Fran Tarkenton scolds AJ McCarron
Posted by Staff (10/13/2014 @ 5:26 pm)
This is pretty hilarious.
AJ McCarron has a pretty inflated view of himself, and that came across when he criticized the current Alabama team by saying it didn’t have the leadership the team had last year (that would be himself, AJ McCarron). He also made some comments about Nick Saban “handcuffing” the offense.
The great Fran Tarkenton reacted with a classic rant about McCarron:
“A.J. McCarron- he needs to be quiet,” Tarkenton said on Jox 94.5-FM’s The Opening Drive. “He was so fortunate to play in that program. He’s an average quarterback at best. He couldn’t have played anywhere else but Alabama and to make any kind of comment is just disrespectful. He shouldn’t have made it and he should keep his mouth shut, praise Saban and Alabama for the rest of his life.”
Does anyone disagree with that?
Tarkenton is one of the ex-players who says what’s on his mind and doesn’t sugar-coat things. He’ll tell you most modern players are using HGH, which is why players are so huge these days and why defensive ends are running 4.5 40s.
As for McCarron he backtracked of course, and he’s be wise to heed Tarkenton’s advice.
Fran Tarkenton rips Brett Favre…again.
Posted by Anthony Stalter (12/24/2010 @ 9:00 am)
Former Vikings’ great Fran Tarkenton has never hid his distaste for Brett Favre and has once again taken to the media to slam the future Hall of Famer.
This time, Tarkenton ripped Favre for being selfish in continuing to play this season instead of stepping aside for rookie Joe Webb.
From USA Today:
“Why in the world would they play Brett Favre? Or would Brett Favre want to play?” Tarkenton, a longtime Vikings QB, said of the team’s decision to start Favre last Monday. (Via SportsRadioInterviews.com and 97.5-FM in Philadelphia)
“Is that what is best for the franchise going forward? Of course not. It’s selfish! It’s absolutely selfish!”
“He talks about the team and, ‘I am for the team but I want to play for the home fans and my teammates,'” Tarkenton said. “It was Monday Night Football last week… He hasn’t had enough publicity in the last week, he has been on the bench for two weeks. It is not right. He ought to keep himself out of the equation and say, this is not best for the team.”
Regular readers know that I completely agree with Tarkenton’s view on Lord Favre. A month ago I wrote that the Vikings should go with Tarvaris Jackson for the final four games or so because they needed to evaluate his future status with the team. Favre clearly isn’t going to be back next year (whether he retires or moves on to his next project), so the Vikings needed to shift into evaluation mode once they were eliminated. Granted, Jackson proved that he doesn’t have a future in Minnesota either, but at the time there was still question about whether or not he could compete for the starting job next year.
Is Favre selfish? Egotistical may be a better word. He needs the media attention and the spotlight on him. As Tarkenton said, it was Monday Night Football and Favre saw it as one last opportunity to be the story before he moves on. It wasn’t Joe Webb time – it was Lord Favre time.
Keep the hits coming, Fran. Love your work.
Fran Tarkenton rips Brett Favre again
Posted by Anthony Stalter (01/29/2010 @ 12:00 pm)
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.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Tarkenton rips Favre
Posted by Anthony Stalter (08/20/2009 @ 12:20 pm)
Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton ripped Brett Favre recently on Sirius NFL Radio, calling Brett’s situation with the Vikings “an absolute circus.”
From ESPN.com:
“I really have no interest in what Brett Favre does. He kind of lost me a few years ago by retiring and unretiring and here and there,” Tarkenton said on “The Opening Drive” on Sirius NFL Radio.
Tarkenton was later questioned during ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” about Favre’s right to pursue whatever he needed to pursue to keep on going.
“We have responsibilities we’re just not athletes that are in it all for ourself, football, is it not a team game? Isn’t it all about team … and here comes Brett Favre riding in on his white horse, doesn’t go to training camp, doesn’t come to offseason workouts and he’s gonna come on his white horse and bond with all these players.”
“I really think the whole Brett Favre saga of retiring, unretiring, three weeks ago [saying] ‘I can’t play,’ the Vikings said, ‘We’re moving on,’ it’s a circus,” Tarkenton said Wednesday on “The Opening Drive.” “It’s an absolute circus, and it takes away from all the other things that are going on with the Vikings, with the NFL. We’re getting ready for a football season and this is a circus and I just have no interest in it.
Favre has every right to make a living and retire and unretire as much as he wants. But while doing so, he leaves himself open to criticism from people like Tarkenton.
For the most part, I agree with everything Tarkenton said. The only problem I have with his comments is that he didn’t criticize the Vikings, who are just as much at fault in this situation for allowing Brett to dictate when he would sign. They could have removed themselves from the situation when he told them on July 28 that he would stay retired, yet they allowed him to put himself above the team by skipping OTA sessions and training camp, even though he was healthy enough to perform in the latter. (Don’t forget that the Vikings had cleared him to play before his July 28 decision.)
This isn’t about Brett needing extra reps; he’s been in the league for almost two decades and already knows Brad Childress’ offense. This is about him showing up and putting in the work with his teammates (who he’ll eventually have to lead in the regular season) during training camp – not just in preseason after the majority of the practices have already wrapped up.
Both Brett and the Vikings share blame in how this situation played out.
Former QB great Tarkenton says Favre’s actions ‘despicable’
Posted by Anthony Stalter (05/29/2009 @ 9:30 am)
Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton apparently isn’t a huge Brett Favre fan these days.
Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, appearing on 790 The Zone in Atlanta, said “it’s all about” Favre when discussing the subject and also had some interesting comments about NFL owners in general. Tarkenton, a resident of the Atlanta area, didn’t need any encouragement to go after Favre and was especially critical of how the future Hall of Fame QB has treated the Packers after playing 16 seasons in Green Bay.
“I think it’s despicable. What he put the Packers through last year was not good,” said Tarkenton, who played for the Vikings from 1961-66 and again from 1972-78. ”Here’s an organization that was loyal to him for 17, 18 years, provided stability of organization, provided players. It just wasn’t about Brett Favre. In this day and time, we have glorified the Brett Favre’s of the world so much, they think it’s about them. He goes to New York and bombs. He’s 39 years old. How would you like Ray Nitschke in his last year [playing for] the Vikings, or I retire, and go play for the Packers? I kind of hope it happens, so he can fail.”
Favre did the retirement dance with Green Bay for multiple years and then ultimately got upset with the team when they decided to finally commit to Aaron Rodgers (after giving Brett at least two chances to return) last offseason. Then he wanted to be traded, so the Packers obliged. Then he retired after one year with the Jets, but now wants to play for the Vikings to burn Green Bay GM Ted Thompson. And for what?
Favre should have played in Green Bay until his arm fell off. He would have been a hero not only in Green Bay, but he would have been one of the biggest sports figures to have ever played. Instead, fans are tired of hearing about him and even a Hall of Famer is calling his actions ‘despicable.’ It’s sad in a lot of ways, because we’re talking about one of the best quarterbacks of all time, yet he has set himself up to be criticized with the way he’s acted the past couple of years.
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