Sparkey
07-22-2008, 11:49 AM
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=436717
Rich Gannon has more than a hint of what it's like to be in Brett Favre's shoes.
Like Favre, Gannon, a CBS analyst who works Packers preseason games, played 17 years in the league.
Also like Favre, who is eyeballing a comeback at age 38 -- likely with a new team -- Gannon was 38 when he had to learn a new offense under first-year Oakland Raiders coach Norv Turner in 2004. But, unlike the unshakably confident Favre, Gannon does not believe the NFL's all-time leading passer can join a new team and be successful.
"If Brett goes to a different team, the results will not be as pleasant. He'll struggle," Gannon tells Sporting News. "I think it'll be one (year) and done -- and he won't be happy with the way it ends."
HIGH HURDLES
Favre told a funny story at the Packers hall of fame induction banquet Saturday in Green Bay. The punch line: On the day he met newly-enshrined center Frank Winters, Favre was so out of shape and overweight -- 252 pounds -- that Winters guessed he was a linebacker.
Sixteen years later, Favre is much closer (but not all the way) to his typical playing weight of 225. SN Packers correspondent Tom Silverstein reports that the 17-year veteran "looks like he's been lifting weights but also looks heavy." Then again, although Favre hasn't done much more this offseason than run and throw a bit with high school football players in Hattiesburg, Miss., physical conditioning is well down the list of impediments to a successful comeback for him.
At the top is the Packers' reluctance to trade and/or release Favre, coupled with Favre's distaste for waiting out the process indefinitely. That assumes there will be no remarriage of the current team and its most popular alumnus. "I know first-hand that (G.M.) Ted Thompson and (coach) Mike McCarthy wanted him back in the worst way," says Gannon, a close friend of McCarthy. But the Packers have since committed to Aaron Rodgers, and Favre has asked for his release.
Favre reportedly is interested in joining the Minnesota Vikings. (Favre's agent, James "Bus" Cook, did not return multiple phone messages.) The Packers have filed tampering charges against the Vikes, however, so you can rule out a trade between those teams.
The Packers might be more willing to connect with the Buccaneers. "Jon Gruden would be absolutely thrilled," says Gannon, who played for Gruden in Oakland and speaks with him regularly. "They've got a history. He has worked with Brett."
A Bucs spokesperson said of the team's interest in Favre, "Our policy is we don't comment on rumors."
Beyond the logistics of switching teams, the biggest potential challenge for Favre is the difficulty of learning a new offensive system on the fly. Remember, Favre struggled in 2006, his first season under McCarthy, posting the third-worst passer rating (72.7) of his career. And that was after fully participating in the team's offseason program. "The interesting thing about that is McCarthy ran the West Coast offense, very similar to what Brett had been running, with just some subtle nuances," Gannon says. "I remember when Norv Turner came to Oakland in 2004, my last year in the league. I had been in pretty much the same sort of system the past eight, nine years. Then Norv came in and changed the system, the verbiage, the terminology. We played our first game in Pittsburgh, and I was scared to death because I just wasn't prepared yet. And I'd been there the whole offseason. I did more work preparing for that game than I ever had."
Rich Gannon has more than a hint of what it's like to be in Brett Favre's shoes.
Like Favre, Gannon, a CBS analyst who works Packers preseason games, played 17 years in the league.
Also like Favre, who is eyeballing a comeback at age 38 -- likely with a new team -- Gannon was 38 when he had to learn a new offense under first-year Oakland Raiders coach Norv Turner in 2004. But, unlike the unshakably confident Favre, Gannon does not believe the NFL's all-time leading passer can join a new team and be successful.
"If Brett goes to a different team, the results will not be as pleasant. He'll struggle," Gannon tells Sporting News. "I think it'll be one (year) and done -- and he won't be happy with the way it ends."
HIGH HURDLES
Favre told a funny story at the Packers hall of fame induction banquet Saturday in Green Bay. The punch line: On the day he met newly-enshrined center Frank Winters, Favre was so out of shape and overweight -- 252 pounds -- that Winters guessed he was a linebacker.
Sixteen years later, Favre is much closer (but not all the way) to his typical playing weight of 225. SN Packers correspondent Tom Silverstein reports that the 17-year veteran "looks like he's been lifting weights but also looks heavy." Then again, although Favre hasn't done much more this offseason than run and throw a bit with high school football players in Hattiesburg, Miss., physical conditioning is well down the list of impediments to a successful comeback for him.
At the top is the Packers' reluctance to trade and/or release Favre, coupled with Favre's distaste for waiting out the process indefinitely. That assumes there will be no remarriage of the current team and its most popular alumnus. "I know first-hand that (G.M.) Ted Thompson and (coach) Mike McCarthy wanted him back in the worst way," says Gannon, a close friend of McCarthy. But the Packers have since committed to Aaron Rodgers, and Favre has asked for his release.
Favre reportedly is interested in joining the Minnesota Vikings. (Favre's agent, James "Bus" Cook, did not return multiple phone messages.) The Packers have filed tampering charges against the Vikes, however, so you can rule out a trade between those teams.
The Packers might be more willing to connect with the Buccaneers. "Jon Gruden would be absolutely thrilled," says Gannon, who played for Gruden in Oakland and speaks with him regularly. "They've got a history. He has worked with Brett."
A Bucs spokesperson said of the team's interest in Favre, "Our policy is we don't comment on rumors."
Beyond the logistics of switching teams, the biggest potential challenge for Favre is the difficulty of learning a new offensive system on the fly. Remember, Favre struggled in 2006, his first season under McCarthy, posting the third-worst passer rating (72.7) of his career. And that was after fully participating in the team's offseason program. "The interesting thing about that is McCarthy ran the West Coast offense, very similar to what Brett had been running, with just some subtle nuances," Gannon says. "I remember when Norv Turner came to Oakland in 2004, my last year in the league. I had been in pretty much the same sort of system the past eight, nine years. Then Norv came in and changed the system, the verbiage, the terminology. We played our first game in Pittsburgh, and I was scared to death because I just wasn't prepared yet. And I'd been there the whole offseason. I did more work preparing for that game than I ever had."