Did Brett Favre Help the Detroit Lions When They Played the Green Bay Packers?

(Update: Upon waking up Monday morning, I found another report from the Wisconsin State Journal that seems to provide stronger support and confirmation that Brett Favre did, in fact, help the Lions for 60-90 minutes as they prepared for their game against the Packers. A loss to the Raiders, this report, Aaron Rodgers sitting high on the QB rating list — yeah, I don’t think this is ending well for Brett Favre. That 6 TD game already seems like an eternity ago.)

Before I sign off for the night, one more story caught my today that was actually outside the realm of the frustrating Cleveland Browns. And after banging away at the keyboard to deliver my thoughts on today’s loss to the Redskins, which did actually relieve a little of my frustration, it will be nice to write about something else real quick.

Apparently, as I read on ProFootballTalk.com earlier today, Brett Favre may have delivered inside information to the Detroit Lions in the week preceding the Lions’ matchup with the Green Bay Packers. The second-hand report by ProFootballTalk.com says that, according to Jay Glazer on the Fox pregame show, Brett Favre contacted then-Lions CEO Matt Millen, who then put Brett Favre in touch with the Detroit Lions coaches. Regardless of what Brett Favre may or may not have disseminated regarding the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions still ended up losing the game.

Many of the Green Bay Packers’ players reacted to the report in the locker room after their 34-14 defeat of the Indianapolis Colts today. For the Lions part, neither head coach Rod Marinelli or defensive coordinator Joe Barry would confirm nor deny the report. Naturally, Brett Favre’s best friend Peter King chimed in during Football Night in America and said that Brett Favre claimed the report was total B.S.

Is this surprising? Not really.

Unfortunately, as much as I respect Brett Favre as a football player, he does not exactly have 100% credibility when it comes to statements he makes through the press. Remember when reports first surfaced that he wanted to return from retirement? He said it was “all rumor.” And even if this report about him helping the Lions were true, there is no way he would just come out an admit it. His legacy has already taken a hit with some Packers fans, and while some would probably believe Brett Favre even shown video of him sitting in a film room with Rod Marinelli, proof of a report like this would certainly hurt his credibility with more Packers fans and around the NFL in general.

There really is not information to make a judgment one way or the other. Although, in the Milwakuee Journal-Sentinel report linked above, it says that some Packers players had head “whispers” that Brett Favre had, indeed, shared information with the Detroit Lions.

Bringing this back to the perspective of a Browns fan, we can only hope that Kellen Winslow’s post-game comments get brushed under the rug somewhat by bigger stories such as another unnecessary Brett Favre fiasco, the many problems facing Larry Johnson, and the epic defeat by the Dallas Cowboys that surely will have fans across the Metroplex leaping from buildings tomorrow — if any are left.

As a football fan, I really hope that this report about Brett Favre is not true. If so, hopefully the report will die down soon and we won’t have to watch an endless loop of new Brett Favre controversy stories this week. If it is true, I hope more proof emerges. I don’t know how often this kind of stuff goes on, and I’m sure that Brett Favre was frustrated by the way his career in Green Bay ended; but this story makes him sound like a petulant and vengeful child who simply can’t move forward. And if I were a Jets fans, I’d be wondering why he wasn’t spending more time learning his new offense, as opposed to helping a winless team that he doesn’t play for learn the offense of his old team.

[tags]brett favre, green bay packers, detroit lions, nfl, football[/tags]

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