Friday, June 07, 2013

Brett Favre: "I Was At Fault"

I'm not surprised things have cooled off between the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre. As he said last September: "it's like a grudge...you just kind of get over it." On Thursday, he said in an interview with WGR in Buffalo (of all places) that "I was at fault" for the end of his career as a Packer, but this is an interesting observation on the comment:
Maybe it was just a throw-away line, but at least he said it.

I wasn't happy with how Favre retired, and then un-retired. After years of going back-and-forth on retirement, his actions in 2008 were the final indecisive blow-up. I can understand why he had second thoughts, he could still play, but he should have given that some more thought before announcing his retirement in March 2008.

On the other hand, I wasn't thrilled with how the Packers acted either. Instead of trading him, they should have just released him. The Packers had even released Vince Lombardi from his contract, and more recently    the Colts released Peyton Manning. Favre's trade was intended to keep him away from the Vikings, but that obviously didn't work. However, the 3rd round pick they got from the Jets for Favre was then part of the trade to acquire a second 1st round pick in 2009 that became LB Clay Matthews, so as usual, GM Ted Thompson knows what he's doing.

Over the past few years, I've avoided writing about Favre because it's a hot button issue for many readers, and I've read (and deleted) many angry comments about it. But time heals wounds and the issue is cooling off, though it's never going to go away. At some point the Packers will retire Favre's number, so says Aaron Rodgers, and they already tried to do it in 2008. When it does happen, it will be the public end to whatever bitterness remains between Favre and the Packers. It looks like his comments are starting to clear the way forward.

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