When Brett Favre played for the Green Bay Packers for 16 seasons, No. 4 set most of team passing records, plus made the Packers into a Super Bowl contender for most of those seasons. Favre won three NFL MVP awards, started 253 consecutive games at quarterback for the Pack, plus led Green Bay to a win in Super Bowl XXXI. During that time, Favre threw 442 touchdown passes in his regular season career with the Pack.
Going into the 2021 season, quarterback Aaron Rodgers had thrown 412 career touchdown passes for Packers in 16 seasons. In the first three years of his NFL career (2005 through 2007), Rodgers backed up Favre. Like Brett, Aaron has also won three NFL MVP awards and led the Pack to a win in Super Bowl XLV.
Another connection for both Brett and Aaron is that they both appear in “You Can If You Will: The Jerry Kramer Story” which will be shown exclusively in Milwaukee on November 13th at the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall, which is in the Marcus Performing Arts Center. I was honored to be the supervising producer for that epic documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Glenn Aveni.
To break Favre’s team record of 442 touchdown passes, Rodgers has to throw at least 31 touchdown passes in 2021. So far in five games, Rodgers has led the Packers to a 4-1 and has thrown 10 touchdowns vs. three interceptions. That puts Rodgers on pace to break Favre’s mark.
Rodgers is also topping another record that is shared by Favre and Bart Starr, which is most seasons having played with the Packers. Going into the 2021 season, Starr, Favre and Rodgers had all played 16 seasons with the Pack. Aaron is now into his 17th season with the Packers and no one has played more (season-wise) in a Green Bay uniform than No. 12.
When Favre threw the 442 touchdown passes when he played for the Packers, No. 4 also threw 286 interceptions. One of Brett’s nicknames was “Gunslinger” and it fit his quarterback personality well on the field when he played. Favre was never afraid to throw the ball into a tight window or to even attack when there was double or even triple coverage on his receiver.
Currently, Rodgers has thrown 422 career touchdown passes for the Pack. In addition, No. 12 has thrown just 92 picks. That means that Rodgers has a ratio of 4.6 to 1 in terms of touchdown passes per interception. That is the best of all time in the NFL. Favre had a of 1.51 to 1 ratio in his career as a NFL quarterback.
To show you how good that career touchdown pass to interception rate is for Rodgers, only Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs come close. Mahomes has a 4.3 to 1 ratio. Russell Wilson has a 3.38 to 1 ratio. Tom Brady has a 3.08 to 1 ratio. Drew Brees had a 2.35 to 1 ratio. Peyton Manning had a 2.15 to 1 ratio. Steve Young had a 2.16 to 1 ratio. Dan Marino had a 1.66 to 1 ratio.
Rodgers is also right up there in career passer rating, as he has a 103.9 mark, which is third all time. Only Mahomes (108.4) and Deshaun Watson (104.5) top him. Favre had a career passer rating of 86.0. The current NFL has become a pass-happy league, which certainly differs itself from the way games were played in the 1960s for instance. The great Johnny Unitas had a career passer rating of 78.2. Starr was 80.5. The ground game was much more prevalent in that era.
While breaking Favre’s all-time touchdown pass record with the Packers is within his sights, catching Favre in overall NFL touchdown passes will take some work for Rodgers. In his 20 seasons in the NFL, Favre threw 508 touchdown passes. If Rodgers continues to play like he has recently, especially under head coach Matt LaFleur, Rodgers has a chance to break that record of Favre’s in the 2023 season.
When Favre retired in after the 2010 season, he held the all-time record for touchdown passes in the NFL with that 508 mark. Three quarterbacks have gone on to eclipse that record. (Peyton) Manning threw 539 touchdown passes in his NFL career before he retired, while Brees, who just retired after the 2020 NFL season, threw 571 touchdown passes. Incredibly, the 44-year old Brady is still going strong and has now thrown 596 touchdown passes in his career.
Bottom line, Rodgers continues to break records along the way in his 17th season in the NFL. Rodgers has now passed both Marino (420) and Philip Rivers (421) in terms of career touchdown passes in the NFL. Breaking Brett’s all-time Green Bay Packers record for touchdown passes, for an organization which is now over 100 years old, would have to be one the greatest moments of Aaron’s career.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerry Kramer has supported the Boys & Girls Club of Door County since he was introduced to the Club in 2010 by Dave Resch. They first met at a My Brother’s Keeper fundraiser in Green Bay. Resch asked Kramer if he would sign a couple of footballs for the second annual celebrity golf outing for the Boys & Girls Club.
Jerry asked about the details regarding the Club and how the Club impacted the community. Dave explained the signed footballs would be part of a silent auction and funds were used from this event to help pay expenses of the Club. Jerry said he liked to golf but loved to fish even more so. He said he would come to the next outing if the Club could arrange for him to do some fishing with his good buddy Doug Hart. The rest is history which became a love affair between Jerry and the Club.
Through the years, a number of Jerry’s teammates like Hart, Dave Robinson, Zeke Bratkowski, and Marv Fleming have supported the event and were joined by other members of the Packers organization like Bob Harlan, Mark Murphy and Ron Wolf. A number of other former Green Bay players like Paul Coffman, Mark Tauscher, Harry Sydney, Bill Schroeder, Johnnie Gray, and Randy Wright also supported the celebrity golf outing.
During the 12 years of the celebrity golf outings, the Club has raised $1,075,000 with the support of many very generous sponsors, golfers, and donors. Jerry’s presence at these outings is much anticipated and certainly has helped make the outing one of the most profitable and successful golf outings in Door County!
Unfortunately, Jerry was unable to be at the 2021 celebrity golf outing this past June due to health issues. But on September 30th, Jerry was able to be on hand for a dinner honoring him at The Lodge at Leathem Smith in Sturgeon Bay sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club of Door County.
170 people attended the dinner (which included Jerry’s sons Dan and Matt) and they were able to see the recently completed documentary, “You Can If You Will: The Jerry Kramer Story” which was directed by award-winning filmmaker Glenn Aveni. I was honored to be a supervising producer for this epic film. Glenn was on hand for the dinner, as was I. In fact, I introduced Jerry at the dinner, which was a rousing success in terms of fundraising, plus the Club was able to add some new donors as well.
Jerry Kramer, Doug Hart and Mark Murphy from a previous celebrity golf outingfor the Boys & Girls Club of Door County.
I had a very nice time at the dinner, plus I was able to see a couple of my college roommates, Brian Peterson and Rick Gigot, from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, who I hadn’t seen in 40-plus years.
The day before the dinner, my wife Pam and I joined Brian and his wife Laura on a trip across Sturgeon Bay in Brian’s 34-foot boat. What a great time that was!
Before the fantastic boat ride, I had a great meeting with four people who play a big part in the success of the Boys & Girls Club of Door County. I met with Jen Gentry, the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Door County, Larry Brunette, a board member and a past chairman of the Boys & Girls Club of Door County celebrity golf outing, Brett Bicoy, the President and CEO of the Door County Community Foundation and John Sabo, the Vice President of Philanthropic Services.
You could just feel the passion that these folks had about their community and the Boys & Girls Club of Door County specifically.
“The Boys & Girls Club of Door County is located in Sturgeon Bay,” Gentry said. “We touch quite a few children in the community. I actually got involved with the Boys and Girls Club as a board member. I was looking for a volunteer opportunity when I first moved to Door County and I was very touched by the programs that the Club offered. For instance, we have one Special Needs room which is a gigantic room which is located in the basement of the Club and it serves all of the kids in the community. It gives them things like lice kits, shoes and tooth paste. There are a number of kids who go home and don’t have shampoo.
“I feel we are very privileged in our community in terms of the level of wealth. Unfortunately, we also have a large level of poverty in the community and the kids really are affected. Many of our kids don’t know how to use utensils or they haven’t had vegetables. So, we provide programs like how to garden and cook. And beyond just the club itself, especially when COVID-19 started, we really focused on food in the community.
“You don’t have to be a Club member, you just need to stop in a get a bag of food. We noticed that are food was gone within an hour when we had it out during a week day. So we also created a weekend meal program. Many of our kids will come in on a Monday morning or Monday afternoon after school and they seem really irritable and lethargic. It was because they weren’t eating much during the weekend. These meal kits that we give out are designed to help sustain the children through the whole weekend until they can get back to the Club.
“So these are the types of things we are doing to help the kids in our community. In terms of the number of children we work with, it varies. In the summer time, it’s packed, as we look at as many as 100 to 150 kids a week. In the school year, because of COVID-19, we are doing smaller groups, which will range from 50- 75 kids per week. We are also hoping to open two satellite sites by the end of the year as well, which will get us up to around 150 kids per week. In the past, we have gone up to as many as 250 kids per week. If we can figure out the logistics of the space and staff, we can definitely serve a large amount of kids.”
Brunette then chimed in.
“With the need for the kids and also the satellite programs, Door County is sort of an unique setting,” Brunette said. “We have had relationships with different school districts and we are expanding that. We constantly have communications with them. So as we look at the space constraints for the Club, the idea is to partner with the school districts to utilize their facilities. Then it comes down to staffing. And the big rub that non-profits have, especially our Club, is the funding. Less than 4 percent comes from the government. Everything else is raised via donations.
“It’s imperative that the community buys into what we are doing with these kids. The other piece to piggy-back to what Jen has said, is to build the self confidence of these kids. You won’t be successful anywhere, unless you have confidence. The Boys and Girls Club does a great job in doing that, as the kids not only get food security, but also the social and emotional aspect of their lives is built up. You can’t put a price tag on that.”
Bicoy then added his two cents.
“Every child that comes into the Club is not paying for their participation,” Bicoy said. ” The more kids get into the Club and the more successful the Club is, the more the Club loses money. Which is why we need the community to step forward and help us. And that is what Door County has done.”
Gentry also talked about the 64/87 Scholarship that Jerry had set up to help out a Door County student going to the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The reason that the scholarship is named 64/87 is due to the jersey number that Kramer wore (No. 64) as a member of the Packers, as well as the jersey number that the late, great WIllie Davis wore (No. 87) with the Pack.
Kramer and Davis were very good friends and Jerry wanted to acknowledge the success that Davis not only had in football, but also in life and in business.
“Yes, selected participants will be awarded $8,700 in Jerry’s and Willie’s name,” Gentry said. “The scholarship is an award for high school seniors or undergraduates who are past members of the Club or staff members, current or past, who are historically been underrepresented in Door County.
“So they have the ability to apply for the scholarship if they demonstrated leadership in community service. The student has to have at least a 3.0 GPA to achieve the scholarship.”
Sabo also chimed in regarding the scholarship.
“People can donate directly to the Community Foundation in terms of the scholarship that Jerry has put out there,” Sabo said. “That will raise more money for that obviously. The Packers have been on board with the scholarship and have donated as well.
“It’s a great opportunity for students to keep their confidence growing, knowing that there is money to support their dreams of going to college.”
I also had a chance to talk with Jerry after he returned home to Boise, Idaho from his trips to Sturgeon Bay and Green Bay (for alumni weekend with the Packers). I specifically wanted to talk about his relationship with the Boys & Girls Club of Door County.
“It’s kind of an interesting thing, Bob,” Jerry said. “I didn’t know a lot about the Boys & Girls Club when I accepted that first invitation from Dave Resch and decided to bring Doug along. I was going fishing and playing golf, which just happen to be my two favorite pastimes.
“We really didn’t focus on the kids the first time or two. Then we started getting more and more information and insight about the kids. It gradually took hold after people knew that we would be coming to these celebrity golf events. More and more sponsors and donors got involved and the funds for the kids got better year after year.
“It became a personal aspect of my life. Much more important than fishing or golf. It was fascinating to see more and more people get involved with helping the Boys & Girls Club. Mark Murphy, Bob Harlan and others from the front office of the Packers started participating, as well as former players from the Packers. It was just a fun thing to be involved in, especially with more and more people taking part to help out the kids.
“It all started because of Dave Resch reaching out to me. Dave has done a hell of a job, as has everyone involved with the Club. In terms of my involvement, Coach Lombardi taught us to leave a positive impact on society. The world would be a much better place if we did that. That’s what I have tried to do all these years.”
I know that the folks in Door County would certainly second that in terms of Jerry making their Boys & Girls Club a better place.
The Green Bay Packers finalized a deal with linebacker Jaylon Smith on Thursday morning according to both NFL Network and ESPN. The Packers were able to sign Smith after the Dallas Cowboys surprisingly released Smith earlier this week.
Smith had been a very solid inside linebacker for the Cowboys going into the 2021 season and was even named to the 2019 Pro Bowl squad. From 2017 through 2020, Smith accumulated 498 tackles, 20 tackles for a loss, nine sacks, two interceptions, six forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.
So far in the 2021 season, Smith played in all four of the games that Dallas had played in and had 18 tackles.
The Packers are getting a real bargain with the signing, as Smith won’t cost the Packers much because his $7.2 million base salary is guaranteed and will be paid by the Cowboys. Smith is not expected to get much more than the $990,000 minimum from Green Bay for a player of Smith’s experience.
Smith was one of the best players in college football when he played with Notre Dame prior to the 2016 NFL draft. However, Smith suffered a severe knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl when the Fighting Irish played the Ohio State Buckeyes.
I recall talking to NFL scout Chris Landry prior to the 2016 draft about Smith, as the Butkus Award winner was expected to miss the entire 2016 NFL season due to his knee injury. The Packers were one of the NFL teams who brought Smith in for a pre-draft interview, as Ted Thompson was the general manager of the team at the time.
At Notre Dame, where Smith also played inside linebacker in his sophomore and junior years, the Fort Wayne, Indiana native had 133 combined tackled those two seasons, which included 18 tackles for a loss, 4.5 sacks, one interception, three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.
Smith was named second-team All-American in 2014 and first-team All-American in 2015. When Smith played for Notre Dame in 2014, head coach Matt LaFleur of the Packers was on the coaching staff of the Fighting Irish as quarterbacks coach.
Getting back to my conversation with Landry, the NFL scout gushed about how impressive Smith was at Notre Dame before his injury.
“One of the big stories of this draft is going to be determined next week in large part,” Landry said. “I don’t know if we’ll hear about it that much, but when we go to the re-check physicals, Jaylon Smith of Notre Dame [will get his].
“Let me remind people. There is not a better player in this draft than Jaylon Smith of Notre Dame. He’s the kid who had the knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. If medically the doctors say that he’s going to be 100 percent once he’s healed, I mean there are teams talking late in the first round about taking him.
“You are talking about a guy who could be the first pick or the second pick or third pick of the draft if he was healthy. If you are in a position, maybe like Bob’s Packers or somebody like that, I mean you are talking about an elite player.
“You would have to redshirt him, as he’s not going to play next year. But if you are willing to do that and be comfortable enough as an organization to do it, and then medically do you feel good, with the the doctors being comfortable saying that this guy is going to be fine in a year, it’s just going to take time, he is well worth the wait.”
Landry gave Smith the highest grade on his linebacker draft board with a 6.5 mark, which was also shared by Myles Jack of UCLA.
The Cowboys ended up drafting Smith with pick No. 34 in Round 2 of the 2016 NFL draft. Would the Packers have selected Smith later in the second round if he was still available? That we will never know. Instead the Packers selected offensive tackle Jason Spriggs of Indiana
Current Green Bay GM Brian Gutekunst was the director of college scouting for the Packers when Smith played at Notre Dame. I’m sure that was one of the reasons the Packers brought in Smith for a pre-draft interview and also eventually signed the former Fighting Irish star after his release by the Cowboys.
Going into the 2021 NFL season, it looked like inside linebacker would be one of the weaker positions on the Green Bay defense. But after the signing of free agent De’Vondre Campbell in June and now the signing of Smith, inside linebacker looks to be a strength position on the defense, as Campbell has been one of the few bright spots of the defense so far in 2021.
Based on the background of Smith at both Notre Dame and the Cowboys in the NFL, it appears that Campbell and Smith could be quite a dynamic duo.
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