Brett Favre: Iron Man Part 1

Brett Favre: Iron Man Part 1

Brett Favre: Iron Man Part 1

Playing college football at Southern Mississippi University, quarterback Brett Favre always had a flare for the dramatics, whether the plays he made resulted in dazzling touchdowns or costly interceptions. However, no football fan knew just how good Favre was going to be when he entered the National Football League. In the 1991 NFL Draft Favre was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 33rd overall pick in the 2nd Round, where his last name would be incorrectly pronounced. Unfortunately for Favre things just didn’t work out for him Atlanta as he would play in only 2 games for the Falcons in the 1991 regular season.

The tides turned for the better for Favre on February 10, 1992 when the Falcons traded him to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for the 19th overall pick in the 1992 NFL Draft, which ended up being runningback Tony Smith, who coincidentally went to Southern Miss for college football as well. Unlike Atlanta, Favre would get his chance to play in Green Bay in 1992 as he started 13 games for the Packers, going 8-5. Favre completed 302 of 471 pass attempts for 3227 yards and 18 touchdowns, recording a 64.1 completion percentage and throwing just 13 interceptions.

Little did anyone know at the time, but when Favre started his first game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 27, that would be the beginning of a legendary streak of consecutive starts that would extend far past what any football fan was expecting.

In 1993 Favre started all 16 regular season games, going 9-7 and completing 318 of 522 pass attempts for 3303 yards and 19 touchdowns, recording a 60.9 completion percentage and 24 interceptions. In 1994 Favre went 9-7 in 16 regular season starts, completing 363 of 582 pass attempts for 3882 yards and 33 touchdowns, recording a 62.4 completion percentage and 14 interceptions.

1995 would be the start of great things happening in the career of the man that many would call “The Gunslinger” as he went 11-5 in 16 starts, completing 359 of 570 pass attempts for 4413 yards and 38 touchdowns, recording a 63 completion percentage and throwing just 13 interceptions. By this time Favre had developed a great feel for playing the quarterback position in the NFL as he started to pull out wins from the jaws of defeat on multiple occasions. The Associated Press started to take notice of Favre’s skills as they would give Favre the AP Most Valuable Player award.

1996 proved to be the best and most important year of Favre’s career as he finally managed to accomplish something that he was aiming to do since he first entered the NFL. Going 13-3 in 16 starts, Favre completed 325 of 543 pass attempts for 3899 yards and 39 touchdowns, recording a 59.9 completion percentage and throwing just 13 interceptions. Favre would once again be named the AP Most Valuable Player.

Favre had an amazing run in the playoffs as he went 3-0, completing 44 of 71 pass attempts for 617 yards and 5 touchdowns, recording a 62 completion percentage and throwing just 1 interception. Favre led the Packers to a convincing 35-21 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome, which was just a short drive from his home in southern Mississippi. However, Favre did not win the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award despite throwing 3 touchdown passes in the big game.

The following year in 1997 was just as solid for Favre as he went 13-3 in 16 starts, completing 304 of 513 pass attempts for 3867 yards and 35 touchdowns, recording a 59.3 completion percentage and throwing just 16 interceptions. Favre’s statistics were good enough to win the AP Most Valuable Player award for the third year in a row. In the playoffs Favre and the Packers fared well as he went 2-1, completing 56 of 97 pass attempts for 668 yards and 5 touchdowns, recording a 57.7 completion percentage and throwing only 3 interceptions. Green Bay’s bid to become back-to-back Super Bowl Champions would be emphatically halted by the emotional run of the Denver Broncos, who were led by quarterback John Elway to a 31-24 win over the Packers in Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium.

1998 was still a good year for Favre as he led the Packers to an 11-5 record, completing 347 of 551 pass attempts for 4212 yards and 31 touchdowns, recording 1 63 completion percentage and throwing 23 interceptions. Following a dramatic loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card Game of the 1998 playoffs by the score of 30-27, long time Packers head coach Mike Holmgren would move on from the franchise. Holmgren’s departure effectively ended a productive 7-year run with Favre which saw multiple postseason appearances.

The new head coach for the Packers in 1999 would be Ray Rhodes, and though the Packers took a step back by going 8-8 with Favre as the starting quarterback, the team still found success. Favre completed 341 of 595 pass attempts for 4091 yards and 22 touchdowns, recording a 57.3 completion percentage and throwing 23 interceptions.

The Packers quickly made a change at head coach in 2000 as they brought in Mike Sherman, who would stick around for more than 1 year. Going 9-7 in 16 starts for Green Bay, The Gunslinger posted slightly better statistics. Favre completed 338 of 580 pass attempts for 3812 yards and 20 touchdowns, recording a 58.3 completion percentage and throwing just 16 interceptions. However, the Packers would not make a postseason appearance in 2000.

Having been in the NFL for 10 years at this point, Favre was far from calling it a career, though throughout the 2000’s there would be much speculation regarding his retirement. Through 2000 Brett Favre was still the “Iron Man” as his consecutive starts streak was still intact.