A brand-new start of it for Favre
August 16, 2008
Brett Lorenzo Favre’s last moments in Green Bay were carried live on television. But it was not the end anyone could have predicted. Instead of shivering on a snow-covered football field, he stood on a sun-soaked tarmac. Instead of carrying his helmet, he carried luggage out of a dark-red Escalade and onto a waiting plane. As breathless news anchors described the action, the plane took off into the early-afternoon sky.
And thus ended arguably the most successful run any quarterback has ever had on any team.
It was a complex, confusing, confounding climax to the most unbelievable soap opera in NFL history. And it wasn’t even over. Favre would fly first to Mississippi and later to New York as he was traded in the biggest deal in Jets and Packers history. The biggest deal in sports history, if you listened too long to too many commentators.
Yes, the aw-shucksiest, down-homeist, countriest boy to ever gunsling the pigskin would be playing in the bright lights and big city in the Big Apple. Favre and Green Bay were a perfect match. Favre and New York • not so much. If a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, Favre needs New York like a deer needs a subway. Even Favre seemed cognizant of this. “To a certain degree, I don’t really know what I’ve gotten myself into,” he said.
And thus began the most anticipated run any quarterback has ever had on any team. At least it seems that way so far.
At a press conference on March 6, Favre cried while announcing his retirement from the Packers after 16 seasons. In a style that has endeared him to fans and the media, he was bluntly honest in saying he was too mentally drained to play. In a matter of weeks, he had changed his mind and decided to return to the NFL, but the Packers, like a jilted lover, had moved on. The fight was ugly, the breakup was unseemly, Packers coach Mike McCarthy publicly questioned whether Favre really wanted to play. And the Jets wondered, before acquiring him, whether he would agree to play for them.
Should a guy who a few short months ago was too mentally drained to play in Green Bay now play in New York City, the most mentally draining place in the country? Favre and the Jets both say he can handle it. Other athletes who have moved to New York and veterans of the New York sports scene believe Favre will make the adjustment. But those people also say it won’t be easy. “The scrutiny there is going to be tenfold what he went through in Green Bay,” says Kerry Collins, the former Giants quarterback who now backs up Vince Young in Tennessee.
Favre is going from the smallest market in the NFL to the largest. But the difference is in the number of fans in the markets, not the degree of their passion, says former Jets coach Al Groh, now the coach at the University of Virginia. “New York’s got a bigger zoo and more restaurants, but the passion for professional football is very similar in each place,” he says.
That might be giving Jets fans too much credit. Packer Nation makes most fans seem namby-pamby about their teams. Judging by vanity plates at Lambeau Field and around Green Bay last week, Packers fans are way more passionate than Jets fans. Plus, they wear cheese! And then there’s this old joke: A man with season tickets at Lambeau Field shows up for Week 1. The seat next to him, usually occupied by his wife, remains empty. Neighboring fans ask where she is. He explains she died in the offseason. They offer condolences and ask why he couldn’t bring a friend or relative to the game–after all, the waiting list for season tickets has more than 70,000 names on it. “I would have,” the man replies, “but they are all at her funeral.”
The point being, as the (former) center of the universe on a team that is the center of the entire state of Wisconsin’s sports universe, Favre is accustomed to attention. “In Green Bay, every single person, kid, child, man, woman knew who he was no matter where he went,” says Panthers linebacker Na’il Diggs, a teammate of Favre’s for six years in Green Bay. “In New York, you might find a couple people that might not recognize him. He might be able to slide through the radar a little better with more people and crowds.”
So let’s stipulate that Brett Favre is ready for New York. Is New York ready for Brett Favre? Jets coach Eric Mangini is a control freak; Favre draws up plays in the sand. Already, Mangini has said he’ll change his offense to suit Favre’s gunslingerliness. “Brett does some things on instinct. And you don’t want to coach him out of a good play,” Mangini says.
The Jets’ offense is similar to the Packers’, so the transition from an X’s and O’s standpoint won’t be drastic. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be struggles. “When you get a new quarterback in, getting him on the same page with terminology is the biggest challenge,” says Chargers coach Norv Turner.
In Green Bay, for example, when the quarterback takes a knee to run out the clock, the play is called Church (because he gets on his knees.) Whatever the Jets call it, Favre will think Church and then translate it, and eventually, he’ll just think of the new word.
Just as Favre must get used to the new language, the Jets must get used to his risk-taking. It will be interesting to see how Mangini and Jets fans react when Favre starts overgunslinging. “Everything that happens here gets magnified more than anywhere else in the world,” says Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado. “You are in the spotlight all the time, so you have very little room for mistakes.”
Favre will eventually throw a ridiculous gamelosing, playing-like-a-kid-is-charming-exceptwhen-he-never-learns-from-his-mistakes-type interception, and New York’s tabloid headline writers will salivate at the prospects.
He’ll get Favrecued.
“I think the only situation that’s going to be tough is if he doesn’t come out and play at a high level,” says Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner, who played one year with the Giants after being released by the Rams in 2004. “He’s never dealt with that kind of scrutiny. I’m not sure New York and the media will be as kind if he goes out and isn’t playing at that kind of level.”
Favre brings with him a Super Bowl championship and an appearance in another, which combined with $5 would get him a latte at Starbucks–if country boys drank that froufrou stuff. Success in a small market does not always portend success in New York, especially considering New York defines success as winning a championship. Alex Rodriguez arrived in the Bronx as the best player in baseball. He still is, but he choked on the Big Apple. “In some ways, it’s like A-Rod coming to the Yankees, but there is a big difference,” says Joe Torre, the former Yankees manager who now manages the Dodgers, about Favre’s arrival in New York. “Everyone keeps pushing on the fact Alex has never won a World Series. Favre has won a Super Bowl and been in another one. And he has such a colorful personality, perfect for New York. Alex is a spectacular player, spectacular. But all the color (Favre) brings to the game makes it different.”
Favre’s straw-in-his-mouth personality–who doesn’t love The Gunslinger?–will draw loads of attention. And as he showed with his speed-dial connection to ESPN in recent weeks, he isn’t afraid to use the media to promote his agenda. “He knows he’s not just another player,” says Pedro Martinez, who joined the Mets at the tail end of his Hall of Fame career. “He may want to be under the radar, but that is going to be impossible in New York with all the media attention. He understands what he has to do. He’s been No. 1 for so many years, he knows exactly what his responsibilities are. I have no doubt he knows what he’s facing.”
Surely Favre was the first Packer ever to fly away from the team on live television. His arrival in New York was unique, too–he attended a press event with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Hizzoner gave Favre a key ring with a promise to add a key to the city if Favre wins the Super Bowl, thus adding absurd expectations to the pressure, scrutiny and challenges Favre faces.
“He’s being looked at as the savior,” says Packers president Mark Murphy. “It will be much different for him as compared to what he is leaving in Green Bay. It will be very fun to watch. Nothing would surprise me. I expect that he’ll do well there, and we wish him the best.”
Those are kind parting words considering how acrimonious and public the breakup was. The media coverage was exhaustive and exhausting, and the all-Favre, all-the-time news cycle shows no sign of ending now that he’s in the media capital of the world. “The attention I’ve gotten since I’ve been here has been overwhelming,” Favre says.
And that was before he had even practiced with his new team.
