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1-5 is just Favre, and he somehow is the biggest reason the trade is now poor
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Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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00:22Hi everybody, I'm Brian Kenney, and welcome to ESPN Classics' Top 5 Reasons You Can't
00:27Blame, a series that takes a fresh look at sports personalities who are remembered largely
00:31for their mistakes, controversial moments, or questionable decisions. Our mission is
00:36not to further vilify these individuals, but instead to challenge conventional wisdom
00:40and re-examine what has been accepted as fact. When Brett Favre was traded by Atlanta to Green
00:45Bay in 1992, could anyone have known what feats he would achieve? With just one season in the NFL,
00:51the third-string quarterback had done little to show the greatness that awaited. In this show,
00:55we'll count down the reasons why you can't blame the Falcons for dealing the future Hall
00:59of Famer. But first, let's take a look at why this trade has been judged as one of the most
01:04lopsided in NFL history.
01:08Number four, Brett Favre!
01:13The perfect throw by Brett Favre.
01:15One fake block, now rolls right, looks the end zone, throws the middle, touchdown!
01:19I think he is one of the top three or four all-time quarterbacks we've ever had.
01:24Roll to the right by Brett. Brett on his feet, fires the end zone, touchdown!
01:28Brett Favre's hook is, there's no play he can't make.
01:31Brett Favre, you gotta love him. I mean, he's a football player.
01:34Brett Favre is a guy that's gonna do everything he can to win a football game.
01:36The end zone, touchdown!
01:38He's a guy that doesn't back down. He'll stand in there and he takes his shots.
01:42Look at Brett Favre, throws a great block.
01:46Brett Favre's one of the great...
01:47...from a guy who beat him in the Super Bowl.
01:51If he's getting praise that high from the guy who beat him,
01:55imagine the praise from the only guys who lost to him.
01:59...greatest players ever.
02:00So, to trade him is inexcusable.
02:06Besides breaking 18 school records on the way to becoming Southern Mississippi's all-time leading passer,
02:13Brett Favre displayed a massive amount of true grit in his senior season.
02:18Two months earlier, he's in a car accident and he had 30 inches of intestines removed.
02:24And then he goes out and he shows you he can lead Southern Miss to a victory over Alabama.
02:29Brett Favre comes through with a big play.
02:31I thought to myself, there's something in this player, boy, this guy's good.
02:35This guy can play coming off an injury like that.
02:39Selected by Atlanta as the 33rd overall pick in the 1991 draft
02:43and signed to a three-year, $1.5 million contract,
02:48Favre soon impressed his teammates and coaches with his primary weapon.
02:53He had the strongest arm I'd ever seen in a quarterback.
02:56He could literally throw the ball 100 yards.
02:58They're lining up with Brett to throw the ball to see if he can hit the press box.
03:04He'd hit the TV stand.
03:06We'd just be like, God dang, I can't throw it that far.
03:08It was amazing.
03:09This ball might need to be surgically removed tomorrow.
03:14With Chris Miller starting, Favre saw almost no action in his first pro season,
03:19throwing just four passes.
03:20From the start, head coach Jerry Glanville and Ken Herop, vice president of player personnel,
03:26were at odds over the quarterback's potential.
03:29I said, okay, Brett Favre's up there.
03:32Does anybody here think that we shouldn't take him?
03:36And I hear the head coach say, you know, I like that Brining Nagel.
03:40We never said this before.
03:41I just stood up and said, listen, we're going to take Brett Favre.
03:45When I did that, I could see the coach about to turn blue.
03:49Jerry Glanville almost never embraced players that Ken Herop selected.
03:54You have a GM and a head coach that essentially loathed each other.
03:58It was more...
03:59I shouldn't be down on Brownie Nagel.
04:03Yeah, he just passed less than a month ago.
04:07But Brownie Nagel, I hope that guy was fired.
04:11We're about the fact that Ken Herop picked this quarterback, I didn't.
04:15And I think that's why Brett Favre was out of Atlanta in one year.
04:19The Packers dealt one of their two 1992 first-round draft picks to Atlanta today.
04:24That was in exchange for backup quarterback Brett Favre.
04:28On September 20th, 1992,
04:30Favre replaced injured starter Don Makowski in the third game of the year.
04:35With Favre at the helm, the Packers went 9-5.
04:38And four seasons later, Green Bay won its first Super Bowl in 29 years.
04:45The big son, Barney Truffey, is coming home where it started.
04:49That's going to throw it up over the middle.
04:50Free it's back down, let it throw.
04:52We drafted him.
04:53He was here in Atlanta wearing a number four jersey.
04:56Our property could have done all that stuff for us.
04:59Green Bay played in back-to-back Super Bowls
05:01and didn't have a losing record over the next decade.
05:0598.
05:08The Falcons got to the Super Bowl with Chris Chandler.
05:11So what could they have done with Favre?
05:15Makes you wonder.
05:18Hmm.
05:19They played for appearances with Jeff George.
05:23Makes you wonder what they could have done with Favre.
05:28Atlanta, meanwhile, suffered through eight losing seasons without Favre.
05:33We had more damn quarterbacks coming through the Atlanta Falcons after Brett Favre left.
05:39Chris Miller, Billy Joe Tolliver, Jeff George, Bobby Hebert.
05:42You always used to hear those whispers.
05:44Damn it, why did we let Brett go?
05:46You look back now and you go, what was Atlanta doing?
05:49How dumb was that?
05:50I don't know why anybody would be that, uh, I hate to say that, that's stupid.
05:56We have to blame the Falcons for trading Brett Favre.
05:58This guy's one of the greatest quarterbacks who's ever played the game,
06:02one of the greatest people, and one of the greatest characters.
06:06Well, you can clearly see why the Falcons appear to be guilty in the court of public opinion
06:10for trading one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
06:13But before we tell you the top five reasons you can't blame Atlanta's brass,
06:16here are a few reasons that missed our list.
06:18We call them the best of the rest.
06:23Too legit to quit.
06:24The MC Hammer hit song was the theme of the Falcons' 1991 campaign
06:29when they went 10-6 and won their first playoff game in 13 years.
06:35The players won't quit.
06:36They're too legit to quit.
06:37Too legit to quit!
06:39Too legit to quit!
06:41We had excitement back in the town.
06:42We had a lot of talent surrounding me and a good offensive line, good defense,
06:47a really talented wide receiver core.
06:49Michael Hayes has just scored a touchdown.
06:52With Pro Bowl quarterback Chris Miller passing for 3,100 yards with 26 touchdowns,
06:58the Falcons look to trade Brett Favre.
07:01This guy's not playing anyway, and we can use that draft pick
07:04on maybe the final piece to get us over the hump.
07:07When you think you're one win away from getting a shot at maybe being a Super Bowl team,
07:11you can't blame the Falcons for taking a shot at it.
07:15Our other best of the rest, Tony Smith.
07:19Favre's teammate at Southern Mississippi was the first-round pick the Falcons obtained
07:23as a result of the trade with the Packers.
07:26Tony Smith, touchdown, Golden Eagles.
07:30The fleet running back seemed like the real thing.
07:33Tony Smith could become an event in Atlanta, Tommy.
07:35You like him?
07:36Yeah, I like him a lot.
07:37He has great speed, runs very fluidly, very much like a Marcus Allen kind of guy.
07:41When we drafted him, we're all excited because he fits to the run and shoot as a receiver,
07:46a running back, return man.
07:48Tony didn't have a lot of courage, and he really wasn't that talented.
07:52Kind of one of those who look like Tarzan, play like Jane kind of guys who didn't like
07:57a whole lot of contact.
07:59Smith, he got in behind, hit, but couldn't spring loose.
08:03Smith.
08:04That's ridiculous.
08:05Jane could have easily made at least three yards on some of those plays.
08:12Smith was a bust.
08:13After rushing for only 329 yards as a rookie, he never carried the ball again for Atlanta.
08:21Had he been the back that the Falcons thought he would be, history might have been, we might
08:27have been revisiting history at least a little bit.
08:34Reason number five.
08:36Brett Favre?
08:37He was a nobody.
08:40Atlanta has selected Brett Favre, quarterback, Southern Mississippi.
08:45Brett Favre was a nobody with a funny name.
08:49Was it Favre?
08:49Was it Favre?
08:51This was a guy that nobody had ever heard of.
08:53Drafted behind first round quarterbacks Dan McGuire and Todd Marinovich, Favre, selected
08:59in the second round, didn't win much support in Atlanta when he brand...
09:03Nobody ever heard anything from Southern Miss before or after.
09:08I wouldn't be surprised if Favre was the only NFL player they produced.
09:12...egged on himself.
09:13I really believe that I am the best quarterback in this draft.
09:17We were watching film and Chris Miller threw a pass.
09:21Brett made the comment loudly.
09:23I'll be starting by the third game.
09:25Right before the game, Brett would go up and tell Chris, Chris, go in there and mess it
09:28up, baby.
09:29I'll be in there by the fourth quarter.
09:30I'd always been a starter my whole life.
09:33Never sat on the bench.
09:34But that year in Atlanta, no one called my name.
09:37No one cared.
09:39You know, guys would pass right by me.
09:41You know, it was that guy.
09:46In February 1992, when the Falcons dealt Favre for the 17th pick of the upcoming draft,
09:51no tears were shed in Atlanta.
09:55Fans in Atlanta were better than a regular season loss to the Expos than they were about
09:59Brett Favre leaving town.
10:00The general public did not know nor care that Brett Favre had been traded.
10:04All they knew was that the Falcons had a number one draft pick coming their way.
10:09I don't think anybody on the team felt like, man, we're going to, we're missing out on
10:14the future.
10:15They felt like we get a first round pick for a second round guy who's not going to play,
10:19who's a nobody.
10:21Ship him out.
10:24Did that reason grab you?
10:25If not, we've got four more to go.
10:27Here's reason number four.
10:30Once again, it's Brett Favre.
10:33Considered a lost soul, he didn't fit in on a team with flamboyant personalities.
10:39Star power always lacked in Atlanta.
10:42And with too legit to quit, primetime and Jerry Glanville, finally Atlanta's on the map.
10:47Brett Favre didn't start, star power lacked in Atlanta when they had Hank Aaron play there.
10:55Get him off the sports show.
10:58He looked like he was one of those superstars.
11:00I don't think Brett Favre cared about fitting into that culture.
11:03Brett Favre was casual, he was easy going.
11:07Favre failed to make a connection with his eccentric head coach, Jerry Glanville.
11:12He's riding a black Harley, wearing black leather coats, you know, wearing a cowboy hat,
11:15leaving tickets for James Dean and Elvis Presley.
11:26That's terrible running.
11:27The will's out on the slot.
11:29Get your ass up, Bill.
11:31Jerry ran very tough training camps.
11:35Liked fighting, promoted fighting.
11:37Brett wasn't prepared for the NFL, and he certainly wasn't prepared for the way Jerry Glanville coached.
11:42Jerry Glanville didn't like the fact that he didn't have a very good work ethic.
11:46Glanville used to call him Mississippi in a sort of a derogatory way.
11:50Mississippi, you're not going to play tonight?
11:54I'll tell you what, we've got to have two playing wrecks and four quarterbacks go down and you're it.
12:00Brett was a country guy who kind of had his own rules and his own disciplines, and that wasn't good
12:05enough for Jerry.
12:05You can't blame Jerry Glanville, you can't blame the Falcons.
12:09Once that season rolls around, it's what have you done for me lately.
12:12You don't have time to babysit.
12:17Number three is again Brett Favre.
12:20He was a party boy.
12:22Even before his active nightlife became public knowledge in Green Bay, the quarterback prowled Atlanta after dark.
12:30He should have been on the cast of Animal House.
12:33He was the John Belushi kind of a character who just happened to be a football player.
12:37I could drink beer with the best of him back then, and it was about 250 pounds.
12:42I did more to hurt my cause than help it.
12:45A four-year starter at Southern Mississippi, Favre arrived in Atlanta weighing 217 pounds.
12:52When he wasn't allowed to play on the field, he played hard often.
12:56He was a 248-pound, life-of-the-party, lampshade-wearing guy without any indication that he was going to
13:05grow up or mature.
13:07He was basically a guy that nobody thought was going to amount to anything.
13:12Even Brett Favre thought the same thing.
13:14I almost felt sorry for myself.
13:16You know, I'll be a big bum and drink beer and just whatever.
13:21Jerry Glanville was afraid that he was going to get a phone call at 3 a.m. saying, you know
13:26what?
13:26Brett Favre just wrapped himself around a telephone pole.
13:31Favre's flaky behavior reached critical mass when he failed to show up for the Falcons' annual team photo session.
13:37He pulls in and he tells Jerry, he said, yeah, coach, I was driving in and I had a wreck.
13:44So I grabbed Favre and I said, how are you going to tell coach you had a wreck when your
13:47car is sitting right there?
13:48So he grabbed him, coach, coach, come here.
13:51And he goes, really what I had, I was in my buddy's car.
13:54He was bringing me up here and then we had to wreck and I had to go back and get
13:58my car.
13:59And Jerry asks, is that the story you're sticking to?
14:01And Brett looks at him, he puts his head down and he goes, would you believe I saw a wreck?
14:07And Jerry just looked at him and he said, you are a wreck.
14:12Soon after, head coach Jerry Glanville demoted Favre from second string to third string in favor of recently acquired Billy
14:20Joe Tolliver.
14:22Jerry Glanville didn't have the time to invest in a third string, out of shape, backup quarterback.
14:28You can't blame the Atlanta Falcons for thinking that maybe Brett Favre was going to party his way out of
14:34the NFL.
14:35We hope you're beginning to question who's really to blame here.
14:38If not, here's reason number two.
14:42That's right, Brett Favre.
14:44He didn't even challenge for the job.
14:47He lost focus after starting out confident.
14:51We've got our starting quarterback here in Chris Miller and hopefully he can do well for this team and we
14:55can win.
14:55Brett came in feeling very strongly that not only would he be the number two quarterback, but in a very
15:06short period of time, he supplanted Chris Miller as the starter.
15:10But the opportunity won, like many of his passes.
15:15He made throws in practice.
15:16You just went, where were you throwing that?
15:19He threw every pass end over end.
15:21And I can remember Brett coming off the field after virtually every practice that first week saying, damn, Len, I
15:28can't throw a Spyro.
15:31In two exhibition games, Favre didn't impress either.
15:36Favre dances, tries to handle him and throws it up the Rams.
15:40We play him against the Rams in preseason and he really stunk up the joint.
15:46Threw several interceptions.
15:48Ball wasn't on target.
15:50Threw from the end zone and almost intercepted.
15:52As we get out of training camp, our coaches aren't happy with our backup quarterback.
15:57So we need another one.
15:59Five days before the start of the regular season, the Falcons acquired Tolliver from San Diego.
16:06In essence, the Falcons said to Brett Favre,
16:09you're not only not good enough to challenge for the starting job,
16:12you're not good enough to be our number two.
16:14He was relegated to the third team and didn't fight back and didn't show him in practice, this is what
16:20I am.
16:23What he did show was an affinity for rest.
16:27He's asleep half the time.
16:29I was throwing towels at him to wake his rear end up.
16:31He would fall asleep in the meetings, but it's because he stayed up late the night before.
16:37I didn't see any reason why I should work hard in practicing.
16:39There's no reward for him.
16:41Had I showed effort and all that stuff, I still wouldn't have played,
16:44but they'd have said, well, you know, the guy's showing a little, you know, a little desire.
16:48I didn't show any.
16:51Favre finally got his chance in week 11,
16:53when the Falcons were losing 49-17 to the Redskins.
16:58He proved Glanville right.
17:01He's running around like a chicken with his head cut off.
17:07Favre still scrambling, finally sacked.
17:10There was nothing there to make you say, this is the guy that's going to make it all happen for
17:15us.
17:15Back to pass inside his own five.
17:18Throws it out over the top.
17:19Picked off.
17:20It's going to be Andre Collins for a touchdown.
17:23Favre was sacked once and connected on two of four passes.
17:27The problem was, both completions were to the other team.
17:32He probably wasn't too ready to go in or ready at that point in time for the system or the
17:37scheme or the plays.
17:38Quarterback's your leader.
17:39Not the guy that's going to fall asleep in a meeting, not know the plays.
17:44We can't even trust him with the scout team.
17:46How are we going to trust him with our real team?
17:52Why change now?
17:54And who else?
17:55It's Brett Favre.
17:56He wanted a trade.
17:58He needed a trade.
18:00His future in Atlanta was behind him.
18:03He says, hey, I want to play.
18:05I can play.
18:06I can take you to the Super Bowl.
18:08If you guys aren't ever going to play me, go ahead and get rid of me.
18:11If I'm owning the team at the time and I'm hearing that there's the screw-up of a quarterback saying
18:17that I want to be traded, I'm going to trade him.
18:19You can't blame the Falcons for unloading a third-string quarterback that was overweight and partying too much and wanted
18:26no part of this city and going to get a first-round pick for him.
18:31The Falcons sent Favre to Green Bay, a city that rarely experienced the joys of winning.
18:37Vince Lombardi stepped down as coach after winning a second consecutive Super Bowl in 1968.
18:44When he came to Green Bay, Green Bay was beaten down.
18:47I mean, it was 24 years.
18:50He had four winning seasons there.
18:52Whoops.
18:53Wachowski slipped.
18:55What a horrible break for the Packers.
18:57People were being threatened.
18:59You better play better or I'm going to trade you to Green Bay.
19:01That's the way Green Bay was thought of.
19:03It was like the Siberia prison, you know, and nobody wanted to go there.
19:14I'm a Green Bay Packer now.
19:16You just got to be patient and give me time because I promise I can be the man eventually.
19:21The calls came in from the fans.
19:23They were livid.
19:25If the guy's riding the bench in Atlanta, what's he ever going to do in Green Bay?
19:30Where others saw misery, Favre saw possibility.
19:34I knew about the history and tradition, and I said, hey, this is a great opportunity for me.
19:39No player has ever come to a franchise in the NFL at a better time than Brett Favre came to
19:45the Green Bay Packers.
19:47They traded a first-round pick for him, made him feel wanted.
19:50Given the opportunity, he might be able to step in and have an opportunity to play.
19:55Favre got that chance in his third game with Green Bay.
20:00McCouskey now being carried off the field.
20:02I think that might be it for him today.
20:03And in comes Brett Favre.
20:05He was running around for a long time, not knowing what to do.
20:08Fumbled the ball by eight or nine times, and it was making some dummy audibles that we didn't even have.
20:13They're in trouble here.
20:15As Favre hits a photographer in the back of the end zone.
20:17The last drive of the game, he threw some great runs, and obviously threw the winning touchdown pass.
20:22Now he's going to the end zone.
20:24There's a man.
20:25He's right at the touchdown.
20:26I can't believe it.
20:28Favre started the next game and didn't look back.
20:31His more than 200 consecutive starts is an NFL record for quarterbacks.
20:37Favre is on the run.
20:39Favre is down the sidelines.
20:40Favre, touchdown.
20:42A three-time MVP, he credits much of his success to the right coach and system.
20:48I fell into the right system.
20:50There's no doubt the ideal coach and mentor for me was here with Mike Holmgren.
20:55Are you all right?
20:56Yeah.
20:57No more rocket balls, please.
21:01As for the Falcons, the embarrassment grows each season Favre plays.
21:06But back in 1992, who would have known?
21:10At the time of the trade, I mean, it was the right thing to do.
21:14Unproven guy.
21:15Wasn't going to help us win a game.
21:17In the next two or three years.
21:19When you have a Chris Miller, how can you keep a Brett Favre?
21:22Particularly when you've got a Brett Favre who everybody is looking at as this big school.
21:26It made perfect sense to get rid of the guy.
21:29From the Falcon perspective, your quarterback just went to the Pro Bowl.
21:33Your team just went to the playoffs.
21:35I draft him in the second round.
21:36Green Bay is offering a first round draft choice.
21:39Why not do the deal?
21:40I don't hold it against him.
21:41I can see why they made the trade.
21:44No one knew, including myself, what was to come.
21:49Well, there you have it.
21:50The reasons why the Falcons can't be blamed for dealing Brett Favre after one disappointing season.
21:55We hope you've gained a new perspective on the Falcons trading away one of the game's best quarterbacks.
22:00I'm Brian Kenney.
22:01Thanks for joining us.
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