... Actually, that's a lie. We love to say we told you so. And here it goes again. We told you back in the offseason that the humane thing to do in Green Bay was to put Brett Favre out of his indecisive misery and cut him from the roster. But Old Yeller Fever had infected Green Bay management, rendering it incapable of handling the situation properly.

 

In case you were still on the fence, yesterday's performance should make it obvious to anyone that the Cold, Hard Football Facts were once again ahead of the curve.

 

Favre was completely ineffective in a 26-0 loss to Chicago. He completed 15 of 29 passes for 170 yards and tossed 2 INTs. He was also sacked three times.

 

As poster Jaws noted in the Football Forum yesterday:

 

It's "the first time the Packers were shut out since a 10-0 victory by the Bears on Oct. 17, 1991 – a streak of 233 games. It was the fourth-longest such streak in league history and second-longest active streak ... perhaps the Packers brass should have made the decision to move on without Favre and preserved his memory of greatness intact without the humiliation that this year will bring."

 

• 76 for 138 (55.1%), 764 yards, 0 TDs, 8 INTs, 46.9 rating

 

Favre now needs just 20 INTs to tie George Blanda for the all-time record (277). He still needs 24 TD passes to tie Dan Marino for the all-time record in that category (420).

 

Clearly, the INT record is more likely. Since the start of the 2005 season, Favre has thrown 20 TDs and 31 INTs. He has a 69.5 passer rating over that period – dead last among all starting quarterbacks.

 

Favre, in other words, is the worst quarterback in football today. Green Bay fans can lament the lack of talent on the team right now. It begins at quarterback.

 

New England gained more yards on the ground than it did through the air for the first time since the 20-3 win over Indy in the divisional round of the 2004 playoffs.

 

The Patriots yesterday rushed for 183 yards on 41 carries while picking up 136 net passing yards. (Brady passed for 163 yards total.)

 

In the 2004 playoff game against Indy, a cold, snowy evening, the Patriots rushed for 210 yards while picking up 115 net passing yards.

 

The "gridiron grid" that appeared in our "Friday Beer Run" correctly picked the winners in five out of six games. (Carolina falling to Atlanta was our only loss.). The Cold, Hard Football Facts also squashed the Miami hype and stood steadfast by Pittsburgh despite the fact the Steelers played Thursday night without Ben Roethlisberger. So we are now 6-1 analyzing games based upon our "Stats That Matter."

 

 

San Francisco QB Alex Smith passed for 288 yards in the 49ers 34-27 loss to Arizona. It was more than 100 better than his previous career high (185, also set against the Cardinals) back in his disastrous 2005 rookie season. He has already matched his touchdown total from last season (1). He would have doubled it, but a holding penalty nullified a 52-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Bryant.

 

The two longest offensive plays of the day were called back because of holding penalties. Besides the Smith-to-Bryant connection, Cleveland's Charlie Frye hit Braylon Edwards for an apparent 74-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. Both the 49ers and Browns eventually had to punt.

 

A total of four teams had touchdowns negated yesterday, and all four teams came away with no points on the drive. (The Jets' Mike Nugent and the Cowboys' Shaun Suisham missed goals of 30 and 36 yards, respectively.) Three of the four teams lost by a touchdown or less.

 

Only the Jets were able to overcome the loss of points and earn a victory.

 

Edgerrin James crashed over the goal line from 1 yard out in the first quarter of Arizona's 34-27 win over San Francisco yesterday. It gave the Cardinals half as many rushing TDs as they had in the entire 2005 season, when they fielded one of the worst ground games in NFL history.

 

Let's not put Arizona in the playoffs just yet, however. San Francisco allowed 19 rushing TDs last year – only four teams were worse – and finished with a dismal 4-12 record.

 

... and for every insightful thing said by Ron Jaworski (pictured here) on ESPN's Sunday NFL Match-Up, there is something equally inane and implausible spouted by co-panelist Merrill Hoge.

 

The two were talking quarterbacks yesterday when Jaworski called Tom Brady the best QB in football because of "his ability to win championships"

 

Hoge dismissed Jaworski's response and basically said that championships are overrated. Then, in the next breath, he compared Philip Rivers to Dan Marino.

 

Rivers, of course, has attempted exactly 30 passes in an NFL career that began in 2004 and gets his first start tonight against Oakland.

 

Somebody's not home upstairs there.

Jaworski saved the show with a great line about quarterbacking mobility. Actually, it was a brilliant line:

 

 

Michael Vick might disagree with Jaworski's assessment, however. He completed just 10 of 22 passes for 140 yards, but tossed 2 TDs and rushed for 48 yards on 7 carries to help Atlanta to a 20-6 road victory over early-season favorite Carolina.

 

Vick is frequently criticized by "pundits" (including the Cold, Hard Football Facts) for his often ineffective passing ability. But he's now 32-19-1 (.625) as a starting quarterback.

 

Jets quarterback Chad Pennington may have a glass arm. But the oft-injured performer looked spectacular in yesterday's 23-16 win over Tennessee.

 

He completed 24 of 33 passes for 319 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs. His 123.2 passer rating led all quarterbacks yesterday.

 

When healthy, Pennington gives the Jets one of the league's most productive passers. Remember that in 2002, he topped all NFL quarterbacks with a 104.2 passer rating and led the Jets to a 9-7 record, an AFC East championship and a dominating 41-0 playoff victory over the Colts.

 

 

We hinted in the preseason that Herm Edwards would run the normally high-powered Kansas City offense into the ground. After all, the Jets' offense ranked in the top half of the league in total yards and points just once in his five years at the helm in New York.

 

It's only Week 1, but the evidence is already in favor of the Cold, Hard Football Facts. The Chiefs offense sputtered in a 23-10 loss to Cincinnati yesterday.

 

Yes, Trent Green suffered an injury, but it was not until late in the third quarter. He had passed for just 90 yards until that point while leading the Chiefs to just 3 points.

 

Larry Johnson, meanwhile, has held to only 68 yards on 17 carries. It was his lowest rushing total by a wide margin since taking over the starting job in Week 8 last season.

 

The 10 points, meanwhile, marked Kansas City's lowest offensive output since a 14-3 loss to Buffalo in Week 10 of the 2005 season.

 

For perhaps the first time in the Tom Brady Era, the New England offense was jeered by the Foxboro Faithful.

 

The Patriots in general – and Brady in particular – were dreadful in the first half. The half whimpered to an end as New England chose to sit on the ball and run out the clock. The crowd booed lustily.

 

New England rebounded in the second half and won, 19-17, with the margin of victory coming by virtue of a safety.

 

Brady was disconsolate in his post-game press conference – to the point that you would have thought he lost the game. It's easy to surmise that he's not happy about missing his friend and top target, Deion Branch, the NFL's most notable holdout this season.

 

Brady completed just 11 of 23 passes for 163 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT. He also had five balls batted down by defenders at the line of scrimmage.

 

Jon Gruden's complex offense suffered its second humiliating shutout in its last four regular-season games. Tampa was manhandled, 27-0, by Baltimore yesterday and lost 28-0 to New England in Week 15 of the 2005 season.

 

 

Baltimore, meanwhile, is 4-2 in its last six games and has destroyed its opponents over that period (Houston, Denver, Green Bay, Minnesota, Cleveland and Tampa Bay) by an average score of 24.5 to 12.2.