Roethlisberger looks up to Favre

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Ben Roethlisberger is looking forward to the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings game, because one of his idols growing up was Brett Favre. The whole Steeler team may be seeking autographs, such as it is for Brett Favre at the age of 40, when you hold practically every known NFL quarterback record.

Ben Roethlisberger is off to a great start this year, one of his best ever, but Brett is having another Hall of Fame year and has already won two last second games for the Vikings.

Roethlisberger is off to a Favre-like start, the best of his six-year career. He leads the NFL in passing yards (1,887), yards per attempt (9.1) and passes of 20 yards or longer (26) and ranks second only to Peyton Manning in completion percentage (72.5).

But Favre, who holds NFL all-time records for completions (5,844) passing yards (66,474), touchdowns (476) and victories (175), isn’t far behind, despite his age. He leads the NFC in completion percentage (69.7), ranks second in passer rating (109.5) and has thrown more touchdowns passes (12) and fewer interceptions (2) than Roethlisberger. His average of 224.5 yards passing per game is just 17 yards fewer than his career per-game average (241.7) as a starter.

Even more remarkable is that Favre hasn’t missed a start since his first season in Green Bay in 1991, a league-record 275 games in a row, 297 counting playoffs. His consecutive game streak recently eclipsed the old record of former Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall (270).
source

Ben Roethlisberger seeks Brett Favre's autograph

If you were lucky enough to be playing sports into your 40th year then you realize that your body begins to fail you and has trouble keeping up with your mind. You tell your legs to jump and they just kind of stand there before reacting and then when they jump they don’t jump like they used to. Brett Favre somehow manages to break these rules of nature.

“How can a guy throw that on a rope from 40 yards at 40 years old?” asked ESPN analyst and former quarterback Ron Jaworski, the awe apparent in his voice on the phone the other day.

Jaworski played 17 seasons with four different teams in the NFL, most of them with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was 38 when he played his final season with the Kansas City Chiefs. By the time he was 35, he said he knew he couldn’t make the same throws as when he was 30.

Not Favre.

“He’s a freak of nature,” Jaworski said. “When you watch him play at that level, at 40 years old, that’s the only explanation.”

So like the Rocky movies that just keep coming back, we continue to see Favre playing every year, but unlike Rocky, Brett Favre continues to play at a high level. Even at that high level, it does not guarantee that iron man Brett can play forever.

That is why Ben Roethlisberger plans on getting an autograph.

Image: Zuma Press

Be sure to check out my companion blog at NBA Obsessed.

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

More blogs about football.