Brett Favre: "Maybe it crossed my mind" to help Michael Strahan set sack record

With footage emerging of former Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau accosting former Packers quarterback Brett Favre for taking a dive to help former Giants defensive end Michael Strahan set the single-season sack record in 2001, Favre has taken to Twitter to tell his side of the story.

In so doing, Favre says he wasn't trying to hurt Gastineau. Favre admits, however, that "maybe it crossed my mind" to help Strahan during the final game of the 2001 season, which ended with Strahan getting a record-setting gimme sack from Favre..

Favre also takes issue with the decision to record and publicize the 2023 interaction between Gastineau and Favre.

Favre's full Twitter thread, in which he starts by calling the incident a "small dustup," appears below.

"Back in 2002, when Michael Strahan sacked me at the end of a game that we had wrapped up, I was in no way trying to hurt Mark Gastineau," Favre wrote. "I was trying to close out a game and squeeze the last bit of fun out of a hard-fought game. . . . I booted out of a run thinking it would be wide open, saw Strahan standing there and ducked down. The game was over. There was no need for me to do anything spectacular. It probably wasn’t Michael’s best sack or tackle for loss.

"In a different game or situation, I would have made a bigger effort to avoid the sack or TFL. But at no point was I thinking about hurting Gastineau. Maybe it crossed my mind to help Strahan. I didn’t think it through. That wasn’t my forte at the time. I just wanted to have fun and compete. In retrospect, I understand how Gastineau feels. We played a brutal game. Gastineau played during an era where guys didn’t make generational wealth.

"I see now how being the Sack King would elevate his value at card shows, strengthen his case for the Hall of Fame, increase his demand as a public speaker. I had no way of knowing that then. I realize now the potential financial implications because football is far more business-oriented than when me or Mark played.

"There was no malice on my part. Mark was a great player. My understanding is he’s a great guy and a fun teammate, a guy who played with the kind of joy and passion I tried to mimic. I understand his frustration, but I’m not his enemy. A while back, he saw me at a card show and got his frustration off his chest. It’s not the kind of moment that should be filmed and released. It was a private moment of frustration between two old football warriors.

"I have a great deal of respect for Mark. I hope one day he joins me in the Hall of Fame. He earned it. Look at his numbers. He eclipsed 20 sacks twice and had 19 in another year!

"Mark definitely left an indelible mark on the game. I hope this controversy brings attention to just how great Mark Gastineau was. He belongs in Canton."

Favre sort of admits he was helping Strahan. Still, Favre insists he never considered the impact it might have on Gastineau. It's easy to accept Favre's position that he just wasn't thinking about it that way.

Favre was clearly respectful and friendly to Gastineau in their encounter. Gastineau was determined to give Favre a piece of his mind, after holding it for more than two decades. And he did.

Bottom line? There's no place in football for helping someone achieve a statistical milestone. The player either earns it or he doesn't. What Favre did for Strahan is no different than a Giants defender deliberately whiffing on a Week 18 tackle as Eagles running back Saquon Barkley tries to set the single-season rushing record.

Conduct like that tarnishes the achievement, and it makes everyone involved look bad. Deep down, Favre knows it. Strahan probably does, too.