Last night's debacle spoke volumes for the 2005 season for the Green Bay Packers and their quarterback, Brett Favre.  Clearly, the Pack-a-hack are in for a rough couple of seasons.  Does Favre care to be a part of the re-building?  Is his career over?  What's next?

Here are his top 4 options for 2006, in order of likelihood:

1. Retire, spend more time with his family, and wait his time for the Hall of Fame
2. Pull a Roger Clemens: think it through during the off-season, handcuff his GM and coaches, screw his teammates, and decide to come back for "one more year".
3. Help the Packers rebuild while assuming the back-up QB role.
   1. Help develop Aaron Rodgers, or next year's draft pick at QB
   2. Mold himself for a possible coaching position in the future
   3. Prolong his career to a ripe old age, as Vinny T has shown playing over 40 years old is possible
4. Move on to a contender.  This is clearly not as easy said as done. 
   1. Football is much different from other sports: an aging veteran at the top skilled position almost never "pushes them over the top".
   2. Predicting NFL playoff slots, much less the legit Super Bowl contenders, is extremely difficult.
   3. Most teams with playoff aspirations already have quality QBs, who all are better than an aging Favre.

Jerome Bettis and Curtis Martin are clearly in the twilight of their great careers.  Just how GREAT have their respective careers been? 

Being the 13th season for the Bus, he is just about finished.  His impressive showing against the Bears shows he's got a some tread left on the tires.  At best, however, he'll have one more season of 100 carries, and the typical short-yardage big-back. 

Curtis Martin is finished for 2005, but his team was finished in week 3.  Even if his knee can recover to full strength, its doubtful that he will be the featured back for the Jets.  Whether its Reggie Bush or somebody else, Martin is probably 2 seasons from retirement. 

So let's look at Bettis and Martin for Canton.  Even though their appearances are vastly difference, these fellas are pretty similar.  Statistically:  no Super Bowl rings, rank 4th and 5th in all-time rushing, 90+ TDs, 4.0 and 3.9 YPC, 32 and 33 years old.  And personality-wise: durable, hard-nose backs, center pieces in winning teams, accepted and loved and  respected by fans. 

Overall, Martin has slightly better numbers, especially in his receiving numbers.  Both of these guys have done what Paul Molitor or Wade Boggs or some other consistent top performing 3,000 hit man in baseball has done.  So go ahead voters, vote these guys in when the time comes.  They deserve it.

The third guy to include here, is Marshall Faulk, but doubt needs to be considered for him.

-aj

The steroid chatter between the baseball seasons of 2004 and 2005 must have frightened off some of the game's stars. Just go from Bond's injuries to Boone's swoon to loser Sosa. Coincidence? Probably not. So why is Chris Webber playing like Chris Evert? In years past, his critics were unjustified, as he was a legit MVP candidate and a perennial All-Star. But this year, he is playing soft, passing less, shooting poor, stumbling on defense, and overall ineffective. It's sad. With Iverson as C.O. in town, C-Web has the opportunity to play first mate, where he doesn't have to take the "big shot". And they may not be legit title contenders, but don't forget that A.I. got them there with less just a couple years ago. Maybe he can turn things around, but if not, the sun has set on Webber.

After looking through the NFC QBs, the mediocrity is striking. One of would even make the top 5 when compared to the AFC. With the likes of Brady, Palmer, P Manning, Brees, Jake the Snake, Leftwich, and Big Ben, the selection process in the AFC is equally as tough, but for a good reason. Let's get into it. Who's part of the NFC's sad sack? Despite the turmoil in Philly, McNabb put together a Pro Bowl quality first half of the season, but he's done for now. Ditto the last bit for Culpepper. What about Favre? With a record of 2-11, people keep saying its because of injuries and supporting cast problems. Wake up! He leads the league in INTS. And, yes, he has more than Aaron Brooks. So the regulars are out for the NFC. Who's left? Brunell, Hasselbeck, Bledsoe, Delhomme, Eli, and Vick of the 6-pak that three have to be picked from. Brunell apparently rose from the dead, and is putting together a quality season 16 TDs, just 5 picks, and a rating of 87.8. The same for Hasselbeck (who leads the NFC starting QBs with a rating of 89.1). With these teams, the stars of offensive are the RBs. Bledsoe comes next. He started red hot and has faded in recent weeks with some key turnovers. Delhomme ain't much different. For Eli, the season has been semi-impressive, but he is still lacking the efficiency of a top signal-caller in the NFL (77.2 rating is Vickish). Although this Manning does lead his league in TD passes. And Vick himself is just the same poor decision-making QB with an ability to create a little extra on his feet. In the end, it really should depend on how the last four weeks of the season turn out. The cosmetic selection would be Eli, Vick, and Hasselbeck. Based on team success, it would be Hasselbeck, Delhomme, and Eli. Looking at statistics, it would be Hasselbeck, Brunell, and Delhomme. My vote prior to week 14 is Hasselbeck, Delhomme, and Eli as they are leading three strong teams with Super Bowl chances.

Don't get me wrong: college football is still the most entertaining and engaging sport around. These days everybody moans and groans about the lack of a playoff system, which is a just worthy complaint. While not having that many years under my belt, I am still able to recall years where the New Year's Day college football was the best day of the whole damn year. I grant that 10 or 15 years ago a grand match-up of this year's USC and Texas would be a rare occurrence. But in most of those years, three or four teams would have a viable shot at playing well enough in their bowl game to win a full or partial National Title (back when a tie was a tie as well, which has hurt college football). The possibilities of how the AP Top 5 would finish were wide ranging. It made for excitement from 1100am with the Gator or Peach Bowl until the end of the Orange Bowl. This year, the top 5 can be penciled already, mainly because teams aren't given the match-ups to have the ability to catapult 4 or 5 slots. This gave credence to some REAL debate regarding the National Champ; where analyzing the outcomes forced the voters to really contemplate how they ranked teams. Now what do we got? Well, with New Year's on a Sunday, we got nothing. But even if it were a different day, the entertainment and excitement for New Year's Day football was tossed out by the BCS, along with traditions they ruined. While this year's title game is a wonderful match-up and will give Keith Jackson another opportunity to shed a tear and retire for 8th time, the BCS not only fails miserably as a playoff system but my chief charge is stealing the single greatest sports day of the year away from the fans. So college football fans, get ready to spend more time with the in-laws -- and you can blame the BCS!