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http://www.nola.com/lsu/index.ssf/2016/04/brett_favre_lsu.html
Brett Favre talks about his NFL career
By Katherine Terrell, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Brett Favre address the Coach's Clinic Friday, April 1, 2016 at the Maravich Assembly Center at LSU in Baton Rouge. He talked about his his playing years, including high school, college and pro. He remembered his dad, talked about the Hall of Fame and his love for coaching high school football. (Photo by Ted Jackson, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Quarterback Brett Favre grew up in Kiln, Miss., an hour from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. It was close enough that he would go to bed at night dreaming of what it would be like to be New Orleans Saints quarterback, and fellow Mississippi native Archie Manning.
This summer, Favre will get to accomplish something Manning never did, when he is inducted into the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
Favre, the keynote speaker at LSU's coaches clinic on Friday, said he never grew up dreaming of becoming an NFL Hall of Famer. But he did grow up with dreams of what it would be like to don an NFL uniform.
"I never dreamed of the Hall of Fame," Favre said. "I don't know how you could. I'm sure some people do. I dreamed of playing pro football, probably like most people here...
"I was Archie Manning going to bed at night. I loved the Dallas Cowboys and I loved the Saints. The only thing to love about the Saints was Archie. And next year. That was it. Am I right?"
Favre, who was known for his loose and freewheeling playing style during his 20-year NFL career, said he was drawn to watching Manning not just because of the proximity, but because he found him so fun to watch.
"He threw one underhanded one time, one of the best passes I've ever seen." Favre said. "I dreamed about that, being that, running out on the field, playing in the Super Bowl. But I never dreamed of Pro Bowls, or being the MVP, or playing 20 years. I thought I'd play forever to be honest with you...
"Everything I ever dreamed of came true. How many people can say that?
Favre spent most of his career as a Green Bay Packer, winning a Super Bowl during that time period along with three straight MVP awards. But for someone who grew up a Saints fan, he could have ended up the Saints bitter enemy.
Favre was the Falcons second-round pick in the 1991 draft but spent only a season there before he was traded to the Packers. Luckily for the Saints, Favre immediately drew the disdain of coach Jerry Glanville, who vowed to never play him.
"Right away, my name was Mississippi," Favre said. "And he didn't like me from the start for whatever reason. It all worked out to perfection because it got me traded."
Favre ended his career in Minnesota in 2010, retiring as the league leader in passing yards, attempts, completions, touchdowns, interceptions and wins.
Although Archie's son Peyton Manning broke most of Favre's records, Favre's streak of 297 consecutive games started is still intact. It is likely that Saints quarterback Drew Brees will also pass up many of Favre's milestones one day as well.
Here's some highlights of Favre's talk and Q&A session, which spanned an hour:
On being hazed in Atlanta:
"This was back when we had 12 rounds and the guys got hazed, harassed. I mean, it was bad. And the second day in camp all the older guys said 'Hey, we're shaving your head. And I said 'bull----.'
There were (14 draft picks) and I was the only guy who didn't get his head shaved. That's really the one thing I can say I was proud of that whole year. But Jerry (Glanville) was right there instigating. 'Oh Mississippi, we're going to get that hair.'
I said, 'Y'all may kick my ass, but I'm going to kick three of them in the process, of your guys.' So, again, I was proud of the fact that I fought them off."
On Leonard Fournette's athletic ability:
"In my opinion, you've got to raise eyebrows, unless you're Fournette, unless you're Bo Jackson. Very few guys could wake up and just be great without even trying.
Bo Jackson I think still holds the record for the 40 time at the Combine, 4.09, 4.11, something like that. And he prepared for it zero times. Today they have camps for running 40s and camps for Combines and how to answer questions when the GMs come in. ... Very few guys have what it takes, that way, and I'd classify Fournette as one of those."
On learning the nickel defense in Green Bay:
"I think it was my second year in Green Bay and we'd drafted Ty Detmer, a good friend of mine. ... He and I got along great. Mark Brunell was the other quarterback. Both those guys started for quite a while in the league. Great guys...
"Now if you don't know what's going on, the trick is to act like you do. I'm the starting quarterback and (Mike) Holmgren would be up there and ... he's writing "nickel defense is in." ... I'm sitting there and thinking 'I hear this nickel defense all the time and I'm not sure what it is.'
Then I'm thrown for a loop when he says 'Long yardage situation, dime comes in.' And I'm thinking 'what the hell is dime?' ... but I was afraid to ask, because I'm the starter. So after about our second year, finally I said 'Ty, I have to ask you a question.'
I said 'Ty, what's a nickel defense.' He gets real quiet and says 'Are you serious?' I said 'yeah, I'm serious.' He says 'Well, basically they take out a linebacker and bring in a DB.'
I said 'that's it?' He said 'That's it.' I said 'Who gives a sh--?'"
On his consecutive starts streak:
"Whose to say what's more important, mental or physical toughness? I think both are extremely important. That's probably a matter of opinion which one is more important...
My mindset was always ... 'mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter.' Personally for me, I considered myself a tough guy. I don't know what that necessarily means. I just wanted to play...
When I finally got a chance to start, the guy in front of me, Don Majkowski, sprained his ankle in the second quarter. He was kind of struggling, people were booing. ... I didn't care, I just wanted an opportunity. I always told myself 'If I just get an opportunity, it's over.' Now, how many kids have said that? Probably most. But I truly believed. I'd worry about nickel defense or dime defense later. I'd just throw it right through them. And I did that.
I'm sure Majkowski thought 'I'll sit out,' and it wasn't a really bad sprain. And I don't know this for certain, Don and I have always been friends, by no means am I knocking him.
But maybe he was thinking 'They're on my ass, they'll see that it's not as bad as they may have thought ... and they'll want me back.' And 19 years later, 321 games, I'm assuming he said 'You know, they probably forgot about me.
Every time I got hurt, believe it or not, and I had my share, that crossed my mind. It never crossed my mind that 'you're the starter, they love you and you're OK if you want to take a seat.' That never crossed my mind.
What crossed my mind was how I played and how he never played again. And you are replaceable. It's amazing how quickly they forget you. Even when you're playing at the top of your game and you get hurt...I'm not talking about when you suck. I'm talking about when you're at the top of your game and you're out for two games and the next guy steps up, he's playing outstanding, and you start thinking 'I'm not liking this.' And it happens. I always thought about that."
On playing with a broken thumb in 2003:
"Probably the one I should not have played with was when I broke my thumb. Think about it, my throwing hand, I broke my right thumb. ... I hit a guy, typical, back of the helmet and I thought I'd jammed it. ... I played the second half, and it hurt like hell...
We take an x-ray, and fortunately, in 20 years, I had that break and a stress fracture in my foot my last year, and that was it.
So, they said 'You have to have surgery, you're out six weeks.' I didn't think 'man, the streak ends,' I thought, 'Maybe I can play with this.'
The problem was we were playing the Minnesota Vikings the next week on Monday Night Football, in Minnesota. And we absolutely sucked against Minnesota. Even when we won a Super Bowl, we lost to them in Minnesota. We couldn't beat them.
So I tell our team doctor 'Look, I think I can play.' And he kind of laughed and said 'You can't play with that, we need to do surgery to fix it.'
I said 'C'mon, just let me try.' He said 'How are you going to play with a broken thumb?' I said, 'Well I played the second half with it.' He said 'Yeah, but you didn't know it was broken. ... now it's going to hurt like a son of a, you know."
Really, there was no reason to try, but honestly, I'm not giving someone else a chance, first of all. I may not be able to do it, but I'm not giving someone else a chance to take my spot. Other people may have said 'Look, you're OK.' You're never OK.
I thought to myself, 'If you can play, and we can actually win this game, now you're doing something. You don't have to play great, but you can inspire your teammates and do something great.'
We superglue a splint to the back of my thumb ... and it was actually a top five game, and at the time, statistically speaking, the best game I'd ever had. I was 33-for-39 with three touchdowns. ... Every throw was perfect. Mentally I went into the game thinking a little more cautiously ... but I really think I inspired the other guys, and I think that was a big part of it."
On the effects of playing football:
"20 years is a long time. What will it do to my body? I have no idea. I'm not going to knock the game. If I had to do it over again, I'm too stubborn to play any different. I'd have played one more year just to prove people wrong. And again, whatever happens, happens."
On running the shotgun:
"2002 was the first time I'd ever ran a shotgun formation as a player. I started playing in 1992...
Mike Sherman was the head coach at the time. I started lobbying our center, my roommate Frank Winters ... I'd always say to him 'I want to do shotgun.' And the only reason I wanted to do shotgun was because I thought it was cool. I just thought, it just seems cool to do shotgun. We ran the traditional West Coast offense. ... But I wanted to just kind of do what I do best, no mechanics.
I actually talked to Mike Sherman about it and said 'look, we're playing Warren Sapp twice a year, and we can't block him. I need to be in the shotgun so I could get it out really fast.' It was sort of an excuse. He said 'that's a good point.' But we still couldn't block me. He still hit me every time and they won a Super Bowl. But we got to run shotgun."
On playing football at Lambeau Field
"It's one of those places you have to go. Ideally, you have to go watch a game. And it could be LSU-Wisconsin. If we can get tickets. Does anybody know how to get ahold of those?
It's one of those places that you have to, and I'm assuming Yankee Stadium is one, I've never been there. Lambeau Field is a special place. A lot has changed but they're still right there in the same spot....
There's nothing like playing at Lambeau Field or playing there when the conditions are bad. I didn't realize when I got there that it had been 25 years since they went to the playoffs. They were basically still living in the Ice Bowl, the glory days, Bart Starr. They were diehards. They still are.
"When I first got there, Lambeau held 56,000. Now it's close to 100,000. It's spectacular. Wisconsin is small in the grand scheme of things. There's really no big cities ... you go into Green Bay, you take the stadium out of it, there's nothing.
You go to LA, and they're trying to revive it again, put a stadium there, or a team or maybe two, and it's questionable whether it'll make it. And yet, the 100,000 city of Green Bay has a 45 year, maybe a 50-year waiting list for season tickets. A 50-year waiting list for season tickets...
The worse the conditions, the more they love it. When we started winning and breaking it back, it was fun. I have to admit even 38 below was fun, just a little bit. Whether you've been there or not There's just something different about Green Bay. ... It's just an awesome place."
"I'd love to go (to the LSU-Wisconsin game). My Southern Miss faithful would be mad at me for that, because we do come back to play you guys. (Looks at Les Miles). You probably didn't even know that!
I'll be here for that. Hopefully I can go to Wisconsin. I'd love to see you guys play."
On who will induct him into the Hall of Fame:
"I haven't completely decided. I sort of have. I'm waiting for a 'Yeah, I'll do it' from that person, but it would've been my dad."
Brett Favre talks about his NFL career
By Katherine Terrell, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Brett Favre address the Coach's Clinic Friday, April 1, 2016 at the Maravich Assembly Center at LSU in Baton Rouge. He talked about his his playing years, including high school, college and pro. He remembered his dad, talked about the Hall of Fame and his love for coaching high school football. (Photo by Ted Jackson, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune)
Ted Jackson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Quarterback Brett Favre grew up in Kiln, Miss., an hour from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. It was close enough that he would go to bed at night dreaming of what it would be like to be New Orleans Saints quarterback, and fellow Mississippi native Archie Manning.
This summer, Favre will get to accomplish something Manning never did, when he is inducted into the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
Favre, the keynote speaker at LSU's coaches clinic on Friday, said he never grew up dreaming of becoming an NFL Hall of Famer. But he did grow up with dreams of what it would be like to don an NFL uniform.
"I never dreamed of the Hall of Fame," Favre said. "I don't know how you could. I'm sure some people do. I dreamed of playing pro football, probably like most people here...
"I was Archie Manning going to bed at night. I loved the Dallas Cowboys and I loved the Saints. The only thing to love about the Saints was Archie. And next year. That was it. Am I right?"
Favre, who was known for his loose and freewheeling playing style during his 20-year NFL career, said he was drawn to watching Manning not just because of the proximity, but because he found him so fun to watch.
"He threw one underhanded one time, one of the best passes I've ever seen." Favre said. "I dreamed about that, being that, running out on the field, playing in the Super Bowl. But I never dreamed of Pro Bowls, or being the MVP, or playing 20 years. I thought I'd play forever to be honest with you...
"Everything I ever dreamed of came true. How many people can say that?
Favre spent most of his career as a Green Bay Packer, winning a Super Bowl during that time period along with three straight MVP awards. But for someone who grew up a Saints fan, he could have ended up the Saints bitter enemy.
Favre was the Falcons second-round pick in the 1991 draft but spent only a season there before he was traded to the Packers. Luckily for the Saints, Favre immediately drew the disdain of coach Jerry Glanville, who vowed to never play him.
"Right away, my name was Mississippi," Favre said. "And he didn't like me from the start for whatever reason. It all worked out to perfection because it got me traded."
Favre ended his career in Minnesota in 2010, retiring as the league leader in passing yards, attempts, completions, touchdowns, interceptions and wins.
Although Archie's son Peyton Manning broke most of Favre's records, Favre's streak of 297 consecutive games started is still intact. It is likely that Saints quarterback Drew Brees will also pass up many of Favre's milestones one day as well.
Here's some highlights of Favre's talk and Q&A session, which spanned an hour:
On being hazed in Atlanta:
"This was back when we had 12 rounds and the guys got hazed, harassed. I mean, it was bad. And the second day in camp all the older guys said 'Hey, we're shaving your head. And I said 'bull----.'
There were (14 draft picks) and I was the only guy who didn't get his head shaved. That's really the one thing I can say I was proud of that whole year. But Jerry (Glanville) was right there instigating. 'Oh Mississippi, we're going to get that hair.'
I said, 'Y'all may kick my ass, but I'm going to kick three of them in the process, of your guys.' So, again, I was proud of the fact that I fought them off."
On Leonard Fournette's athletic ability:
"In my opinion, you've got to raise eyebrows, unless you're Fournette, unless you're Bo Jackson. Very few guys could wake up and just be great without even trying.
Bo Jackson I think still holds the record for the 40 time at the Combine, 4.09, 4.11, something like that. And he prepared for it zero times. Today they have camps for running 40s and camps for Combines and how to answer questions when the GMs come in. ... Very few guys have what it takes, that way, and I'd classify Fournette as one of those."
On learning the nickel defense in Green Bay:
"I think it was my second year in Green Bay and we'd drafted Ty Detmer, a good friend of mine. ... He and I got along great. Mark Brunell was the other quarterback. Both those guys started for quite a while in the league. Great guys...
"Now if you don't know what's going on, the trick is to act like you do. I'm the starting quarterback and (Mike) Holmgren would be up there and ... he's writing "nickel defense is in." ... I'm sitting there and thinking 'I hear this nickel defense all the time and I'm not sure what it is.'
Then I'm thrown for a loop when he says 'Long yardage situation, dime comes in.' And I'm thinking 'what the hell is dime?' ... but I was afraid to ask, because I'm the starter. So after about our second year, finally I said 'Ty, I have to ask you a question.'
I said 'Ty, what's a nickel defense.' He gets real quiet and says 'Are you serious?' I said 'yeah, I'm serious.' He says 'Well, basically they take out a linebacker and bring in a DB.'
I said 'that's it?' He said 'That's it.' I said 'Who gives a sh--?'"
On his consecutive starts streak:
"Whose to say what's more important, mental or physical toughness? I think both are extremely important. That's probably a matter of opinion which one is more important...
My mindset was always ... 'mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter.' Personally for me, I considered myself a tough guy. I don't know what that necessarily means. I just wanted to play...
When I finally got a chance to start, the guy in front of me, Don Majkowski, sprained his ankle in the second quarter. He was kind of struggling, people were booing. ... I didn't care, I just wanted an opportunity. I always told myself 'If I just get an opportunity, it's over.' Now, how many kids have said that? Probably most. But I truly believed. I'd worry about nickel defense or dime defense later. I'd just throw it right through them. And I did that.
I'm sure Majkowski thought 'I'll sit out,' and it wasn't a really bad sprain. And I don't know this for certain, Don and I have always been friends, by no means am I knocking him.
But maybe he was thinking 'They're on my ass, they'll see that it's not as bad as they may have thought ... and they'll want me back.' And 19 years later, 321 games, I'm assuming he said 'You know, they probably forgot about me.
Every time I got hurt, believe it or not, and I had my share, that crossed my mind. It never crossed my mind that 'you're the starter, they love you and you're OK if you want to take a seat.' That never crossed my mind.
What crossed my mind was how I played and how he never played again. And you are replaceable. It's amazing how quickly they forget you. Even when you're playing at the top of your game and you get hurt...I'm not talking about when you suck. I'm talking about when you're at the top of your game and you're out for two games and the next guy steps up, he's playing outstanding, and you start thinking 'I'm not liking this.' And it happens. I always thought about that."
On playing with a broken thumb in 2003:
"Probably the one I should not have played with was when I broke my thumb. Think about it, my throwing hand, I broke my right thumb. ... I hit a guy, typical, back of the helmet and I thought I'd jammed it. ... I played the second half, and it hurt like hell...
We take an x-ray, and fortunately, in 20 years, I had that break and a stress fracture in my foot my last year, and that was it.
So, they said 'You have to have surgery, you're out six weeks.' I didn't think 'man, the streak ends,' I thought, 'Maybe I can play with this.'
The problem was we were playing the Minnesota Vikings the next week on Monday Night Football, in Minnesota. And we absolutely sucked against Minnesota. Even when we won a Super Bowl, we lost to them in Minnesota. We couldn't beat them.
So I tell our team doctor 'Look, I think I can play.' And he kind of laughed and said 'You can't play with that, we need to do surgery to fix it.'
I said 'C'mon, just let me try.' He said 'How are you going to play with a broken thumb?' I said, 'Well I played the second half with it.' He said 'Yeah, but you didn't know it was broken. ... now it's going to hurt like a son of a, you know."
Really, there was no reason to try, but honestly, I'm not giving someone else a chance, first of all. I may not be able to do it, but I'm not giving someone else a chance to take my spot. Other people may have said 'Look, you're OK.' You're never OK.
I thought to myself, 'If you can play, and we can actually win this game, now you're doing something. You don't have to play great, but you can inspire your teammates and do something great.'
We superglue a splint to the back of my thumb ... and it was actually a top five game, and at the time, statistically speaking, the best game I'd ever had. I was 33-for-39 with three touchdowns. ... Every throw was perfect. Mentally I went into the game thinking a little more cautiously ... but I really think I inspired the other guys, and I think that was a big part of it."
On the effects of playing football:
"20 years is a long time. What will it do to my body? I have no idea. I'm not going to knock the game. If I had to do it over again, I'm too stubborn to play any different. I'd have played one more year just to prove people wrong. And again, whatever happens, happens."
On running the shotgun:
"2002 was the first time I'd ever ran a shotgun formation as a player. I started playing in 1992...
Mike Sherman was the head coach at the time. I started lobbying our center, my roommate Frank Winters ... I'd always say to him 'I want to do shotgun.' And the only reason I wanted to do shotgun was because I thought it was cool. I just thought, it just seems cool to do shotgun. We ran the traditional West Coast offense. ... But I wanted to just kind of do what I do best, no mechanics.
I actually talked to Mike Sherman about it and said 'look, we're playing Warren Sapp twice a year, and we can't block him. I need to be in the shotgun so I could get it out really fast.' It was sort of an excuse. He said 'that's a good point.' But we still couldn't block me. He still hit me every time and they won a Super Bowl. But we got to run shotgun."
On playing football at Lambeau Field
"It's one of those places you have to go. Ideally, you have to go watch a game. And it could be LSU-Wisconsin. If we can get tickets. Does anybody know how to get ahold of those?
It's one of those places that you have to, and I'm assuming Yankee Stadium is one, I've never been there. Lambeau Field is a special place. A lot has changed but they're still right there in the same spot....
There's nothing like playing at Lambeau Field or playing there when the conditions are bad. I didn't realize when I got there that it had been 25 years since they went to the playoffs. They were basically still living in the Ice Bowl, the glory days, Bart Starr. They were diehards. They still are.
"When I first got there, Lambeau held 56,000. Now it's close to 100,000. It's spectacular. Wisconsin is small in the grand scheme of things. There's really no big cities ... you go into Green Bay, you take the stadium out of it, there's nothing.
You go to LA, and they're trying to revive it again, put a stadium there, or a team or maybe two, and it's questionable whether it'll make it. And yet, the 100,000 city of Green Bay has a 45 year, maybe a 50-year waiting list for season tickets. A 50-year waiting list for season tickets...
The worse the conditions, the more they love it. When we started winning and breaking it back, it was fun. I have to admit even 38 below was fun, just a little bit. Whether you've been there or not There's just something different about Green Bay. ... It's just an awesome place."
"I'd love to go (to the LSU-Wisconsin game). My Southern Miss faithful would be mad at me for that, because we do come back to play you guys. (Looks at Les Miles). You probably didn't even know that!
I'll be here for that. Hopefully I can go to Wisconsin. I'd love to see you guys play."
On who will induct him into the Hall of Fame:
"I haven't completely decided. I sort of have. I'm waiting for a 'Yeah, I'll do it' from that person, but it would've been my dad."
