A response to a friend:
I completely disagree with you and everyone else regarding the squib kick against Atlanta. Here is my take on this: In a situation like that, I always want my team squib kicking. Squib kicks are never returned very far. Kicking deep opens you to the big return, and on the previous kick, Atlanta returned it to around the bear 20. The problem was that the kick didn’t go very far. It has to go deep, so I blame Gould. Had Gould kicked it deep, they would have been fine. Had they kicked off normally and the Falcons returned it, Lovie would have been skewered. After the kick, the real issue was the bear defense. I’ve always said in situations like that, here’s how you line up. You have your 4 defensive linemen and 7 defensive backs (no linebackers). 4 defensive backs line up about 12-15 yards downfield, and stretch from sideline to sideline. This keeps the play in front of them and takes away the sidelines. You then have 3 defensive backs about 20 yards downfield, so the play is ahead of them and they aren’t chasing. By the way, let’s not forget the idiocy of Atlanta on the bear TD. 18 seconds left, no timeouts for the bears, and they let the receiver get behind them???!!!
Now, let’s talk about Favre. I’ve already pointed out that his interception percentage is right in line with all the other great QBs. For a 10-year span, I heard the Packers had the best winning percentage of any team in the 4 major sports. So, if the feeling is that Favre cost the Packers game after game with bad decisions, you and others must feel that they should have been close to undefeated for 10 years. What more do you want him to do? The Jets are concerned Favre’s interceptions will cost them games? At the halfway point, they’ve already won more games than they did ALL of last year. The article said 6 of his 11 interceptions came on third down. I’d love to find out how many of those series started with a first-down run. I agree Favre should not be reckless, but he’s trying to win and obviously wins much more often than he loses. Many of his aggressive plays win them games, but some cost them. If he has the same interception percentage as others but far more wins, sounds like he’s doing something right. And, he’s doing this with idiotic offensive coaching for most of his career. Other QBs play it safe and go down meekly, but Favre wants to win so badly he will take some chances. Most work, and some don’t. Sometimes a steal in baseball works, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s sports. If Favre didn’t have such a great winning percentage and if he didn’t have the Jets so far ahead of last year it’s ridiculous, I might feel a little differently. He’s played entire seasons with injuries others wouldn’t play with. A national reporter interviewed him one year and saw his injured thumb, and questioned how he could even hold a football. This was a major problem for a QB, but he played through it and never said a word.