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20 Oct 2008

Did Favre "Sabotage" the Packers?

According to a recent FoxSports.com report, Brett Favre spent over an hour talking to Detroit Lions coaches about the Packers' offensive nuances before the Packers and Lions last met on September 14. The game ended with Green Bay trouncing Detroit, 48-25, but some of Favre's old teammates were very disturbed to hear this news. Cornerback Charles Woodson called it "sabotage," while other players downplayed the story, or simply noted that whatever information Favre gave the Lions didn't work.

What's more distressing is if the rumors are true that Favre has contacted other Packers opponents. Fox's Jay Glazer reported that one other Packers opponent admitted to recently talking to Favre about Green Bay's overall game plans, though nothing nearly as detailed as what the Lions received. It would be understandable if the Jets wanted info about the Packers prior to playing them -- Favre would be far from the first player in NFL history to give up the goods on his old team for the benefit of his new one. But if it's true that Favre is taking serious time out of his current schedule to reveal what he knows about Green Bay's current offense, no matter how helpful or unhelpful it may be, the Commissioner may want to consider telling him to knock it off.

Posted by: Doug Farrar on 20 Oct 2008

15 comments, Last at 22 Oct 2008, 9:53pm by Steelerfan1977

Comments

1
by Pat F. :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 2:10am

Wow... I really hope this isn't true.

It's funny, I was just brooding over how the guy threw away two playoff games on awful no-look interceptions (me? Bitter? Surely you jest!) when I clicked over to FO and saw this headline. Yes! Yes he did!

Guh, I may have been the one Wisconsinite who wasn't at all sorry to see him go.

15
by Steelerfan1977 :: Wed, 10/22/2008 - 9:53pm

STEELERFAN1977

Yunz guys are just bitter you let him go for aaron friggin rodgers....

I'm in no way a favre fan but come on hes not shallow like that. You cheeseheads are just mad you beat by the hapless hopeless lions. Thats all I got to say about that.............

2
by JFP (not verified) :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 4:27am

Hey lighten up! He's just having fun out there!

I don't see this as too big a deal except for the fact Favre ends up looking like a huge (insert your own slur here). I see this as comparable to a team signing a waiver wire cut so they can learn info about another team. With the obvious excepyion that Favre is not a journeyman and an eventual HOF.

As a Pats fan I'll be eagerly awaiting Gregg Easterbrook's column on how Favre should never be allowed to play again, barred from the HOF, and have to speak to each high school football player in the country individually about his evil deeds.

11
by MJK :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 11:44am

I disagree. It's maybe the same thing for the team trying to find out the information...either sign a waiver wire player, or talk to another player on a different team who's willing to talk to you...but it's completely different from the point of view of the player.

If you're a waiver-wire player, or any player, for that matter, you owe allegiance to whoever you play for. It is your professional duty to do as much as you (legally) can to help them win. There's no such thing as a "confidentiality" or "non-compete" agreement for NFL players, so as much as you can include telling your team all you know about your old team's tendencies.

It's entirely different to help OTHER teams to beat your old team. Favre owes no allegiance and has no professional obligation to help the Lions win. He therefore has no business trying to give the Packer's secrets away to anyone except the team he currently plays for.

This sets a dangerous precedent. If it goes unpunished, what's to stop any player in a contract dispute from threatening his current team that, if they don't give him a deal hi likes, or if they cut him, he will acution off his playbook to the highest bidder? Or serve as a consultant to their biggest division rival?

If Goddell thinks videotaping sideline signals is a bad thing for the game, I would certainly expect him to come down hard on this.

3
by chubbypuppy (not verified) :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 8:13am

As the situation evolves it becomes very clear that Favre is a rather immature person. No wonder the Packers were stymied each offseason as to what to do with the guy.

If true it's just sad. Almost as sad as his play of later. Barring the Arizona game Favre has not been that much of a player. If what Packer fans say is accurate one can expect a dramatic dropoff as the season progresses. Which means come mid to late November things in the Meadowlands are going to be U-G-L-Y.

4
by mawbrew :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 8:40am

Yeah, I'm guessing whatever info Favre can provide (assuming this is true) could just as easily be obtained from film and tendency reviews. But it sure makes him seem like a bitter ex-girlfriend that is obsessed over the guy that dumped her.

Favre is denying the accusation, but at this point I'm not inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

5
by The Blow Leprechaun (not verified) :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 9:24am

It's just spiteful to do this, and it benefits Favre's current team not at all. If he was still playing in the NFC, maybe his team would have a vested interest in the Packers struggling and not making the playoffs, or not having home field advantage at all when they do, but he's in the AFC now. The Packers record doesn't affect the Jets one way or the other.

6
by Clark (not verified) :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 9:33am

This doesn't surprise me at all, but I have never been a fan of Favre. Since he basically just ran around and chucked the ball wherever he felt like his last two years in Green Bay, I'm not sure he knew their most recent offense that well to begin with. Seriously, if he is calling other teams, unsolicited, to give them advice on how to play Green Bay, he should be suspended. Peter King will probably offer a strong defense of Favre in his column today, how dare anyone critize him.

7
by Jero D (not verified) :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 9:51am

I lean towards Charles Woodson on this. If the Lions, and other teams, have contacted Favre I don't see too much of a reason to create a new "Gate" out of the situation. Seems only natural that this would happen on a league-wide scale. If Brett is going out of his way to contact teams, then the "bitter ex-girfriend" theory might apply.

The Colts should have contacted him. Or, maybe Brett ignored those calls from the 317 area code as he could be secretly trying to undermine P.Manning in his attempts to break Favre's records.

8
by David Mazzotta :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 10:24am

Folks, when it comes to the Lions, certain things are immaterial.

Farve thinking: "Well, I really shouldn't talk about this, but it's the Lions. What harm could it do?"

Jerry Jones: "That's some high draft picks for Roy Williams, but it's the Lions. What harm could it do?"

NFL rules should only apply to actual football teams.

9
by dianagram :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 10:34am

Wow, if this is true, I'm amazed the Patriots didn't try to trade for him!

10
by Theo :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 11:13am

Give info about your old team when you're on a new team TO THE NEW TEAM: perfectly ok. Why not.

Give info about your old team when you're on a new team TO ANOTHER TEAM: that's low.

12
by loverboy12354 (not verified) :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 12:51pm

i totally disagree with you Theo it is not right to do any of the stuff that FAvre did. Give one example why you think that giving info about your old team when your're on a new team to the new team is PERFECTLY OK?!?!?! That is not fair because the Packers do not have any players that where originally from the jets to be able to use stuff against them. Atleast, if the Packers had something to know about them then it would've been a little different. But all i am sayin' is that Brett Favre needs to quit and stay out of football, you can totally tell that he is just in it for the money, let a younger rookie or something take his place, i mean come on now he has been a quarterback for how many years..? Yeah he is good and all but i think it is time for him to just retire for good. He is getting to that age were he can get injured a lot easier anyways!!!

13
by Anonymous also (not verified) :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 1:35pm

How many more shady stories do we need to know this guy is a turd? If ever there was a fake, hypocritical, two-faced, prima donna cancer, it's this guy and somehow he continues to be lionized. I'm so sick of him. I'm so sick of people continuing to talk/write about him at all, never mind that no one ever calls him out for this stuff. Please go away Teflon QB.

14
by Matt :: Mon, 10/20/2008 - 3:53pm

As for Peter King defending Favre? Not so much.

3. I think if the Fox report on Brett Favre is correct about him advising the Detroit Lions with tips on how to beat the Green Bay Packers, his reputation will be irrevocably tarnished in Wisconsin. Favre "gave the [Lions'] coaching staff like an hour or a 90-minute dissertation, every single thing that the Green Bay Packers do on offense.'' I know Favre and former Lions GM Matt Millen are close, and Millen is a great admirer of Favre's. There's nothing illegal about this, if it did happen. But it would be seen as an act of betrayal by the Packers and their fans, obviously. Favre texted me before the Jets-Raiders Sunday to call the story "total bs ... not true and pretty ridiculous. I'm telling you it's not true. What the hell is their [Fox's] problem?'' Lions Chief Operating Officer Tom Lewand told me, "Our coaches are perplexed. There was no coaching of our coaching staff [by Favre].'' But there was one semi-damning quote out of the Lions' locker room Sunday. "No comment,'' said head coach Rod Marinelli, when asked about the report.

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