packers11
05-15-2007, 09:41 PM
Original Story URL:
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=605987
Coming to Favre's defense
Posted: May 15, 2007
SportsDay
According to Steve Young, the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre are working on different agendas: Favre wants to win tomorrow and the Packers are building to win beyond tomorrow.
Young made his comments Tuesday afternoon on ESPN Radio.
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback said Favre was not being selfish or putting himself above the team for expressing frustration about not getting help to make Packers a championship contender before he retires.
"He's a made man," Young said of Favre. "In a way he's like Jerry Rice, who many times would complain and moan. But because he works so hard and has accomplished so much that instead of being selfish, was (perceived as) all I want to do is win. . . . In that way he is a little bit protected."
Young said the Packers started retooling two years ago and "were moving on" to build for the future.
"As an organization, I think they are fundamentally looking to build a championship football team, not necessarily building a team for tomorrow to help Brett Favre win a championship," Young said. "So those two things don't meet. It's not against anybody. It's just that they are not going to meet. When I found that out with the 49ers in 2000, I retired. If we weren't going to go for a championship, I was at an age where that's not what I wanted to do. Brett decided differently, like Jerry Rice."
Perhaps clear communication about these matters has not taken place between Favre and the Packers.
"(Favre) is one of the best players in professional football history," Young said. "It's his career. If he is going to stick around and he has done so much for his team, it's not selfish to say, 'Look, I want help, if we are going to go for a championship.' Or the Packers need to say, 'We are not playing for championships; we are building a team over a period of time.' They do this little dance step where neither of them says what they really mean. Unfortunately, it's put them in a little bit of a jam with each other and that's why I think Brett reacted.
"I think he thought, 'Look, I'll come back. We had a nice finish to the season. We get a couple of nice pieces, including Randy Moss, look, we can win it.' I know what Brett's thinking. 'I can sneak one in and leave like John Elway on the horse. Leave and be a champion. But I need a couple of weapons.' When they let it pass and they didn't get him . . . I think it left him empty."
The two sides are looking at winning in different ways.
"To me the Packers are doing what they think is best," Young said. "Totally fine. Brett is doing what he hoped would be best. That's fine. There has been some miscommunication or some expectations that weren't met. That's the reaction. I think you are in a tough spot with a Hall of Fame football player playing late into his 30s and the team is thinking, 'We are a long way from a championship and we will do something different.' Philosophically they are in different places. They are going to have some rough patches."
Better of arms race
Boomer Esiason of CBS-TV said the New England Patriots had done for Tom Brady what the Packers had failed to do for Favre: give the quarterback better weapons to win a championship now.
"From a guy who used to sit in a seat quite like his I can understand his frustrations," Esiason told Sirius NFL Radio, referring Favre's comments last weekend. "The older you get the more help you need around you. It's not that they don't have good young players in Green Bay. There's just no sizzle…
"The unfortunate thing for him is that he's a thoroughbred - now, he's rounding that final turn - but he takes a look and sees what New England is doing for Tom Brady. And look at New England and how they went out and they've actually this off-season tried to get their thoroughbred some really good players to play around him because Tom Brady has been playing with less-than-stellar players at the wide receiver position."
Esiason said Favre was "going to have to fight through another hard year in Green Bay because they just don't look like a team that's going to be able to make the playoffs."
Green not surprised
Houston Texans running back Ahman Green said the frustration that Favre expressed in recent days was to be expected.
Green, who played for the Packers from 2000-'06, made his comments during an interview Tuesday night on Sirius NFL Radio. Green was asked about Favre's frustration after Moss was acquired by the Patriots.
"Wasn't surprised at all," Green told Sirius NFL Radio, referring to Favre's publicly expressed dissatisfaction. "With the stuff that had transpired the last several months with me leaving, David Martin and William Henderson exiting, that basically brought on what happened this past weekend. It doesn't surprise me…
"The things that he works with on the offense are kind of gone, myself as a runner helping him with the running game, Will blocking, David Martin one of the tight ends catching balls. Randy Moss, bringing him to Green Bay would have been another weapon for his arsenal. With him not being there that just kind of added to the frustration."
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=605987
Coming to Favre's defense
Posted: May 15, 2007
SportsDay
According to Steve Young, the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre are working on different agendas: Favre wants to win tomorrow and the Packers are building to win beyond tomorrow.
Young made his comments Tuesday afternoon on ESPN Radio.
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback said Favre was not being selfish or putting himself above the team for expressing frustration about not getting help to make Packers a championship contender before he retires.
"He's a made man," Young said of Favre. "In a way he's like Jerry Rice, who many times would complain and moan. But because he works so hard and has accomplished so much that instead of being selfish, was (perceived as) all I want to do is win. . . . In that way he is a little bit protected."
Young said the Packers started retooling two years ago and "were moving on" to build for the future.
"As an organization, I think they are fundamentally looking to build a championship football team, not necessarily building a team for tomorrow to help Brett Favre win a championship," Young said. "So those two things don't meet. It's not against anybody. It's just that they are not going to meet. When I found that out with the 49ers in 2000, I retired. If we weren't going to go for a championship, I was at an age where that's not what I wanted to do. Brett decided differently, like Jerry Rice."
Perhaps clear communication about these matters has not taken place between Favre and the Packers.
"(Favre) is one of the best players in professional football history," Young said. "It's his career. If he is going to stick around and he has done so much for his team, it's not selfish to say, 'Look, I want help, if we are going to go for a championship.' Or the Packers need to say, 'We are not playing for championships; we are building a team over a period of time.' They do this little dance step where neither of them says what they really mean. Unfortunately, it's put them in a little bit of a jam with each other and that's why I think Brett reacted.
"I think he thought, 'Look, I'll come back. We had a nice finish to the season. We get a couple of nice pieces, including Randy Moss, look, we can win it.' I know what Brett's thinking. 'I can sneak one in and leave like John Elway on the horse. Leave and be a champion. But I need a couple of weapons.' When they let it pass and they didn't get him . . . I think it left him empty."
The two sides are looking at winning in different ways.
"To me the Packers are doing what they think is best," Young said. "Totally fine. Brett is doing what he hoped would be best. That's fine. There has been some miscommunication or some expectations that weren't met. That's the reaction. I think you are in a tough spot with a Hall of Fame football player playing late into his 30s and the team is thinking, 'We are a long way from a championship and we will do something different.' Philosophically they are in different places. They are going to have some rough patches."
Better of arms race
Boomer Esiason of CBS-TV said the New England Patriots had done for Tom Brady what the Packers had failed to do for Favre: give the quarterback better weapons to win a championship now.
"From a guy who used to sit in a seat quite like his I can understand his frustrations," Esiason told Sirius NFL Radio, referring Favre's comments last weekend. "The older you get the more help you need around you. It's not that they don't have good young players in Green Bay. There's just no sizzle…
"The unfortunate thing for him is that he's a thoroughbred - now, he's rounding that final turn - but he takes a look and sees what New England is doing for Tom Brady. And look at New England and how they went out and they've actually this off-season tried to get their thoroughbred some really good players to play around him because Tom Brady has been playing with less-than-stellar players at the wide receiver position."
Esiason said Favre was "going to have to fight through another hard year in Green Bay because they just don't look like a team that's going to be able to make the playoffs."
Green not surprised
Houston Texans running back Ahman Green said the frustration that Favre expressed in recent days was to be expected.
Green, who played for the Packers from 2000-'06, made his comments during an interview Tuesday night on Sirius NFL Radio. Green was asked about Favre's frustration after Moss was acquired by the Patriots.
"Wasn't surprised at all," Green told Sirius NFL Radio, referring to Favre's publicly expressed dissatisfaction. "With the stuff that had transpired the last several months with me leaving, David Martin and William Henderson exiting, that basically brought on what happened this past weekend. It doesn't surprise me…
"The things that he works with on the offense are kind of gone, myself as a runner helping him with the running game, Will blocking, David Martin one of the tight ends catching balls. Randy Moss, bringing him to Green Bay would have been another weapon for his arsenal. With him not being there that just kind of added to the frustration."