Brett Favre retired from the NFL in 2010, but he continues to find himself in the news. This time, it’s a former defensive end who confronts him because he claims that the legendary ex-quarterback stole a record from him in January 2002.
The story of these two former star players is quite fascinating. They did not play at the same time and yet their destinies intertwine.
Favre was one of the most spectacular quarterbacks of his generation, having found glory with the Green Bay Packers before finishing his career with the New York Jets and the Minnesota Vikings. He played in the NFL from 1991 to 2010.
The defensive end facing him is former Jets player Mark Gastineau, who had 107.5 sacks between 1979 and 1988.
He was best known for his breakout season in 1984, when he terrorized quarterbacks with 22 sacks. It was a record that stood until the very last game of the 2001 season, for 17 years.
A controversial game
This is where another defensive end, Michael Strahan of the New York Giants, comes into play. Before this last game of the 2001 season, he had 21.5 quarterback sacks, just one short of Gastineau’s record.
In his final chance to break the record, Strahan faced the Packers, led by Brett Favre.
With less than three minutes left, Strahan still hadn’t gotten the missing sack. With a nine-point lead, Favre dropped back for a pass attempt and quickly threw himself to the ground when he saw Strahan coming, giving him the sack and thus the record.
Still resentment
This all brings us back to today. The ESPN network is preparing to air a documentary in its popular series “30 for 30” about this gift bag and in the mouth-watering trailer, Gastineau confronts a stunned Brett Favre, 22 years after the fact, during a memorabilia exhibition in Chicago in which the quarterback was participating.
“I’m going to get my bag back. You hurt me. Do you hear me? You really hurt me, Brett!” Gastineau tells him.
In the same excerpt, the former quarterback hunter still seems clearly angry. “Anyone will tell you that Brett Favre took a dive. Everyone knows it. The NFL should have stopped this and said: no, it’s not a sack. My record was stolen,” he complains.
Favre reacts
Noticing that a storm had been raging on social networks since the release of the trailer, Brett Favre wrote a series of messages on his X account, in which he tried to make peace with Gastineau.
“In a different situation, I would have made a greater effort to avoid the bag. At no time did I want to cause harm to Gastineau. Maybe it crossed my mind to help Strahan. I didn’t think about the situation. It wasn’t my strength at the time.
“I understand today that being the bag king would have raised his value at card shows, that it would have strengthened his case for the Hall of Fame and the demand for him as a speaker. I couldn’t have known all this at the time. There was no malice on my part and Mark is a great player,” he wrote.
Favre also believes that the discussion between Gatineau and him should never have been filmed and made public.
Strahan’s record still stands today, but was tied by TJ Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021.
The documentary from ESPN and ESPN+ titled The New York Sack Exchangealso evokes the difficult relationship between Gastineau and his defensive teammates at the time. It will be broadcast starting Friday.
