"The uniqueness of Brett Favre – his personality, charisma and love of the game – undoubtedly will leave him as one of the enduring figures in NFL history... His legacy is cemented as one of the most beloved players of his generation. Favre's hard-working approach and down-to-earth attitude appealed to football fans across the nation"

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson said it all with the above tribute. He succinctly boiled down the essence of the magnificent Favre into three simple sentences. In a country where their last President was voted in because the electorate deemed him the candidate they would most like to have a beer with, Favre is the greatest of all quarterbacks. A man with ridiculous natural talents who fused them with hard graft and down-to-earth, modest likeability.

At the end of the last NFL season, Favre retired and when a legend such as this leaves the sport, the entire country seemed to recede into mourning. Statistically, Favre was a force of nature, more harsh and belligerent than those countless frozen nights at Lambeau Field. He passed more than 60,000 yards, he notched up an untouchable 253 starts as a quarterback, and in the playoffs – when guts and leadership count just as much as statistical brilliance – he stands in second place, only eclipsed by Joe Montana. In terms of throwing touchdown passes, a stark statistic that pulls back the layers and reveals the core of a quarterback, Favre beats allcomers with a huge 442 touchdown passes – 22 ahead of Dan Marino.

‘Favre didn’t have the luxury of brilliant offensive players as an outlet like other quarterbacks of the modern era.’


Favre scores well, if not at the top, of most categories, but when you add all the desirable attributes in a player – the ability to spearhead a team to victory, fitness, desire, and longevity – when all of these things, and statistics are thrown into an NFL blender, Favre comes out as the best.

Add to this the fact that Favre was at the fulcrum of a middling NFL side and you realise just how great he was. Favre didn’t have the luxury of brilliant offensive players as an outlet like other quarterbacks of the modern era. People like Tom Brady have a supreme side sitting around them – for the best part of 17 years Favre has had to make do with mediocrity sometimes garnished with good players, and that is the clincher for me. The fact that Favre made the world take notice with such a tepid team says it all.