Pack, Favre moving closer to the edgeby Jay Glazer
Jay Glazer is a Senior NFL Writer for FOXSports.com on MSN and also appears every week on FOX NFL Sunday as the network's NFL Insider.
Updated: August 5, 2008, 3:15 AM EST 809 comments add this RSS blog email print Brett Favre's Packers career appears exactly as it has over the last several months, at best in limbo, at worst over. After hours of meetings and few if any details emerging, it now seems less and less likely that Favre will be back on the playing field for the Packers, FOXSports.com has learned.
The two sides are expected to meet again in the morning as they try to work toward a solution palatable to both sides. However, one detail FOXSports.com gathered from the meeting was Favre's insistence that he did not want his presence to destroy the team's chemistry. In fact, Favre was adamant that he wanted to do what was in the best interest of the locker room and admitted this distraction was not what his teammates needed.
Another agreement from the meeting was that, despite reports to the contrary, there would not be an open quarterback competition as even Favre felt this would not be in the best interests of the locker room. Thus, Aaron Rodgers is the team's starting quarterback.
As Favre met with head coach Mike McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson late Monday, the sides were moving toward an agreement to end this circus, but uncertainty remained about what that agreement ultimately will be.
Favre and the team continued to hold the same viewpoints they've held for weeks but rather than continuing their stalemate, they have joined in pursuit of a mutually agreeable solution. Whether that solution will entail a trade, a release or another option was not determined in the meeting.
Favre, however, stood to his long-standing desire to stay within the division. But the Packers were still hoping to find another option.
Favre now has to truly decide if he wants to play football for one of the two teams that have shown interest — the Jets and the Bucs — or continue to push for a solution that does not appear to be viable to the Packers.
The two sides aired grievances and actually had amicable talks. In fact, McCarthy and Favre met for so long the coach was unable to attend his scheduled team meeting and chose to cancel his press conference rather than address the media before having an opportunity to meet with his players.
Thompson and Favre then met at about 11 p.m. local time as the two tried to come to determine what their next step would be.
While they did not find an answer to a situation that has become stressful to all involved, at least all parties now appear to agree that this situation must soon come to a workable conclusion.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre went into a meeting Tuesday morning acknowledging that he was at a "stalemate" with the team and believed the "best thing for this team is for us to part ways."
Consequently, Favre is unlikely to take the field for practice Tuesday afternoon, pending his second meeting with coach Mike McCarthy.
"We're at a stalemate," Favre said. "Mike and I both agreed last night that me being out there is a distraction and will continue to be a distraction. We all know the reason I'm here is because the commissioner [Roger Goodell] reinstated me so we have a lot of things to figure out. It's simple and complicated, both at the same time."
"They want to know if I'm committed but I want to know if they're 100 percent committed. The problem is that there's been a lot of damage done and I can't forget it. Stuff has been said, stories planted, that just aren't true. Can I get over all that? I doubt it."
So to recap, over the past few years Favre was gonna retire then not gonna retire then gonna retire then not gonna retire then gonna retire than retired then not retired then gonna take the money to stay retired then reinstated and now gonna retire.
And Packers fans can stand this guy? _________________ 14-5-3-12
Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 29999 Location: Likely nowhere near you
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 8:56 am Post subject:
Quote:
We all know the reason I'm here is because the commissioner [Roger Goodell] reinstated me so we have a lot of things to figure out. It's simple and complicated, both at the same time.
And the only reason he reinstated you is because you asked to be reinstated after you kept retiring time and time again.
Oh, sorry, can't pin any blame on Mr. Wonderful, can I? _________________ Courage doesn't always roar.
Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying...'I will try again tomorrow.'
I never understood it either and these same fools are the ones who probably think T.O. is a bigger drama queen. Honestly I think Favre is worse. No really I do.
I on the other hand have always disliked Favre even before all of this and now I feel vindicated.
Regardless this is a sick take on the Madden Curse if I ever saw it if something happens to Brett nobody will ever go on the Madden cover ever again..
Joined: 03 Nov 2005 Posts: 28461 Location: Chillin on the Delaware.. from the Jersey Side
Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:36 am Post subject:
Basketball Fan wrote:
ocho wrote:
And Packers fans can stand this guy?
I never understood it either and these same fools are the ones who probably think T.O. is a bigger drama queen. Honestly I think Favre is worse. No really I do.
I on the other hand have always disliked Favre even before all of this and now I feel vindicated.
Regardless this is a sick take on the Madden Curse if I ever saw it if something happens to Brett nobody will ever go on the Madden cover ever again..
I don't get it either.... I never understood the hype around Favre... he was a good QB, but it's not like he was Montana or Elway, or even Troy Aikman. Any other player pulls this crap and they are crucified, but not Diva "Me Me Me' Favre. The worse part, we all saw this coming...
That sucked too but at least Jordan could stay away for at least a year during his retirements...
Quote:
I don't get it either.... I never understood the hype around Favre... he was a good QB, but it's not like he was Montana or Elway, or even Troy Aikman. Any other player pulls this crap and they are crucified, but not Diva "Me Me Me' Favre. The worse part, we all saw this coming...
Yep yep I mean those guys won multiple SB's, Favre has only won one and he should thank Desmond Howard(another asshat) everyday for it. Yet he gets the god treatment go figure.
Favre to blame for nasty divorce
By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers dropped back, set his feet and prepared to release a routine slant pass when he heard the squeaky voice from behind the fence. The fourth-year quarterback paused during an individual drill late in the Green Bay Packers’ training camp practice Tuesday afternoon and spied a little boy, maybe 6, among the hundreds of spectators lining the Oneida Street side of Clarke Hinkle Field.
“We don’t love you,” the kid said. “You suck.”
Rodgers didn’t respond to the taunt, nor did he acknowledge the pockets of fans chanting “we want Brett” and “bring back Favre” at sporadic points during the practice. But given the way things had played out since a certain legendary quarterback’s dramatic return to Titletown less than 48 hours earlier, there was an obvious message that should have been delivered to the kids – and the people acting like them – going to pieces over the messy divorce between the Packers and Brett Favre.
The Aaron Rodgers era has begun in Green Bay, and if you don’t like that, you’re taking it out on the wrong quarterback.
“I know people are emotional, but that’s an interesting way of expressing yourself,” Rodgers told Y! Sports after Tuesday’s practice. “All I know is we have a really good team, and we’re excited to get ready for the season.”
It’s a season which, it now seems painfully clear, will take place without Favre in a Packers uniform for the first time since 1991. And if you want to know who’s most responsible for that, Packers fans, take a look at that No. 4 jersey in the mirror above your dresser.
There have been numerous tactical missteps made by Favre and the bosses he publicly suggested are dishonest – general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy – during this month-long saga, and Packers fans have a right to be frustrated at both camps. But if you believe that the quarterback soon will be leaving Green Bay, most likely via trade to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, because those merciless meanies just didn’t want poor ol’ Brett around, you’ve got more than cheese clouding your head.
As McCarthy stated in his news conference after Tuesday’s practice, and as Favre himself had stated more clearly in his latest woe-is-me interview (this one to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen) earlier that morning, the reason the future Hall of Famer couldn’t come back to the Pack was that he can’t let go of his ill will toward his employers.
Rodgers, meanwhile, has every right to be bitter about the way things went down since Favre stepped onto the tarmac at Austin Straubel Airport on Sunday night. Yet he’s the one biting his lip and acting like the adult.
Let’s see it from his perspective: After waiting three years for his shot, and without much warmth or mentoring from the guy he was playing behind, Rodgers finally was told he was The Man after Favre’s tearful retirement news conference in March. Shortly before training camp, a story surfaced that Favre had the itch to return. Favre, via text message, dismissed the report as “just rumors,” which was a lie.
After floating his desire to come out of retirement, Favre waited for Thompson and McCarthy to embrace him as the reinstalled starter, just as he so often has demanded to be indulged over the latter part of his career. This time, they didn’t respond positively – partly because they didn’t believe he wanted to come back and play, partly because they already had committed to Rodgers and didn’t want to destroy their relationship with a talented quarterback they had spent years grooming, and partly because they were tired of being in a subservient position.
Favre got more and more resentful, lashing out publicly and privately demanding to be released. The team held firm, insisting that it would only trade him to a team outside its division. To force the issue – and thanks largely to the intervention of commissioner Roger Goodell – Favre secured his reinstatement, flew to Green Bay and, in a shameless bit of showmanship, showed up at Lambeau Field with his wife Deanna to watch the team’s “Family Night” scrimmage from a luxury box.
In that glorified 11-on-11 drill, with some of the 56,000-plus fans booing him, Rodgers completed just 7 of 20 passes. Afterward, he fielded questions from reporters and learned – from them – that the Packers supposedly had declared an open competition between him and Favre for the starting job.
Gulp.
“It was news to me,” Rodgers admitted Tuesday. “All of a sudden people are talking about ‘open competition,’ and I’m wondering what happened.”
For the next day and a half, Rodgers, like the rest of us, wondered what it all meant when Packers CEO Mark Murphy said the team would welcome Favre back “and turn this situation to our advantage.”
On Monday night, as Favre was staging meetings with his superiors that dragged on so long that McCarthy had to cancel a quarterbacks meeting, it certainly didn’t seem that things were working to Rodgers’ advantage.
Nonetheless, publicly and privately, Rodgers did what Favre can’t seem to do these days: He kept his cool.
“If I was going to get mad, or throw something against the wall, what difference would it have made?” Rodgers asked rhetorically. “All I can do is control the attitude I bring into every day, stay positive and think about leading this football team to the best of my ability.”
Favre, meanwhile, couldn’t overcome the negativity that apparently has been swirling inside his mind for quite some time. In that lengthy vent session last month to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News, Favre complained that he couldn’t trust Thompson because, among other things, the GM had ignored his pleadings to acquire Randy Moss and hired McCarthy over Steve Mariucci, the one-time Packers assistant and former 49ers and Lions coach with whom the quarterback is extremely close.
Think about that: Favre was affronted because the Pack’s general manager wouldn’t follow his quarterback’s decree about whom to hire as head coach.
The Packers hired former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer as a PR consultant, but in truth, Favre is the one more in need of such image management.
Consider that Favre, in another interview, said he only wanted to play for another NFC North team – in order to play the Packers twice a season. Now that’s loyalty.
Yet, for all his regrettable posturing, Favre still had the image war won when he stepped off that plane Sunday night and received a hero’s welcome and an invitation to return to the Packers’ roster. At that point, the coach of another NFL team told me, “The game’s over. There’s no way Favre won’t get his job back now. If you don’t start him, how are you going to explain it to all of those fans?”
If Favre, as some suspected, was preparing to engage the Packers in a game of chicken, be it in an attempt to go where he wanted to go (Minnesota) or to get his old job back, this is what he should have done:
1. Not attend the scrimmage. (Perhaps he and Deanna could have stayed home and rented a DVD.)
2. Apologize to McCarthy and Thompson for having called them dishonest and assure his bosses he had overcome his ill feelings and was embracing a return to the organization under any terms.
3. To prove he totally was on board, show up for practice on Tuesday, wave to the adoring fans, meet with reporters afterward and tell them, “I just want a chance to compete for my job and help this team” – even if he believed the competition was going to be a sham.
4. Quietly push for a trade or his outright release and wait for the Packers, facing the prospect of a season-long quarterback controversy and a $12 million tab for a player they had hoped would stay retired, to blink first.
Alas, Favre couldn’t help himself. On Tuesday, while still in discussions with McCarthy about his future, he took a break to call Mortensen and confirm what many of us had suspected all along: Favre, despite another public statement to the contrary (“My intentions have always been to play for Green Bay,” Favre had told the Sun Herald of Gulfport, Miss., before returning on Sunday), was the one who wanted out.
“The problem is that there’s been a lot of damage done and I can’t forget it,” he told Mortensen. “Stuff has been said, stories planted, that just aren’t true. Can I get over all that? I doubt it. … So they can say they welcome me back, but come on, the way they’ve treated me tells you the truth. They don’t want me back, so let’s move on.”
Move on is what most of Favre’s teammates were eager to do on Tuesday, even some of the Packers who’ve been most supportive of his return.
“I think it should end today,” veteran cornerback Charles Woodson said. “We should be talking about the team; instead, we’ve talked about one guy for the last five minutes. This is a situation unique to itself, and it has become its own monster.
“You’ve got fans out there yelling ‘we want Brett,’ yelling A-Rod this and A-Rod that, Ted Thompson this and Ted that. That’s not looking at the grand scheme of things. It’s not helpful at all. You’ve got fans that are die-hard Brett fans, and they’ve put that above the team.”
If Favre, by forcing the issue, did the Packers and his successor one favor, it was this: We’ve gotten a small taste of Rodgers’ demeanor under intense pressure, and to the young passer’s credit, he has kept his cool a lot better than the outgoing legend.
“Aaron Rodgers has done everything right,” McCarthy said during his news conference. Later, the coach talked about his conviction that Rodgers will succeed in his new role.
“You just have to believe in a number of things,” McCarthy said. “Number one, I think he’s prepared himself for this opportunity. I think he has the tools, physically, mentally, emotionally. I mean, you talk about what he’s been challenged with emotionally of late, this is great (training). Who’s had better training to play in the National Football League than Aaron Rodgers, and I think he’s handled it well.”
Hopefully, that maturity will start to rub off on Favre – and the fans who can’t find the grace to cope with the fact that their hero willfully abandoned them.
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updated 1 hour, 49 minutes ago
GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Tampa Bay Tribune reports that Brett Favre will not stand in the way of a trade from Green Bay to Tampa Bay and the deal is likely to be finalized by Thursday.
"The chances of the trade unraveling are remote and Favre has indicated to the Bucs directly that he is willing to change teams after 16 years of growing his legend in Green Bay," the Tribune said in an online story.
The Green Bay Press-Gazette also reported on its Web site that Favre was
Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Tuesday evening that after approximately six hours of what he called "brutally honest" conversations with Favre over the past two days, the three-time MVP just isn't in the right mind-set to be part of the team. Even with the chance to win his starting job back potentially on the table, McCarthy said Favre couldn't seem to get past emotional wounds that were opened as tensions mounted in recent weeks.
"The football team's moving forward," McCarthy said. "The train has left the station, whatever analogy you want. He needs to jump on the train and let's go. Or, if we can't get past things that have happened, I have to keep the train moving."
McCarthy wouldn't address trade talks, but did say a quick resolution to the situation is important to the rest of his players.
"Absolutely," McCarthy said. "The players, they want it resolved. Even talk to Brett about it -- he feels bad about it. It's time for them to talk about somebody else."
Favre left Lambeau Field just before Packers practice Tuesday afternoon, taking a right turn out of the stadium's back gate and heading away from the field where the rest of his teammates were assembling for drills.
Favre emerged from the stadium's loading dock exit at 1:34 p.m. CDT Tuesday, hugging Packers senior security advisor Jerry Parins before getting in his SUV and driving away. Shortly after, an SUV driven by Packers general manager Ted Thompson left the gate heading in the same direction.
"We're at a stalemate," Favre told ESPN Tuesday morning. "Mike and I both agreed last night that me being out there is a distraction and will continue to be a distraction. We all know the reason I'm here is because the commissioner reinstated me so we have a lot of things to figure out. It's simple and complicated, both at the same time."
McCarthy said Favre was excused from practice Tuesday, adding that he wouldn't have practiced with the team anyway because of an abdominal strain found in his physical examination Monday. McCarthy did not say whether Favre would be fined if he stayed away from camp starting Wednesday.
Favre told ESPN he doesn't have a problem with competing with Rodgers for the starting job, and can "truly understand" why McCarthy would make Rodgers the starter. But Favre also said a competition "probably isn't going to work" and that "the problem is that there's been a lot of damage done and I can't forget it."
Did Favre not feel wanted or welcome enough by the Packers? "That's part of the issue with him, quite frankly," McCarthy said. "And listening to him talk about that, you respect his opinion. And frankly, I told him, I said, 'I'll take responsibility because I have a voice in the building.' I never thought he truly was going to play. I thought he was emotionally driven for other reasons."
McCarthy said Favre was "very convincing" in their conversations about his desire to play Monday night and Tuesday. But McCarthy still seemed to have reservations about Favre's commitment to preparation. Would Favre continue to stay at Lambeau late at night to study film, a major factor in his success last season?
"That was a very good question for him," McCarthy said. "He's in a tough spot right now."
McCarthy also didn't seem convinced that Favre was thinking clearly about his future. "He has a lot going through his head, and I think he's emotional," McCarthy said. "And just talking to him, he's in a tough spot."
So, of course, are McCarthy and Thompson. Correctly or not, they might end up being seen by fans as the men who drove Favre out of Green Bay. "That's not a good feeling, but I don't view it that way," McCarthy said.
However, Favre has seen a sharp decline in his favorability among many Wisconsinites, a new survey shows. Only 47 percent had a favorable view of Favre, while 34 percent had an unfavorable view. The survey of 600 people likely to vote in the November presidential election was conducted Sunday and Monday by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. In a survey last December, 73 percent of the people in Wisconsin had a favorable view of Favre and 7 percent had an unfavorable view.
Rodgers, meanwhile, stuck to his mantra of not worrying about things he can't control. "I just know we were out at practice today, and he wasn't there, and I'm the starter," Rodgers said. "So that's where we're going right now."
Speaking to reporters after Tuesday's practice, Rodgers stood just a few feet away from a locker with a "FAVRE" nameplate above it, stocked with shoulderpads and other equipment. It hadn't been used -- and now might never be.
Cornerback Charles Woodson had a hard time imagining the Packers trading such an iconic player. "Everything went kind of sour a few weeks or a month back, but you never felt like it would get to the point or to the talks of him actually being traded," Woodson said. "I felt once he stepped back in here, he would be the quarterback. Him not being here today, I guess management has a different route. So at that point, we've got to go out and do our job."
Well see to me the difference between Brett and Kobe here is that Kobe never retired and then came back shortly before training camp started even though he was given many chances to return by the Packers and then he said no. Nor has he been waffling for the past few years about "I will retire, I won't retire"
Kobe demanded to be traded because he didn't feel the Lakers were committed to winning. And well the dead weight of Smush and Kwame didn't help. Then they were gone and they got Pau after Bynum went down and made it to the NBA Finals. At some point Kobe did stop complaining(publically at least) and the media was not kissing his arse when this happened either he actually got criticized.
Brett Favre OTOH, was an INT away from making the Super Bowl. Yet he chose to retire. The Packers moved on to the future like all teams have to at some point. Then Brett changes his mind and comes back and expects everything to be the same as before. Except its not, he chose to leave and they were already committed to Aaron Rodgers. Now if Favre was like a linebacker or something not that big a deal but a QB its totally different and changes the entire team. Brett does this and changes his mind constantly in the process yet the media paints him as some sort of hero(cuz he's "Brett Favre yo!") when those of a lesser rep would be bashed.
Joined: 14 Apr 2001 Posts: 144475 Location: The Gold Coast
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:39 am Post subject:
easybreeze wrote:
Al Davis would have handled his a$$, much differently.
There is a reason Al Davis drafts in the top 5 most seasons. I wouldn't hold his management style up as an example of anything positive. _________________ RIP mom. 11-21-1933 to 6-14-2023.
Joined: 14 Apr 2001 Posts: 144475 Location: The Gold Coast
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 9:47 am Post subject:
TACH wrote:
im_back wrote:
I wonder how many people clowning brett were praising Kobe when he popped off
Not me, I criticized Kobe last summer for his actions/the way he handled his trade request.
Big difference between Kobe and Brett,... Brett's been doing this for several off-seasons now.
Not to mention that this is Lakersground.net, not Packersground.net.
If Favre goes to Tampa they will be a much better team. Every QB needs a running game, and GB failed in that aspect up until the emergence of Ryan Grant. Ironically, Grant is holding out this season, isn't he? With Graham, Williams, and Dunn, TB will be a solid running team. Garcia did pretty well there, but he is no Favre. In a weak division, look for the Bucs to make some noise if they trade for Favre. _________________ RIP mom. 11-21-1933 to 6-14-2023.
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