Post by TheShadow on Oct 6, 2007 6:22:02 GMT -5
www.jsonline.com/
Blanda prepares to pass interception torch to Favre
By LORI NICKEL
Green Bay - Dan Marino felt a twinge of sadness when Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre broke his record.
Believe it or not, one day soon, George Blanda will, too.
"I didn't realize he was that close to the record that I have," Blanda said from his home in Oak Brook, Ill. "I am sure in the next year or two it will be broken. I hope it's not right away."
With an interception Week 1 against Philadelphia and another in Week 2 against the New York Giants, Favre has held steady for the last two weeks to remain at 275 career interceptions. Even still, he is just three away from setting the all-time NFL career interception record.
For now, that distinction still belongs to Blanda, with 277. Surprisingly, Blanda looks at the interception mark as more of a badge of honor than something he's eager to hand off to Favre.
The 80-year-old Blanda spent 26 years playing for the Chicago Bears, Baltimore Colts, Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders and sincerely defended the gambling play that has been Favre's trademark. And why shouldn't he? If there's anyone on the planet who understands what Favre was trying to do when he made so many of those interceptions, it is Blanda.
"Some people, when they're down two touchdowns and there's five minutes to play, they just keep throwing those short passes out in the flat," said Blanda. "And they move the ball down the field and they don't score! So all you do is run the time off the clock and your numbers look good.
"And then there are other quarterbacks like Brett and mys . . . well, I am not going to compare myself with him. But . . . I know that watching him the last two or three years, he doesn't have the team around him. And the only way you can win is to try to make a big play. So you try to make 'em. If you don't make 'em, you're going to lose anyways. So you might as well try them."
It makes sense that this ol' gunslinger can relate to the other. They share some other traits. They've had enviable, lengthy careers. Favre is in his 17th season, having started 261 straight games, including playoffs.
Blanda's career spanned four decades, from 1949 to 1975. His 26 seasons of service are longer than anyone in the history of the NFL. He spent 10 years with the Chicago Bears, seven seasons with the Houston Oilers and nine years with the Oakland Raiders. He played one game for Baltimore in 1950.
When Blanda watches the 1-3 Bears battle the 4-0 Packers on Sunday night - he's a knowledgeable NFL fan and calls this rivalry one of the greatest in sports - he'll be interested in everything except whether or not Favre throws a pick.
"I've never been concerned about interceptions," roared Blanda, whose own single-season high was 42 interceptions in 1962. "Here you've got a Bear team that screwed up their whole season because the quarterback threw six interceptions. . . . There are times that things just go awry. You're not getting the protection, the ball bounces off a receiver's hands and then sometimes you just make bad throws. The name of the game is how many games you win and how many you lose."
Blanda began his career with the Bears at quarterback and kicker, but when the Bears took away his quarterbacking duties, he retired in 1959.
With the emergence of the American Football League came a second chance. Houston signed Blanda and he led the Oilers to two AFL titles and was named the AFL Player of the Year in 1961. When he approached 40, the Oilers moved on, but the Raiders picked him up as a backup quarterback and kicker. Blanda was the kicker for Super Bowl II in 1968, when the Packers beat the Raiders, 33-14, at the Miami Orange Bowl. Blanda missed a 47-yarder.
Blanda's most memorable season with the Raiders was in 1970 during a five-game stretch. Blanda either threw last second touchdowns or kicked a late field goal lead the Raiders to four victories and a tie. He was 43.
"I threw a lot of interceptions in my career because when we started in the old AFL, we tried to make big plays and we tried to do things we shouldn't have done," said Blanda. "You wanted to make the game exciting. And it was exciting. That's why a lot of people kind of liked the AFL because the ball was in the air all the time.
"You scored a lot of points, but you made a lot of mistakes. But that's all part of football."
Like Favre, Blanda's love for the game kept him going. He retired just before the 1976 season, one month shy of his 49th birthday; he'd hope to play until he was 50.
"I kept playing because I enjoyed playing and because people wanted me to play," said Blanda. "The Houston Oilers released me at age 39 and I had had 17 years at that time and I was history. But Al Davis called and I loved playing.
"Brett Favre, he'll never retire. They'll have to kick him off the team before he quits because he loves the game. You can tell by the way he plays, he's very passionate about the game."
When Blanda retired, he held many NFL records. Thirty years later, even as seasons have expanded to 16 games, he is still prominent in the NFL record book. Among them:
• Played in 340 games, third behind kicker Morten Andersen (368) and kicker Gary Anderson (353).
• Scored 2,002 points, third behind Andersen (2,445) and Anderson (2,434).
• Led the NFL in pass attempts for four years in 1953, 1963-'65, tied with two others for second most.
• Led the NFL in completions from 1963-'65, the three straight seasons an NFL record (he ties with Dan Marino, who led the league from 1984-'86).
• Attempted 68 passes for the Oilers against Buffalo in 1964, tied for the third highest mark in a single game.
• Threw seven touchdowns in one game in 1961, the all-time record - Blanda is tied with four others. That year Blanda also threw four or more touchdowns in four games straight, among all time NFL leaders.
"Every record is made to be broken," Blanda said. "I've had records. I was the highest scorer in the NFL for 32 years; nobody knew about it. And it was broken and it was no big deal.
"It didn't earn me a cup of coffee or anything."