I've never liked those articles that preview QB battles. They're not actually going head-to-head. It's QB Brett Favre against the Green Bay Packers defense, and QB Aaron Rodgers against the Vikings defense. Instead, this post is a head-to-head matchup of their stats through the first 3 games. It's surprising that they're so similar. From NFL.com, here are a selected few stats:
| Player | QB Rating | Comp. % | Yards | TD | INTs | Sacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Rodgers | 97.2 | 56.7 | 714 | 4 | 0 | 12 |
| Brett Favre | 94.5 | 64.9 | 566 | 5 | 1 | 9 |
Rodgers's QB rating (7th best overall) gets a boost because he doesn't have a turnover so far this season. His completion percentage is way below last season's 63.6%, although he's been the victim of a lot of dropped passes. He does lead the league in one category; 12 sacks allowed.
Favre's 566 yards passing is 25th overall this season, right behind QB Byron Leftwich, because the Vikings offense has done a lot to reign him in. He's been throwing a lot of short passes this season, when he's not throwing a game winning bomb to WR Greg Lewis in the back of the end zone. So it's shocking to see he only has 1 INT so far, and is only on pace to throw about 5 or 6 INTs for the season. Another very un-Favre like stat are the 9 sacks. He's been exceptional at avoiding them throughout his career, he only had 15 sacks in his final season in Green Bay, but he's still on pace to blow past the 30 sacks he had with the Jets. Still, the QB rating doesn't care about sacks and his 94.5 rating is good for 8th best overall, just behind Rodgers.
Last week, Football Outsiders's Bill Barnwell had the following to say about both QBs.
Aaron Rodgers, ranked No. 5 last week:
A streaky day for Rodgers started off with two completions, followed by four consecutive plays ending in either a sack or an incompletion. He completed his next six attempts, including four straight first downs and a touchdown. That was answered by six straight incompletions, which was succeeded by three consecutive completions, two incompletions, and two more completions in the fourth quarter to end Rodgers' day. In the long run, you can just look at a day that had pass plays of 46, 50, and 53 yards and say that it was a good one.
Brett Favre, ranked No. 17 last week:
It's amazing what one pass can do, huh? It's reflexive to want to deflect praise away from Favre, who's received enough for several lifetimes (and dramatic comebacks), but the throw to Greg Lewis had to be perfect. Favre put it exactly where Lewis and only Lewis could get to it; it required a great catch, but a great throw put it there.
And a bonus Packer mention, WR Donald Driver. The video of his one-handed catch is here.
We don't give out bonus points for absolutely sick one-handed catches, and we'd probably owe Wayne a few for his performance if we did, but Driver deserves some for one of the catches of the year. If you haven't seen it, well, turn on ESPN and wait. You will soon enough.