Welcome to the Wednesday edition of The Cooler, where we would be nothing if not for overcorrections. Let's get to it:
*Brett Favre made his reputation in the NFL with big-time throws, taking chances and, yes, durability even in the face of physical damage. He started 297 consecutive regular-season games and withstood a barrage of illegal hits with the Vikings against New Orleans in the 2009 NFC title game that turned his ankle an awful color.
If Favre was still playing today, though, he would find things quite different. He might never, in fact, retire.
Rules designed to protect the quarterback have increased over the years, and this year officials are being even more strict and enforcing penalties for roughing the quarterback that look like perfectly legal plays.
And Favre, retired since 2010, thinks the NFL has overcorrected in its hopes of protecting quarterbacks.
"I think they have gone too far. It hasn't been that long since I retired but in some ways it's like light-years away," Favre said this week on SiriusXM NFL Radio.
He talked specifically about the penalty on Clay Matthews that gave the Vikings new life in an eventual 29-29 tie with Green Bay on Sunday.
"This call was so bad and I think this call is a result of all the hype and the pressure to protect the quarterbacks," Favre said. He added: "Clay's had a history of those type of plays. This one was textbook, and if you're going to use it as a teaching video, you teach that this is the way we expect you to tackle, and that's the way I saw it. And that's neither being a Clay Matthews or Packer fan, or a Minnesota Viking fan or hater, you know, that was a bad call. And to me, why not be able to review that?"
