While some athletes try to convince us that they’re not about the money, at least Brett Favre admits it when he was.
The former three-time NFL MVP told Deion Sanders in part two of an interview for NFL Network that he returned to the Vikings for the 2010 season primarily because of the money.
“The money was too good. The money was too good, and I hate to say it’s about money,” Favre told Sanders, per ESPN Milwaukee. “I felt the money was a lot, but the guys, I kind of felt like even though I knew it was going to be next to impossible [to duplicate the previous season] – I wouldn’t tell them [that] – Sidney [Rice], Jared [Allen], [Steve] Hutchinson and Adrian [Peterson], they were like, ‘Unfinished business.’ I just knew that it probably was finished, but I did feel like if I didn’t try it …”
Favre had a spectacular 2009 season throwing for 33 touchdowns and a career-low 7 interceptions while leading the Vikings to a 12-4 season and NFC Championship Game loss to the Saints. He ended up being right about the business being finished, because in 2010 he threw for just 11 touchdowns and 19 interceptions and had his consecutive games streak snapped. The team went 6-10 that year.
Favre also told Sanders that all the attention when he signed with the Vikings was overwhelming (hard to believe, right?) and that he felt it was going to be extremely difficult to live up to the hype.
“Believe me, I didn’t ask for all of the hype that went along with it, the helicopters…I’m shrinking down in my seat going, ‘No one can live up to this. No one,’” Favre said. “Believe me I wanted to come in, go to practice, fly under the radar, no problem. I have my cargos on, t-shirt, probably the same hat [I’m wearing now]. I get off the plane and I’m like, ‘This ain’t good.’ When they stop regular television and tell them you’re coming in, there isn’t but one way to go and that’s down.
“You have to win every game, you have to throw four touchdowns a game – it’s tough.”
But Favre said the season began going the way he envisioned — Adrian Peterson running the ball, the defense playing well, and him not having to do too much as the quarterback.
Favre made many other interesting remarks in the interview, and one of the notable comments was that he really didn’t have any regrets about his playing career because he feels like nobody played harder or worked harder than he did. Favre always had a reputation for playing hard, but the work ethic claim is something unfamiliar to me. Maybe that’s because after 19 years and 302 games in the league, he knew everything there was to know about football.
