Strangely enough the screaming headline news of Brett Favre s retirement led my thoughts in an unexpected direction to the lowly Falcons and some reflection on how different the fate of two franchises might have been had the Packers never wrested Favre away from Atlanta in their memorable February trade. Talk about your juxtaposition. It couldn t be any starker. While Favre has been the ever present face of the storied Green Bay franchise these past years here today are the Falcons still searching for their first back to back winning seasons and still desperately trying to replace the franchise quarterback they let get away. At No. in this year s draft Atlanta is likely in position to select Boston College s Matt Ryan and hopefully end its nightmare at the quarterback position. But oh what might have been had the Falcons and not the Packers benefited from Favre s glorious year run as an NFL starter. Consider the following In the seasons since Favre arrived in Green Bay and t! ook over the starting job in Week of the Falcons have started exactly different quarterbacks in at least one regular season game. The humbling breakdown is as follows Michael Vick games Chris Chandler Jeff George Bobby Hebert Doug Johnson Joey Harrington Chris Miller Billy Joe Tolliver Tony Graziani Kurt Kittner Chris Redman Wade Wilson Matt Schaub Danny Kanell Byron Leftwich and Steve DeBerg . That s a total of games or games a year for seasons with seven different quarterbacks starting at least games. The Falcons have started the same QB in all games of a single season just three times in those seasons George and and Vick . In eight seasons or half the time Atlanta has started three different quarterbacks in the same year including when Harrington Redman four and Leftwich two played musical chairs at the game s most pivotal position with predictable results . Atlanta has enjoyed just four winning seasons and four playoff trips in those years with losing seasons and seven ! years in which it racked up a double digit loss total. By comparison Green Bay has posted a gaudy winning records in that span with playoff trips and just one losing season. Almost polar opposite fates wouldn t you say What a disaster Falcons quarterbacks have been while Favre was building his Hall of Fame career in Green Bay. Who could forget the sideline confrontation with head coach June Jones that hastened the departure of George in Or the helter skelter days of when Jerry Glanville went through the likes of Miller Tolliver Wilson and Hebert like so many interchangeable but ultimately mediocre parts Chris Chandler certainly was the best of the bunch leading the Falcons to a record and their only Super Bowl appearance in but his comically fragile injury history put Atlanta constantly in the position of needing to rely on journeymen like Graziani Kanell Tolliver Johnson and even that geriatric wonder of wonders the year old DeBerg in . It s all hypothetical of course but if Favre had stayed put the Falcons likely would have been spared the i! gnominy of Vick s career self destruction in which devastated the franchise in almost incalculable ways. They would not have had to endure George s embarrassing meltdowns or the false hopes that briefly accompanied young quarterbacks such as Johnson Graziani or Kittner. And they wouldn t have had to traffic so heavily in the veteran retread quarterback market that brought Hebert George Chandler Harrington and Leftwich to town. Favre under center year after year might have trumped it all. For the Falcons this week s news at least presents one small consolation It brings to a close the most galling chapter in franchise history and in one sense puts them out of their misery. After years No. can haunt them no more. The Falcons finally have one thing in common with the Packers Now they both can miss Brett Favre. of SI Media Kits About Us Add RSS headlines Copyright c Time Inc. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our! privacy guidelines
Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/don_banks/03/05/falcons/index.html?eref=si_nfl
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