Skip to main content
Advertising
Powered by

Oops! We jinxed Canton

Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers are different types of leaders

160809-insider-inbox-950.jpg


Tyler from De Pere, WI

Regarding the question of the Ice Bowl's field conditions, I reluctantly agree with the cancellation of the HOF game. Would hate to see an injury due to human error, but would also be disappointed if we are entering an era where we are questioning whether or not to play during a beautiful winter storm at Lambeau. Possible?

I don't think so, not with the hybrid grass and heating system underneath. Flying back from Canton late Sunday night, though, made me think about that Monday night Vikings-Bears game in 2010 that was played following an ice storm at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis due to another Metrodome collapse. TCF had no heating system (one was installed before 2014 when the Vikings moved their home games there for two years) and that field was frozen solid, with minimal traction. Was it safe? Favre got a nasty concussion, if I recall, from his head hitting that turf on a sack. That was only six years ago, but today, in the player-safety era, would that game have been postponed?

Jeff from Farmington, Utah

Are you going to try and find the "thing"?

At some point, I'll have to try, right? The question is when. These things can be all about timing. Something has to happen for it to be the right time to open that door and begin the search.

Nate from Amherst, WI

Hey guys, I think I missed the "Three Things" video from the game. Please re-post?

We thought about running to the Home Depot in Canton and flipping on the camera in the paint section, but we were afraid we'd miss the team charter flight to come home.

Keone from Honolulu, HI

I absolutely LOVED watching Brett Favre and my Packers play every week and still do. Favre just made the game exciting and fun to watch. He brought a different type of energy to the game. Rodgers and company are always awesome to watch as well. In your opinion, what is the difference in their leadership styles? Clearly they both elevate the players surrounding them, demand perfection and make them "look good."

I disagree about the demand perfection part, and that's what makes them different leaders. Favre played in an imperfect, free-wheeling way that rallied teammates, who believed no matter how rough the going that Favre would give them a chance to win. Rodgers leads by demanding accountability from his teammates. He expects them to prepare as meticulously as he does, which makes players want to succeed with him and not let him down. Their biggest similarity as leaders is fighting through any injury you can to be in that huddle, which shows everyone how badly you want to win and how much it means to you.

Doug from Union Grove, WI

I'm an old guy. Was at the Ice Bowl. I've seen and experienced a lot. I've witnessed some very emotional moments in Packers history. Whether or not one is a Brett Favre fan (and I am), I don't know how, as a Packer fan, one could watch the HOF ceremony and not have to wipe one's eyes at least once.

I thought the speech hit all the right notes,**as I wrote late Saturday night**from Canton. His words about his dad finished what he started on Dec. 22, 2003, and I felt privileged to witness the completion live.

160809-favre-locker.jpg

Steve from Minneapolis, MN

Brett's "locker" in the HOF has two jerseys. Do other players like Kevin Greene who played on four teams have multiple jerseys in their "locker"?

The Hall of Fame assembled those lockers in different ways. Greene's had wristbands from multiple teams he played on and gloves marked with the date and QB from various sacks in his career. I took a picture of Favre's, too, and it was interesting watching Packers fans take their photos in front of the locker. Most of them stood in position to block the Vikings uniform from being in the shot.

160809-greene-locker.jpg

Noah from Omro, WI

What's the first thought that popped into your head upon hearing the HOF game was canceled?

I'm gonna get home before 2 a.m. and actually get more than five hours of sleep for the first time in nearly a week.

Greylorn from Cochise, AZ

How about revisiting the "Canton does it right" claptrap? Or won't the league allow disparaging comments about their incompetence? Let's hear the truth, if possible.

Never let it be said we can't jinx something. It was a collective effort. I said that in Saturday's Inbox in a question Wes had forwarded me, referring primarily to the awe-inspiring (for me) Gold Jacket Ceremony on Thursday night. Then Wes pulled it out for the headline as that day's column writer. We were laughing about it on the flight home. Many of you found much more humor in it than Greylorn.

Dan from Bayboro, NC

Favre's most memorable moment for me is different. It was a sack playing against Tampa. Favre rolled right then spun 180 directly into a defensive lineman who de-cleated and buried him. Favre jumped up and bouncing up and down slapped the player to congratulate him on a great hit. How does this play never make any highlight reels of his career? It embodies his career of toughness and fun in the game.

Yours wasn't the only Inbox submission to bring up this one. I covered that game in a previous job and remember it well. Over the weekend, I heard Matt Hasselbeck telling Larry McCarren the story of that same play, and how Favre was told if he audibles that play to the naked bootleg, he can't stop running. He stopped, of course, turned back into the chasing defender (Regan Upshaw, I believe) and paid the price. When Favre got up the way he did, the crowd went nuts, and as Hasselbeck tells it, the Packers could see defeat in the Bucs' eyes. They knew they couldn't beat him. That was Favre. He could win the game by doing exactly what he wasn't supposed to.

Matt from Waunakee, WI

Can it end now? He didn't put an end to world hunger.

The starvation of Packers fans for a quarter century came close. But thanks for indulging me a bit on the Favre stuff, since I hadn't written Insider Inbox since before I left for Canton.

Rob from Peterborough, Ontario

Mike, your father is a Crane expert?! Wow! This makes me think of one of the great opening lines in literature and leads me to a question. How might you, for the purposes of football writing, use the following: "None of them knew the color of the sky"? I see two teams facing each other, eye to eye, late in the fourth quarter of a tied playoff game.

In a dome, no?

Mike from Des Moines, IA

If it's the "Hall of Famous" as Vic says, should things like LeRoy Butler's creation of the Lambeau Leap factor into the argument for his selection? Or should it only be about what happens between the whistles?

Curious thought. If I were arguing Butler's case, I'd include it. I saw a big picture of a Lambeau Leap on one wall in the Hall from several years back (it appeared to be of tight end Donald Lee), so why not? I hadn't looked at Butler's case too closely until I wrote**the story on Saturday from Favre’s induction party**, but four first-team All-Pro selections in the 1990s is hard to ignore. All-Pro is so much more significant than Pro Bowl. He was recognized as one of the top two safeties in the game four times in a span of six years. He doesn't have that defining postseason moment Vic always desires, but I think once safeties begin to get their due in the Hall, Butler will get his.

Members of the Green Bay Packers attended Brett Favre's Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction in Canton, Ohio. Photos by Evan Siegle and Ryan Hartwig, packers.com.

Matt from East Troy, WI

Insiders, with Favre mania in full swing, how many more Packers from the same "Favre-era" will get into the Hall of Fame?

Aside from Butler, the other one on the radar would be Mike Holmgren. Again, I didn't realize until I looked closer over the weekend, but in 17 regular seasons as a head coach, Holmgren finished worse than 9-7 only three times. That really stands out to me, plus taking one franchise to its first Super Bowl in 29 years and another to its first ever. Even if Butler and Holmgren get in, though, along with Woodson in five years, the race with the Bears for the most HOFers (currently 27-24) still won't even up, because I think Chicago will be getting both Devin Hester and Brian Urlacher in.

Ron from West Allis, WI

What is the theme song for Packers Unscripted? I need to know. It's a great song.

Our producer says it's called "Blood Bath" by Michael Raphael.

Brian from Pensacola, FL

Given the numbers/depth we currently have at receiver (assuming no further injuries), would you at all be surprised if Ty Montgomery was left on the PUP list as long as possible? Freeing up an extra roster spot in that position while allowing him to fully recover and more could have its benefits. All that being said though, I can't wait to see him back on the field.

Many have advanced this idea, but I'm not sure it will be as strategic a decision as folks are suggesting. If Montgomery is healthy by the end of training camp, you get him on the practice field, because while the points you make about keeping him on PUP are valid, if he begins the regular season on PUP, he is ineligible – and that means to practice as well as play in games – for at least the first six weeks of the season. If he's healthy and good to go, keeping him out of practice until the second half of October won't benefit him or the team. If he's not healthy yet, that's another decision. I think it comes down to the individual player, not the makeup of the roster.

David from Los Angeles, CA

Hi Insiders, I would think that your work hours can put a strain on family time and priorities. What are some of the ways you try to balance things so that everybody stays happy?

It's the toughest part about a job like this, but I'm blessed with a very understanding wife and kids. Any day off between August and January, you try to make the most of it with your family, and in the offseason you make them the priority. They know I try my best, and they also know I love my job. That's the true balance.

John from Port Edwards, WI

How will we give back our extra week of practice?

Rimshot for John.

Andrew from Fullerton, CA

Hello there, Mike-Wes, great work so far! Please tell me one of you is a hockey fan. Vic's indifference to hockey was his only downfall.

Only downfall? Good one. I was a huge Wisconsin Badgers hockey fan growing up. I used to stay up and watch the game replays on public TV late at night on the weekends, all the way through college. It was fun to avoid finding out what happened and watch a taped game "live." I kind of miss those days.

Carl from London, UK

Would you consider the Packers an aging team with the important core players such as Rodgers, Peppers, Matthews, Sitton and Lang all being over 30?

Lang is only 28, but I see the Packers as a team with a veteran core that you mention, and a young core of 25-and-unders that includes Cobb, Clinton-Dix, Randall, Rollins, Bakhtiari, Linsley, R. Rodgers and Ryan, among some others. It's a good mix, and an effective way to build a team.

Greg from Iowa City, IA

The only real question that should be asked today is if the NFL can possibly carry on without Vic munching on press box hot dogs. I don't believe in coincidences. First game with no Vic, canceled. I fear this curse will follow us. What do we do?

That's it! Time to find the thing!

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an issue.
-16x9

Cast your vote for the Pro Bowl Games!

Help send your favorite Packers players to the 2025 Pro Bowl Games!

Advertising