Packers: Aaron Rodgers vs. Brett Favre Comparison
By Tim Muma
Evaluating the two on passing yards can be a tricky proposition, but the Packers were never hurting for yards through the air.
Like completion percentage, passing yards have jumped up over the past 15 years. That again makes a comparison of eras as important as raw statistics.
Stats can also be misleading due to circumstance or arbitrary numbers.
For example, Favre’s durability allowed him to play more games in his age-25 to 32 seasons. Although at times he was badly hampered (e.g. broken thumb on his throwing hand), he still gave the Packers the best chance to win.
Rodgers had 41.84 yards more per game than the NFL, while Favre was at 41.58 yards above the league.
Interestingly, Favre and Rodgers averaged nearly the exact same amount of yards passing per season at the same ages.
Favre: 4,012.13 yards per season (1994-2001)
Rodgers: 4,008.75 yards per season (2008-2015)
However, Favre’s average was 665 yards better than the league during that time. Rodgers was 351.65 yards higher during his period. Still good, but not at the same level.
But if we turn our attention to yards per game, the comparison grows ever tighter. Rodgers averaged 270.41 yards per game, while Favre threw for 250.78 per contest.
Compared to their peers at the time, it’s almost exactly even. Rodgers had 41.84 yards more per game than the NFL, while Favre was at 41.58 yards above the league.
That’s about as close as it gets when you’re talking about about more than 8,000 pass attempts and nearly 65,000 yards.
Another item to note is that Favre had at least 3,800 passing yards in all eight of these seasons we’re comparing. Rodgers also threw for 3,800 in each season, with the exception of 2013 when he played in just nine games.
However, like with completion percentage, Rodgers never led the league in passing yards. Meanwhile, Favre was at the top twice: 1995 and 1998.