Transcript of Brett Favre's news conference with Jets beat reporters before Monday's midday practice:
On playing Thursday at Philadelphia…
I haven't talked [Coach Mangini] about it. I don't know what's going to happen. I would assume he would probably say no. If that's the case, then so be it. I can get some practice in today and tomorrow. We'll be OK. I don't know if six plays, although I would like to do it, what you get out of that.
On if he is concerned with how soon the regular season will be here…
Well, I guess no more of a concern than coming in late and having a week to prepare for my first game like I did two weeks ago. To me that was a real game, based on the circumstances. At least in this case, I will have some practice and have worked with these guys. Not that that makes it any better, but I feel more comfortable in the situation now than I did several weeks ago.
On if he will be comfortable by the season opener…
Completely? I'd be lying if I said yes. I felt a lot more comfortable the other night [against the Giants], although we made a lot more mistakes, which falls back on me. It's stuff that with each day, I shouldn't say it becomes easier but it is easily correctable. Once you start game-planning for teams, to a certain extent you simplify things and you go to bat with things you feel comfortable with.
The whole season in itself will be, as I've always felt about my career, that you're learning each game. It's never things you study and prepare for. You don't always see it that way. I'll always be getting used to these guys. The system that I have in my head over the last 16 years I don't think will ever be washed away, so I have to relate things to what I've done in the past. That's becoming easier. I hear a play now and it's like, "OK, that's this play." Now when I start feeling that way, I can start adjusting to the guys and how they run routes and who runs this route better than the next guy, and that's what I need to get to.
On adjusting to his relationship with Coach Mangini…
I drove [Mike] Holmgren crazy, but I was much younger and didn't really understand how things worked. I see things more like a coach now, but I think that's the experience part of it speaking. I do understand his side of it, I really do. He has the whole team to think of. As a player, a lot of times you think of yourself. I realize the most important thing is the team, although I want to play. That's what we're here for is to play — preseason, regular season, doesn't matter. Other guys look at it differently than I do. That's the competitive nature in me speaking. But we've had a great relationship.
On how his body feels after the Giants game…
I feel like I took a couple of hits. To other guys it wasn't a big deal. They've been getting hit a little bit ahead of me in that category. When I tell people after 18 years, 17 years and a preseason, I get hit, I'm sore like everyone else. It takes longer to recover. That's the difference. That's no joke, I mean, that's the truth, but I'm still able to bounce back.
After the game I felt OK. Yesterday morning I woke up and I said, "OK, not too bad." By yesterday afternoon, I was like "Ohhh." Usually two days after is when I feel the worst. I've noticed that the last few years. Today will be a little tougher when you go out to practice than maybe in previous years. Not that I like getting hit, but it was good to get that over and done with. You get hit throughout the year, but that's just part of it.
On what he does to recover after the games…
I probably should do all that stuff, massages and ice. I've iced once this camp on my shoulder. Now call it stupidity, call it what you want. I see younger guys icing all the time and I know all that stuff is important. Call me old-school, I don't know. No signs of weakness, I always say, which I guess falls back to stupidity.
On talking to the coaches about toning down some of the offensive shifts…
We have discussed that. We actually discussed it before the game. We had a plan that we wanted to go in and show multiple looks, personnel, different shifts and different motions. Was it overkill? In hindsight, yeah, but it served its purpose. I totally agree with Schotty [OC Brian Schottenheimer] and the rest of the offensive staff that we needed to practice that. On film today, as we watched it, we could address that. We've got to get better at that if we're going to do it.
Now, would we do that in every game? It all depends on the situation and who you're playing and does that serve its purpose. Some teams, you make shifts and motion and all this stuff, it doesn't matter to them, they line up in their defense. It's not going to make them do anything different, so why do it in that situation? Against the Giants, there was good reason to do it, because they do give you a lot of different looks. It makes no sense if you can't execute it from an offensive standpoint.
It was more or less to see if we could handle it, see if I could handle it. For whatever reason, we didn't, and again that falls back on the quarterback because in years past anytime we did something like that, we didn't have that many penalties. I attribute that to the newness and the fact that I haven't worked with these guys that much, and not to mention it was a lot. We actually scaled back a little bit before the game. We actually had more shifts.
On the offensive penalties…
That was ugly. It goes without saying that was ugly. There's nothing that will kill a team more than the little things. Penalties are momentum killers. You hit a big touchdown — boom, called back, now we're third-and-16. There's not a lot of good calls on third-and-16. In order to be good on third down, you've got to stay manageable, third-and-2, third-and-6, things like that.
The key to third down is first down. You get 4 yards the first play, you've got two plays to get 6 yards. That's much easier than being second-and-10. When penalties occur and all of a sudden you're first-and-15 or you get a good play and now you're backed up for holding, you're first-and-15 or second-and-13, that's hard. We've got to limit those, or wipe them away completely, because that has nothing to do with the defense. It has everything to do with what we're doing or not doing. That's correctable.
On if the offense in Green Bay used as many motions and shifts…
No. We had that stuff in. We did it every so often, not that much.
On playing in the fourth preseason game…
I've always wanted to play in it.
On if he thinks about getting injured in preseason games…
I've never really thought about it, and I'm not saying Osi [Umenyiora] did think about it. I saw the tape. That was meant to be. It's very unfortunate for him and for the Giants, but it wasn't like guys rolled up on him. That probably would have happened in practice at some point, the way it occurred. He just went down.
Injuries are part of it. They come in a lot of different ways. You get rolled up in a pile, the turf does it or you do it in practice. I've played so many games, and not that I haven't been injured but I've overcome injuries, been lucky in a lot of situations. This is 18 years. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I can't control that. I love to play, and that's really all I can think about.
On Michael Strahan possibly coming out of retirement to play for the Giants…
If I was a Giant, I'd do whatever I could to get him out and have him back on my team. The guy still looks great. Hell of a player. I would have done whatever to try to get him back initially, but now, how could you not want him back? Wouldn't that be something? He comes back and we start a trend [laughter].
