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Inspired, injured Favre continues to show up
By Jason Wilde
Special to NFL.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Breleigh Favre is one precocious little 5-year-old, and as she rode to kindergarten a few weeks ago, she found herself facing an out-of-the-blue question from her daddy and favorite quarterback. And just like her papa, Green Bay Packers star Brett Favre, reacting to a blitz, she handled it without missing a beat.
"We were just talking on the way -- I've always tried to pick her brain a little bit -- and I said, 'Are you ready for daddy to quit football?' Favre recounted recently. (During the football season, Breleigh lives with Favre and his wife, Deanna, in Green Bay while her 15-year-old sister Brittany stays in Mississippi for high school.)
"She said, 'Yeah, I'm ready for you to quit playing football so you can live with us full-time in Mississippi.' I said, 'If I quit playing, there's no more football; there's no more games; there's no more cheering.' She said, 'No, I'm ready for you to do that.'
"If you want the truth a lot of times, go ask your kids."
It certainly wasn't the first time Favre has talked about retirement. The subject took on a life of its own during the 2002 season, but he returned last year and said before this season that he hoped to play for several more years.
But given how many family crises and how much personal adversity he's faced over the past year, there's reason to wonder how much more the guy with the Superman 'S' tattooed on his left biceps can handle. The Packers' 1-4 start and four-game losing streak following Favre's training-camp "Super Bowl or bust' proclamation were nothing by comparison.
It began last December, when, a little more than 24 hours before the Packers' Monday Night Football game at Oakland, Favre learned that his father, Irvin, had died of a heart attack. Irv's son, whom he coached at Hancock North Central High School in Kiln, Miss., never even considered not playing in the game and threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns in a magical Packers victory.
Then in October, Deanna's 24-year-old younger brother, Casey Tynes, died in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Favre's property near Hattiesburg, Miss. And less than a week after that, Deanna was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy at New York's renowned Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
And yet, through all this, the Packers (6-4) enter Monday night's game against St. Louis at Lambeau Field riding a five-game winning streak thanks in large part to Favre, who has completed 64.9 percent of his passes for 2,626 yards, 19 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a 92.7 passer rating. The game will mark Favre's 200th consecutive regular-season start, an NFL quarterback record.
"I see it (retirement) being more in his mind because of things like this. But that's the now. Fast forward six, seven months from now, when all this is kind of behind him, where is he going to be then mentally?" asked backup quarterback Doug Pederson, whom Favre calls "the highest-paid friend in the league' because he is on injured reserve.
"All three events happened during the football season," Pederson continued. "It's tough. I think the only way he gets through stuff like this is by putting everything into his job. You just dive into your work. There's a focus there. You've seen that in him over the past year."
Brett Favre's hamstring is just one of his injuries this season that haven't stopped him.
And Favre has done so while also playing through myriad of injuries that might have sidelined lesser quarterbacks.
Last season, he threw an NFL-high 32 touchdowns and completed a franchise-record 65.4 percent of his passes despite playing the final nine games with the broken thumb.
This season, he has been knocked out of one game with a concussion -- although he returned for one play and threw a touchdown -- and played through a bruised hamstring, a left shoulder that pops in and out of joint, a sprained right (throwing) hand and a sprained right thumb.
"I just think he's not made of what normal quarterbacks are made of," said retired Packers safety LeRoy Butler, Favre's teammate for 10 years. "Whenever he got injured, we knew he was going to play. We'd see him in the training room doing crossword puzzles and icing whatever.
"Brett prides himself on showing up every Sunday and knowing deep down inside that, 'Hey, these guys depend on me, and I'm going to be there.' Ask people who know him. He's not human."
Perhaps not physically, but emotionally, no one could blame him if the cumulative effect drove him back to his 460-acre property and beloved lawn tractor in Mississippi after this year. But while Favre won't say whether he'll return next season, he said all the on- and off-the-field challenges won't accelerate his retirement timetable.
"It really doesn't. Do I think about it? Sure. Especially during times like this, I think about it," Favre said. "But it seems like every time something happens, people want to jump on the retirement bandwagon. And the more people ask me, the more I want to stick around just to stick it to 'em. But it will not.
"As I stand here before you today, it will not speed up the decision. A month from now, who knows? But I think it was three or four years ago, everyone was just rushing in here to hear me retire after the Atlanta (playoff) game, and here we are still talking."
That doesn't mean that Favre's priorities aren't in order. Deanna is set to begin chemotherapy treatments soon, and Favre acknowledged that he may miss practice time to be with her. And Favre recently hinted that if the Packers manage to win the Super Bowl, he will probably walk away.
"I find each year more and more difficult to commit totally to my job. Because as you get older, you have kids and priorities change and your whole life is not devoted to football," Favre said. "I think in every veteran's career, there's a time when you think (football) is all there is. (And) when you add in the off-field adversity that I've had to go through, my wife has had to go through, it makes it much more difficult.
"Now, for me, it's a good escape and something I love doing -- getting out on the football field. When you get out there, it allows you to kind of forget, for three hours at least, the things that you're facing off the field. But I have to admit, some of the things that we've had to go through are uncertain, as far as what the future holds, and that makes it difficult. All I can do is be supportive.
"I've achieved everything there is to achieve in this league, individually and as a team. I enjoy competing more than anything, but to win (a Super Bowl) at this stage in my career, it'd be easier to walk away. You know, there's nothing left out there to do. The one great thing about it is I've already won a Super Bowl, and so I'm not holding out for that. But it's a long road ahead to at least get into the playoffs. If we can at least do that, who knows? We found out last year, we barely got in, but we almost made something happen. I hope I have that decision to make."
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