Favre clarifies 'best team' remark

Brett Favre ruffled some feathers east of the Twin Cities earlier this season when he called the Vikings the "best team I've ever been on." That comment, not surprisingly, didn't sit well with Packers fans and members of the 1996 Super Bowl-winning team.

Favre heard the criticism, but he said he doesn't feel any vindication now that the Vikings are 8-1 and considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Favre said it's no different from when he predicted big things for the Packers in 2007 after the team went 8-8 the previous season.

"Everybody thought I was crazy, and then we went 13-3 [in 2007]," Favre said Wednesday. "I believed it. I believe that about this team. Is it the '96 team? No. I'll say that over and over again. This team has a long ways to go to ever equal that. It doesn't mean we can't be as good or on paper we're not as good. I've heard some of the comments, 'Jared Allen's not Reggie White.' No, he's not. He'd be the first to tell you that. But it is a good team. Does it have its flaws? Sure. Every team in this league does. And we'll face adversity along the way, have faced some adversity. We have handled most of it pretty well.

"How we go on from here remains to be seen, but as I felt the first day here, I knew what this team was capable of. I know what I'm capable of. There's no guarantees. But I don't feel vindicated. I'm not surprised that this team has had the success it has had. But that's up to now. It has nothing to do with the future. I don't know if it continues, but I'm not surprised by it. The people who said, 'He's crazy,' at least up to this point they don't really have a leg to stand on. They are waiting. They are almost waiting for us to fail or waiting for me to fail. I totally understand that, and that's OK."

It's certainly hard to find fault with Favre's play so far. He leads the NFL in passer rating (107.5) and has completed 68.1 percent of his passes for 2,269 yards with 17 touchdowns and only three interceptions.

The NFL's all-time leader in interceptions has thrown the fewest picks among all full-time starting quarterbacks this season. He's never had this few interceptions after nine games in his previous 18 seasons, and he's on pace to throw only five for the season, which would easily be a career-low as a starter.

Just don't mention those numbers to Vikings coach Brad Childress.

"You know what, I'm superstitious," he said. "I really don't want to talk about the lack of picks. I'm sorry. I don't really want to engage in that. The numbers stand as they are."

It's also worth noting that two of Favre's three interceptions came on tipped balls.

"I could probably point to a lot of things [for the low interception total], but, like I said, the system is very familiar to me," Favre said. "The run game has played a part in it. I think the threat of the run game has helped. ... I think the other thing that definitely has made a big difference [is] I haven't made a lot of bad decisions, but the few that -- I wouldn't call them bad decisions -- but maybe somewhat risky throws, the guys have saved me. [There were] games where guys have made plays that could have easily gone the other way."