legacy take an indelible hit for not knowing when to retire?

"I don't feel I have anything else to prove," Favre told ESPN before vanishing to the deep South to mull his future. "Do I have to redeem myself for the last five games? No. I could be trying to do that until I'm 60 years old. There is nothing left out there for me from that standpoint.

"I'm disappointed with the last five games, sure, but I know I did everything I could have. It's hard for me, but I have to say I gave out down the stretch. I'm not going to make any excuses. If I'm going to play, then I have a responsibility to play at a high level, and I just didn't get it done. I tried to be the best leader I could be, do all the right things and, as I look back, I have no regrets.''

He sounds like he's trying to talk himself into retiring. Let me help push him. After the Jets were eliminated, several teammates criticized Favre on and off the record. Running back Thomas Jones, a respected team leader, said Favre should have been benched in mid-game after throwing three interceptions against the Dolphins in the final loss. "I'm (ticked) off. I don't like it. I know everybody else on the team doesn't like it,'' Jones said. "When somebody's not playing well, you need to come out of the game. You're jeopardizing the whole team's effort because you're having a bad day. To me, that's not fair to everybody else. I mean, you're not the only one on the team."

Kerry RhodesFavre was hurt by the shot, but it wasn't the most revealing. That came from safety Kerry Rhodes, who noted that Favre has spent recent offseasons living by his own rules -- blowing off conditioning programs in Green Bay -- and couldn't get away with the same no-show attitude this offseason. "If he's dedicated and he wants to come back and do this, and do it the right way and be here when we're here in training camp and the minicamps and working out with us ... then I'm fine with it," Rhodes said. "But don't come back if it's going to be half-hearted or he doesn't want to put the time in with us. You can't have your other leaders here and doing their thing and not be here. I'm sure he works his butt off, but you need a guy to be around and get comfortable. He's a guy you're looking up to. He needs to be here."

This will be the tipping point, I suspect, that leads Favre to call it quits. He can't get away with any diva act this time, not after a sour ending, 22 interceptions and the presence of a new coach. One unidentified player told Newsday that many teammates resented Favre because he was anti-social and never went to dinner with them, sometimes disappearing into a special private office at the facility. These were some of the criticisms lodged in Green Bay, where the defense-weak Packers missed the playoffs but, in the end, made the right decision to turn over the starting job to promising Aaron Rodgers. That way, the Packers are one year ahead of the curve and can expect a monster season from Rodgers. As for Favre, his passer rating never rose above 61.4 in his final five games.

True, he was playing with a sore arm. But is that sore arm going away at 40? And in a copycat league, didn't we see strong-armed rookies such as Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco manage games well and hit enough big plays to spawn a trend? If the Jets want their quarterback to be efficient, not dynamic, they're best off with a veteran such as Jeff Garcia than risking more deterioration from Favre.

The problem is that one of Favre's biggest fans happens to own the franchise. Woody Johnson, who has accomplished little with Gang Green except pushing coaches through a revolving door, lobbied hard on the radio this week for Favre's return. "I like him, and I think we can win with him,'' Johnson said. "If you came out here to watch him practice, he's unbelievable.''

Falling in awed lockstep was Ryan. "I know the kind of talent he has and the kind of competitor he is,'' he said. "I would think anybody would want him as their quarterback. Everything will be looked at -- our coaches' input and everything. Sometimes you don't have your best game for whatever reason and we'll take a look. But certainly, I know the respect I have for Brett Favre is great, and it comes from firsthand info. I've seen him up close and personal, and that's good enough for me.''

The hosannas only complicate the process. Maybe they're playing a game of reverse psychology, recalling how Favre returned after last year's retirement ceremony only when Packers management openly urged him not to return. Whatever, my strongest hope is that he decides quickly. No one in this country wants to deal with another Favre stay-or-go vigil. We'll have a lot more respect for him if he puts out a simple release -- say, two days after the Super Bowl -- and leaves quietly. Holding us hostage only exacerbates the familiar and very annoying limbo.

His last public comments did contain an air of finality. "I'm glad I made the decision to come here and play,'' Favre said. "I wish I could have held up my end of the bargain.''

He can repay us by knowing when to depart. That way, a football nation can appreciate him instead of disparage him, a wave of cruelty he doesn't deserve.

Jay Mariotti is a national columnist and commentator for FanHouse.com. He is a daily panelist on ESPN's sports-debate show, "Around The Horn," seen Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. ET. Mariotti spent 17 years as a lead sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and has covered every major sporting event -- national and worldwide -- on multiple occasions.

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Jay Mariotti

Jay MariottiJay Mariotti is a national columnist and commentator for FanHouse.com. He is a daily panelist on ESPN's sports-debate show, "Around The Horn,'' seen Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. ET. Mariotti spent 17 years as a lead sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and has covered every major sporting event -- national and worldwide -- on multiple occasions.