Fran Tarkenton rips Brett Favre again
Never shy about publicly criticizing Brett Favre, former Vikings’ great Fran Tarkenton took aim at No. 4 after his play in the NFC Championship Game while speaking on sports radio 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia last week.
From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Tarkenton was asked to assess the Vikings’ performance in the NFC title game against New Orleans.
“I think the Vikings were clearly the best team,” Tarkenton said. “They held this New Orleans offense to under 300 yards. They made Drew Brees look ordinary. He didn’t even throw for 200 yards. The guys have been throwing for 400, 500 yards. They were the better team. Their offense turned the ball over five times, the Viking offense. But still if (Favre) didn’t make that stupid play at the end of the game they would have won the game. Now you are in Philadelphia, remember a few years ago when Green Bay played you guys? . . . I mean he throws the ball straight up in the air, free falls. Do you remember that? I have never seen any quarterback much less, well he is going to be a Hall of Fame quarterback, make plays like that at a critical time. He has done the same thing in the Giants’ game (2007 season). He plays at home, has the better team and plays against Eli (Manning). He was a young kid right? And he throws the pick…. and then he does what he did the other night which was just shameful because great quarterbacks, and he is a great quarterback, they don’t do that. You don’t see Peyton Manning do that.”
Tarkenton isn’t looking at the big picture here. Yes, the interception at the end of the game was bad – a rookie mistake even. And yes, the interceptions that Favre threw in previous playoff games were bad, too.
But Tarkenton saying that the Vikings would have won the game had Favre not thrown the interception is shortsighted. There’s a huge possibility that Ryan Longwell would have missed the 50-plus yard field goal had Favre thrown the ball away or ran for four or five yards like many people are suggesting. (By the way, Favre had been abused all game and was playing on a bad ankle, so to say that he could have even run for four or five yards is a little shortsighted in itself.)
The point is that the Vikings didn’t lose the game on Brett’s throw – they lost because they turned the ball over five times. Tarkenton can believe that the Vikings were the better team and maybe they were. But teams that turn the ball over as much as they did don’t usually win and one play doesn’t determine the outcome of a game.
Favre’s decision to throw across his body was stupid – I’ll give Tarkenton that. But to say that the Vikings would have won if only Brett didn’t throw the pick isn’t a statement of fact, but of suggestion.
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Posted in: NFL
Tags: Brett Favre, Fran Tarkenton, Minnesota Vikings, NFC Championship Game
I forget…how many rings does Tarkenton have? This from a guy that had 1 TD and 6 int’s in 3 superbowl appearances. If anyone should know about not playing your best in a big game, Fran Tarkenton should.
Who ever wrote this is spot on! This game shouldn’t have even come down to Favre having to make a play there, had the Vikes not fumbled 6 times this game would have been a blow out! Fran Tarkenton needs to shut up, he’s distroying his reputation with his Favre jelousy
I think Tarkenton is looking at the bigger picture, that being Favre’s career as a whole. This is a guy who has been given more media attention than any other player of his era, and I think it’s reasonable to question if he’s deserved that.
He probably is putting too much of the blame for this individual loss on Favre. However, considering the overwhelming majority of the media seems to be tripping over themselves in a rush to place none of the blame on Favre, I actually find this kind of refreshing.
I haven’t been the biggest Favre supporter, but I think this is a case where Tarkenton has it in for Brett and looks to take shots when he can.
I’m not disagreeing with anything you’re saying snd and I have said similar things in the past about the media’s love obsession with Favre. But I think Tarkenton is reaching in this particular situation.
hey Tarkenton go scew yourself !! thats right i said it go screw yourself ! you will never be half the man brett is ! you only wanted farve to not win cause you are a greedy bi#ch and want to be the only viking qb to have won a super bowl what a joke you are ! a clown !
This is great. First Favre blows a decent shot at a win and now Tarkenton comes out of the woodwork to pile on. Where was this clown when Favre was playing MVP-caliber ball all season?
And why was Minnesota the “better team”? Sure, they gained more yards from scrimmage, a lot more in fact, but aren’t ball security and special teams part of football too? If a team turns the ball over five times (and could have easily turned it over twice more), and give up a TON of yards in the return game, how can anyone say they are clearly better? If anything, Minny dominated offensively and defensively, but NO dominated in takeaways and special teams. Result? Saints win.
An old friend of mine once said, “When you shovel dirt you loose ground”. Fran Tarkington, you have nothing left to stand on!!!