MVN - Most Valuable Network

Brett’s Last Interception as a Packer

As a Packers fan, it is good to know Brett did not reserve his poor judgment for the football field alone.  

He made those impulsive decisions many more than the 288 times in his career he was intercepted. Sure, not all of those were bad decisions, but he seemingly got away with one or two bad passes a game because his velocity was such that those passes were more difficult to intercept.

That was why he would try those passes that other quarterbacks would not—i.e. maybe they did not represent as bad a judgment as they would have for another, but they were still often unnecessary chances.

At the end of last season, he made a poor decision again based on emotion, and retired before he was ready to. He was tired. He was frustrated about losing the NFC Championship Game on his own home field; all of which is understandable.

Then he made a poor decision to contact the Vikings in violation of team rules, and they made the bad decision to take the call. He compounded that poor decision by making that call on a cell phone for which phone records could be intercepted by Packers management.

(It was originally reported that the cell phone was issued by the Packers, which Favre’s people deny. But then how does the team have the records? Are they paying for it, and if so, is this a violation of league rules for player compensation? You can bet these questions will be answered in the league’s investigation…then Goodell will destroy the evidence.)

What’s the matter Brett, you couldn’t afford to pay for that call yourself? I guess with gas prices right now, the nearly $13 million you were paid last year does not go so far, huh?

Did you think the Packers wouldn’t notice when they got the bill? Did you think they wouldn’t care after you stabbed them in the back?

And make no mistake, Brett did stab the Packers in the back. He told Peter King, in a long message, when he retired that he had nothing left, and that neither Ted Thompson nor Mike McCarthy pushed him out the door.

King has said he could hear the fatigue and sincerity in Favre’s voice at the time, and calls what Favre is now claiming “revisionist history.” This also matches what Thompson and McCarthy have stated and quantified, as I wrote about in “Are You Sick of the Favre Story?”

They tried to talk him out of retirement, and then they respected his wishes. Even when he talked about returning and then changed his mind two days before they were scheduled to come down to meet with him, they kept that private, thereby protecting his legacy.

Then we find out he made a 90-second call to the Packers’ chief rival? How are there any Favre supporters left?

Oh yeah, they’re ignoring the facts before them and making decisions based on emotion and impulse. Just like Brett Favre has done throughout his career.

I don’t even care that he changed his mind. I care that he tries to make that the Packers’ fault.

He says Ted Thompson let him down by hiring the wrong coach. This is the same coach who has won 18 of his last 22 games with a team few expected to be competitive.

He says Thompson made the wrong decision by not keeping linemen Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle. Only one of them is still in the league and neither of whom made a significant impact after they were let go.

The one case he can make is that his plea for Randy Moss fell on deaf ears. But who knows if Moss flourishes anywhere other than with the Patriots, where the entire team buys into the dictatorial rule of Bill Belichick because of the success it brings?

Then he says he cannot trust Thompson to keep his word. Really, Brett? This from the guy who changed his mind three times about retirement in one month? The guy who violated his own contract to seek out validation from a team rival after causing a major distraction for his former team, especially his young successor?

Do you remember when he claimed reports he wanted to return were nothing more than rumour, and let his mother and brother be his mouthpiece? And after all this drama, he still has not backed up his word about returning, either: no letter asking for reinstatement has been sent.

It seems that was not a necessary step in ruining the Packers season, and thus has not been a priority.

Did you notice that even the fans are turning on you, Brett? There were more cheers for Thompson and especially McCarthy than there were calls to bring you back at today’s shareholders meeting. Go away before you drown out the rest of those wonderful memories we have of your time here.

(This is an expanded version of an article I originally wrote for Bleacher Report.)

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Ted Thompson, Brett Favre, Offseason moves, Retirement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.