Well, what a whirlwind of activity surrounding the Packers and Brett Favre in the last day or so... and we’re sure neither party wanted it to happen in full view of the public. There were definitely some upset stomachs, angry phone calls, and emergency meetings between Mississippi and Green Bay yesterday despite it being Mother’s Day. Just think of the upset mothers and wives left alone yesterday in the wake of this latest bombshell that happened because Brett Favre spouted off to a reporter, and/or told too many other people in the League about his feelings on the Randy Moss deal. Make that the lack of a Randy Moss deal.
Apparently, Favre thought the Packers should do everything humanly (and financially) possible — and he offered up cash from his coffers to pay Moss. For whatever reason, Ted Thompson, outgoing president Bob Harlan, and incoming president John Jones elected to let New England lure Moss to their team the weekend of the recent NFL draft. From the reports we read, Favre was so angry the day after the draft that he instructed his agent “Bus” Cook (who used to have Moss as a client) to call Thompson and demand that Favre be traded. He apparently was mad that the Packers didn’t appear to want to win as much as he does. Thompson told coach Mike McCarthy to call Favre, but depending upon what you read, Favre didn’t talk to anybody in the organization for a week.
After this all blew up in atomic proportions across the state of Wisconsin on Sunday, both Favre and the Packers were working overtime on damage control of the situation. The Packers released comments from Thompson trying to downplay the situation, and Favre today was backpedalling very fast with statements saying that he was just blowing off steam and then that he wasn’t coming to mini-camp this week, but it’s not because he’s still mad.
I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the conference calls that took place between Favre, Thompson, Harlan, Jones, and Bus Cook last night and today. My guess is that both Favre and Cook got some good tongue-lashes from “management,” and that within the organization, there was plenty of finger-pointing and hurriedly-called-together staff meetings.
What does this all mean? Firstly, it means that this whole situation is something that does happen — and should only happen — behind closed doors within the team. Favre was wrong to vent his anger at the team through the media, and management was wrong for letting it fester two weeks or more after the draft without calming Favre down and talking it all out between the principal parties involved. Secondly, players — no matter who they are — should not be making demands about which players the team should get. That is why they have “management” and many people in the personnel department. Whether or not Favre is right and Thompson is wrong, Thompson is Favre’s boss. You don’t tell your boss what to do. Just because he’s “Brett Favre,” he does not run the team. The team has been afraid for too long to upset Favre or to do anything against his wishes — a major problem, we think, during the Mike Sherman years. The Green Bay Packers will be here long after Favre retires, and they need to tell him that he is not “above the law.”
Now, the best thing that could happen would be for Moss to blow his knee out in the first preseason game so that we don’t have to hear all season about how the Packers missed out on such a still-spectacular player. If this 2007 Packers team starts out slow or falters mid-season, all we’re going to hear about is how Brett Favre wanted to be traded. And boy, is he going to be sick of answering questions about this whole matter all season.
