OFFICIAL BRETT THE LIVING LEGEND THREAD

[mraynrand]

Is it awful of me that I am enjoying Brent's travails?

I mean, it's not like I'm wishing him personal ill in his family life or anything. But I feel so warm and fuzzy when he throws an interception then gestures angrily at the receiver...

Nope.

Bliss. Nothing but bliss. Of course those picks weren't his fualt, remember all those years when we all thought it was the receivers fault? I want to kick my own ass for being such an apologist.

It's OK, just don't tip all the way to the other extreme. Andre Rison, Terry Glenn - some of their creative route running was epic.

Don't forget Mike Holmgren's favorite Bill Schroeder.

Schroeder ran routes? I'll have to take your word for it, because I don't recall any of them.

Yes, he was running the route that called for him to raise his hand when he was open after the QB had thrown to someone else.

Like Aeneas Williams?

[Scott Campbell]

Today was a part of the overall Brett Favre experience that Vikings fans were not exposed to last year. They had a hint of it with the playoff interception, but not a whole game experience. It's times like this that Packer fans were told that you have to take the bad with the good. But when the good does not take you as far as you want to go, over time the bad becomes harder to accept.

Well said!

[channtheman]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/b...ke-this-092010

Interesting article. I wonder if the Vikings do indeed start 0-3 if Favre decides to bolt for the season and career. He came back for a Super Bowl and when that is not in the realm of possibility will he actually get "hurt" and end his career?

[Guiness]

Gawd, can you imagine the tears at the press conference if he were to retire after game 3?

I can see it - crying, dabbing it with a hanky, saying he tried to come back but it just wasn't the same, he gave it his all like he always does...

[Scott Campbell]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/brett-favre-wont-last-long-playing-like-this-092010

Interesting article. I wonder if the Vikings do indeed start 0-3 if Favre decides to bolt for the season and career. He came back for a Super Bowl and when that is not in the realm of possibility will he actually get "hurt" and end his career?

Favre and the Vikes lose to Detroit at home - inconceivable.

[MichiganPackerFan]

...I have a real problem with posters around here that need to continually blow their own horns.

That sounds like something Skin would do if he had two fewer ribs...

[Scott Campbell]

Andrew Brandt: Revisiting Randy Moss (More Interesting Details About a Trade That Never Happened)

The strange ranting of Randy Moss this week takes me back to the weekend of the 2007 Draft; much of it spent trying to sign Moss. It was a brief but intense negotiation that fueled some fire with Brett Favre when, for the first of two times, the Packers couldn’t agree with Moss on a contract.

Moss for sale

The Raiders bold experiment with Moss – they had traded Napoleon Harris and the 7th pick in the 2005 Draft for him – ended after two seasons when Moss could be had for a mid-round pick. Ted Thompson surprisingly had some interest, having been impressed with the way Moss handled himself at a charity event that he happened to be at in Texas. And Brett, of course, was extremely jazzed about the idea.

Now there were two parts to the deal to make it happen. First, there had to be agreement with the Raiders on draft pick compensation. We were offering a fifth-round pick and the Patriots later came up with a fourth. That, however, was the not the key to the deal.

One-year deal breaker

Moss was scheduled to make $9.75 million for 2007 and $11.25 million in 2008. Those amounts may well have been $100 million and $200 million; he was not making what was on the contract. We needed to bring in Moss, coming off a year with a pedestrian 43 receptions, at a more reasonable number with upside. The Patriots were also showing interest.

I negotiated with Moss’s agent while the recruiting from the alpha dogs – Brett and Tom Brady -- intensified. Moss was getting texts and calls throughout the weekend from both Favre and Brady both imploring him to come and form a powerhouse duo.

The offers from both teams were very similar for 2007, both around $3 million with additional incentives. Our proposal allowed Moss to make more than the Patriots proposal, although we had significant money tied to 45-man active roster bonuses, protecting us from injury if he could not play.

Our offer, however, required a second year in 2008. Moss and his agents were adamant that he wanted only a one-year deal. Having lost market value from his Raider experience, Moss would agree to a massive pay reduction for 2007 but wanted to hit the open market in 2008 coming off what he expected to be a big season.

The feeling in our discussions was that we did not want to rent Randy for a year only to have him shop to highest bidder in a few months trying to recoup some of his lost earnings in 2007. We discussed different ideas, but in the end we were insistent on a two-year deal. While we haggled about an appropriate roster bonus to activate the second year of the deal, the Patriots relented on the length and agreed to a one-year deal. That was it; he was going with Brady.

Mississippi burning

Brett was livid. The rest of the weekend I was fielding calls from Bus Cook about what went wrong in trying to sign Randy. Ted did not want to deal with Bus, so I listened patiently to their rancor and tried to explain our position.

I truly empathized with Brett. He had befriended and admired Randy for years and the two of them had dreamed of playing together. Here was an opportunity for us to make it a reality. But ultimately, we stood on our principles requiring more than a one-year commitment.

I told Brett to trust what we had at the position; that Greg Jennings would be a star in a couple years. He said he didn’t have a couple of years. Brett offered to give up some of his salary for the following season – although that was his last season with the Packers (see below) -- to bring in Randy. I told that was much appreciated but we would never take his money away from him to sign another player.

Brett was forever wanting a more aggressive attitude by the front office toward player acquisition than the present regime. My constant message that our method of drafting and developing talent rather than acquiring proven commodities only served to infuriate him and his resentment of a general manager that showed him none of the compassion and welcomed input of previous regimes.

Patriot games

Fast forward to 2008. After a wonderful year for the Patriots, catching 98 balls for 1493 yards and 23 touchdowns, Moss was a free agent as he designed, now with interest from several teams to cash in on his one-year deal. And cash in he did, re-signing with the Patriots for a three-year, $27 million deal with over $14 million guaranteed.

And guess what team showed some decent interest again in 2008? Yes, the Packers (along with the Eagles and Cowboys). But again, despite getting Brett's hopes up again, the Packers bowed out of the bidding (I had left the Packers at that point but heard the anger and frustration from Brett’s camp). Moss re-signed with the Patriots on March 3rd. Favre retired from the Packers on March 4th. Coincidence?

Whither Randy?

Now Moss is coming to the end of that deal with deafening silence from the Patriots about re-signing for the third time. A lot can change between now and March, but it appears he has had his run wit the team, and it’s been a successful and lucrative one. And one that found the Packers in second place for his services twice.

Follow me on Twitter at adbrandt.

[Scott Campbell]

Andy Brandt: "Brett was forever wanting a more aggressive attitude by the front office toward player acquisition than the present regime. My constant message that our method of drafting and developing talent rather than acquiring proven commodities only served to infuriate him and his resentment of a general manager that showed him none of the compassion and welcomed input of previous regimes."




And that's when Bert decided to become a traitor.

[Scott Campbell]

Moss re-signed with the Patriots on March 3rd. Favre retired from the Packers on March 4th. Coincidence?

Nope. It was Bert's highly orchestrated FU to the Packers for not running things his way.

[RashanGary]

Moss re-signed with the Patriots on March 3rd. Favre retired from the Packers on March 4th. Coincidence?

Nope. It was Bert's highly orchestrated FU to the Packers for not running things his way.

Yep.

[gex]

"Brett offered to give up some of his salary for the following season – although that was his last season with the Packers (see below) -- to bring in Randy. I told that was much appreciated..."

That Brett Favre...after 16 years of giving 1 team all that he had on the field, he was more than willing to give back to the team to ensure that OUR GREEN BAY PACKERS had every opportunity to win a Super Bowl those years.
Ahh well, posting a winning record and getting knocked out of the playoffs early on a yearly basis is way more than us mere fans deserve.

[Gunakor]

How many rings has Randy Moss helped his teams win? What makes you think it would have been any different here? He's played with Tom Brady and hasn't won a ring. There's no reason to believe he'd have won a ring playing with Brett Favre.

Ain't no Packer fan wanted that crybaby "I'll play when I wanna play" piece of shit in our locker room anyway. Fuck Randy Moss.

[Fritz]

"Brett offered to give up some of his salary for the following season – although that was his last season with the Packers (see below) -- to bring in Randy. I told that was much appreciated..."

That Brett Favre...after 16 years of giving 1 team all that he had on the field, he was more than willing to give back to the team to ensure that OUR GREEN BAY PACKERS had every opportunity to win a Super Bowl those years.
Ahh well, posting a winning record and getting knocked out of the playoffs early on a yearly basis is way more than us mere fans deserve.

Gun's comment was good, but I also thought that Gex's point is interesting. Why not take up Brent on his offer, take a bunch of his salary away, and sign Moss for two years? What the hell? You'd contribute to the legend of Favre and get the guy you were ostensibly after.

[Gunakor]

"Brett offered to give up some of his salary for the following season – although that was his last season with the Packers (see below) -- to bring in Randy. I told that was much appreciated..."

That Brett Favre...after 16 years of giving 1 team all that he had on the field, he was more than willing to give back to the team to ensure that OUR GREEN BAY PACKERS had every opportunity to win a Super Bowl those years.
Ahh well, posting a winning record and getting knocked out of the playoffs early on a yearly basis is way more than us mere fans deserve.

Gun's comment was good, but I also thought that Gex's point is interesting. Why not take up Brent on his offer, take a bunch of his salary away, and sign Moss for two years? What the hell? You'd contribute to the legend of Favre and get the guy you were ostensibly after.

I think I remember hearing something about how Moss wasn't going to sign a multiyear deal at that time. Moss only wanted a 1 year deal wherever he went, so that he could hit the free agent market after that season was over. Thompson wasn't willing to do that, insisting on a 2 year deal at the fairly cheap salary New England got him for the first year. New England then had to resign Moss at a much higher salary or he would have become a free agent.

If Moss would have signed for 2 years right off the bat, I'd bet Thompson would have signed him without taking any of Brett's money away at all.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Maybe Moss just wasn't really into Brent as much as it was rumored he was.

[pbmax]

"Brett offered to give up some of his salary for the following season – although that was his last season with the Packers (see below) -- to bring in Randy. I told that was much appreciated..."

That Brett Favre...after 16 years of giving 1 team all that he had on the field, he was more than willing to give back to the team to ensure that OUR GREEN BAY PACKERS had every opportunity to win a Super Bowl those years.
Ahh well, posting a winning record and getting knocked out of the playoffs early on a yearly basis is way more than us mere fans deserve.

Please tell me how many Super Bowl titles that Randy Moss has delivered to the New England Patriots?

Everyone remembers when the final piece to the puzzle results in a championship (Eugene Robinson, Bruce Wilkerson, Andre Rison). No one remembers when the final piece results in a playoff loss (Seth Joyner, Hardy Nickerson, Roy Williams, Joe Johnson, Terrell Owens, Ryan Longwell, Jay Cutler, Donte Stallworth, Jevon Kearse, and on and on).

No one dislikes Favre for wanting Moss. Its when he feels it is his right to be GM that he gets into dangerous territory. Read the story again. When he didn't get what he wanted, he and Bus threw a tantrum. Twice. Over the length of the contract offered to another player.

Michael Jordan was a better players in his sport than Favre is in football and there are 2/3 fewer players on a roster. When Jordan would publicly, and privately, lobby for another ex-Tar Heel to be signed, Reinsdorf and Krause ignored him and somehow, without his expertise, they won 6 titles anyway.

It is the sense of entitlement that leads athletes into trouble. Is it any coincidence that the larger the role and consideration Favre was given, there was less and less playoff success?

[Scott Campbell]

The worst thing about this is how obvious that Bert's sham retirement was the act of a petulant child taking his ball and going home when he couldn't have things his way.

[RashanGary]

The worst thing about this is how obvious that Bert's sham retirement was the act of a petulant child taking his ball and going home when he couldn't have things his way.

Good post.

[Freak Out]

Favre looked old and played like he didn't want to be out there yesterday.

[MJZiggy]

Favre looked old and played like he didn't want to be out there yesterday.

I saw less than a minute of that game. As soon as I turned it on, Favre threw an INT and Aikman called him old.