Brett Favre: The "If I Did It" Defense

The following is a review of Brat Out-of-Favour's 2020 book, If I Did It: Betrayal of the Green Bay Packers.

The ghost writer for this book, Greta Van Susteren, makes sure in the beginning that we understand that none of what is written is a confession on the part of Brat, the former Packers quarterback whose name was legally changed thanks to a massive lawsuit by highly motivated fans of the team.

"It is a hypothetical," says the former Fox News reporter and self-described friend of Brat Out-of-Favour. Her father was also a close friend of Joe McCarthy as she was growing up in Appleton, WI. "That's why it's titled If I Did It..."

Her former network was going to air an interview with Brat, to whom they had given an advance on book and movie rights, until public outcry compelled them to cancel the interview.

A judge ruled that publishing rights be turned over to Packers shareholders, of which Van Susteren belonged until she was forced to sell back to the team because shareholders voted that she was continually acting "against the best interests of the organization" in her agenda to support Brat at every turn.

The book is well-written, but offers little revelatory information. It was based on the premise of Brat's first press conference after the report, in which he claimed to be innocent but went into detail about how what the Packers did to succeed against Detroit was no secret and that what he was charged with was not against the rules: "(It) happens more than you know."

He also later vowed to start the search for the real treasonists.

Among the assertions used to justify the action that Brat nonetheless insists never took place was the team's sudden departure, after coach Mike Sherman left, from the philosophy that his needs would be put ahead of the team's. He said that made it obvious to him he was unwanted by management.

The following is a partial list of examples of the policy shift:

• Brat was not allowed to choose who was hired as the head coach to replace his patsy, Sherman.
  
• The team did not trade for Randy Moss just because over 70 percent of Packers fans said they would rather fail to win a Super Bowl without him on the team than win one with him.
• They actually dared to laugh at the very notion and tell him privately: "Are you kidding? And have you scrap the game plan to heave the ball downfield even more than you already do with no regard to the consequences? This ain't hillbilly sandlot football, yiou know!" He says his feelings were hurt when they said that.
• The team let go of two aging guards, Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera, who did not have one Pro Bowl vote between them in the limited number of games they played for the rest of their careers, rather than sign them to unprecedented contracts for players of their position.
• Brat was not immediately given the starting quarterback job and a welcome back party when he changed his mind for the third time in four months about his retirement.
• He was not traded to the team he wanted to play for, the Minnesota Vikings, because the Packers were afraid he would stick it to them.
  

With regard to the last point, reports came out one by one when opposing front office staff and coaches retired, stating that Out-of-Favour had also fed those teams information. When the finally-retired star was cornered about this in 2011, he said, "If I did it, it was to prove the Packers wrong about saying I wanted to stick it to them."

He later pointed out, "It's not like my information helped anyone—if I had provided it, I mean!"

That much is indisputable: the Packers struggled defensively that year and only won six games, but Aaron Rodgers (who made the Pro Bowl the following year) passed for over 4000 yards with 28 TDs (plus running for four more), and only 13 interceptions in his first year under center.

(Brat had 13-plus interceptions in every season of his career but two—one in which he attempted only four passes. In that season he still threw two interceptions.)

Nevertheless, the book outlines how the selling of secrets would have happened if it had taken place.

"I called Matt Millen to say we should talk before his Lions played the Packers, but I got voice mail," Out-of-Favour said. "So I told him to call me back, and that's why I was able to say he called me, I mean, if he had—wait, I can admit that—yeah, so that's why I said he called me."

Van Susteren was asked why she didn't edit that out, and said she was misquoted. People who worked with her claim it is further proof of her incompetence as a reporter, an assertion she vehemently denies in a "fair and balanced" assessment of herself.

Out-of-Favour goes on: "And he said he would take me hunting if I told him something, so I talked about the game plan to spread them out and attack their secondary because we always knew they only had playmakers at the receiver position. I asked Matt why he didn't know this, and then was like, 'Oh, yeah, he's really bad at his job.'

"Matt said he needed to know more because he said his job was finally on the line, and offered me a free hunting trip for it. So I started telling him about audible terminology, route combinations, etc. I should have known he wouldn't be able to take advantage of it.

"And then it was similar with the other teams, but most of them didn't call me back when they could see it wasn't working. If I had told them anything, that is."

The last chapter is a plea from Brat to be allowed into the Hall of Fame, and this is the most compelling chapter of the book.

After all, he led a Jets team that was 4-12 the year before to the brink of the playoffs with a passer rating over 80 and took the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game the following year before the pressure of the accusations of selling out fans took its toll in his final year with the Vikings. Even with his dismal 2010 showing and subsequent shunning by league executives, he had only two losing seasons as a starter.

He also finished with over 300 consecutive starts including the playoffs, and almost 500 TDs and 70,000 yards passing for his career. These numbers were good enough to be best all-time for about five years before Peyton Manning broke all three.

For the record, the fact that the Hall of Fame voters are shunning his selection is unconscionable. But Brat offers a compromise: "Can I at least change my name back to Brett Favre?"