Who’s Better In Week 1: Favre or Brees?

Added on Sep 09, 2010 by Scott in

NFL

The 2010 NFL season kicks off tonight and it’s about damn time. It’ll be a rematch of last January’s Vikings-Saints NFC title tilt. It could be a shootout, or a blowout, or one of those sloppy opening games where both teams struggle to find a consistent rhythm. Regardless of the outcome, it will provide one more chance to watch the immortal Brett Favre go head-to-head with the bionic-armed Drew Brees.

It should come as no surprise, but some quarterbacks take a bit longer to get out of the gate than others. In Favre’s case, his advanced age and predilection to skip training camp every summer definitely affects his early season performances. What about Drew? You might assume he’s absolute money on opening weekend, but is that indeed accurate? Rewinding back to 2006, let’s take a peek at Favre’s and Brees’ week one stats to see who’s the more reliable signal caller.

Year	Vs.	Comp.	Yards	TD/INT	W-L
2009	DET	26-34	358	6/1	W
2008	TB	23-32	343	3/1	W
2007	@IND	28-41	192	0/2	L
2006	@CLE	16-30	170	1/1	W

Brees has been awesome the last two seasons, but average to below average in ’06 and ’07. However, he did win three out of four games. Now, onto old man Favre:

Year	Vs.	Comp.	Yards	TD/INT	W-L
2009	@CLE	14-21	110	1/0	W
2008	@MIA	15-22	194	2/0	W
2007	PHI	23-42	206	0/1	W
2006	CHI	15-29	170	0/2	L

Ugh. Except for the won-loss record, which unless you’re a fantasy player is all that really matters, Favre has been borderline awful. Looks like his creaky bones need a few games to loosen up.

Based on recent history and considering he’s still nursing a gimpy ankle, I wouldn’t expect Brett to light it up tonight. As for Brees, he’s pretty darn potent inside the Superdome and has a plethora of weapons at his disposal, so a 300-plus yard night and at least a couple touchdowns is likely.

Saints 31, Vikings 20.