PROVO — For 20 years, Brett Favre captured the attention of pro football with his gunslinging, fun-loving attitude.It’s a special weekend for Favre — along with seven other men — as they are being enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a part of the 2016 class.
BYU first-year offensive coordinator Ty Detmer had a front-row seat for the start of Favre’s legendary career. From 1992-95, Detmer and Favre — both young pro quarterbacks at the time — played together in Green Bay under head coach Mike Holmgren, a former BYU quarterbacks coach.
“He played with passion. Early on, he didn’t know football that well, but he made plays,” Detmer recalled of his former teammate.
Favre's instincts to play the game, and his drive to compete, led him to a Hall of Fame-caliber career capped by a Super Bowl XXXI victory and three straight NFL MVP honors from 1995-97, an unprecedented feat.
Favre went on to a prolific career that included setting the NFL career marks for completions (6,300), pass attempts (10,169) and wins (186, tied with Peyton Manning). He's one of only two players — Manning being the other — to throw for over 70,000 yards (71,838). Favre also threw 508 touchdown passes, second only to Manning.
Detmer, meanwhile, played 14 seasons in the NFL, starting 25 games and playing for six different teams. Another Green Bay quarterback from that era, Mark Brunell, went on to a 17-year career and was named to three Pro Bowls.
Favre was known for having fun no matter the situation, whether it was on the field, in the locker room or away from the spotlight of the game.
“He was kind of a fun-loving guy who just loved to play the game, especially early when I was there his first four years in Green Bay. It was kind of anything goes,” Detmer said.
That included hijinks with his teammates.
“We did some things the night before the game playing goal-line offense with our center Frank Winters as the fullback and three of us as defensive line sitting there at the bed waiting for him to dive over the top,” Detmer said. “Holmgren probably would have killed us had he known we were doing that. He wouldn’t have killed Favre because he wanted him healthy, but the rest of us would have got killed.”
― nomar, Tuesday, 21 March 2017 17:18 (seven years ago) link