Brett Favre tore through defenses early in his NFL career even though he didn't know what scheme the opposition was running.
Favre told a familiar story Friday in a speech at LSU about not knowing (or caring for) football terminology in his first few years in the league.
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“I think it was my second year in Green Bay and we’d drafted Ty Detmer, a good friend of mine,” Favre said, via NOLA.com. “Now if you don’t know what’s going on, the trick is to act like you do. I’m the starting quarterback and (Mike) Holmgren would be up there and . . . he’s writing 'nickel defense is in.' . . . I’m sitting there and thinking ‘I hear this nickel defense all the time and I’m not sure what it is.'”
While Favre acted like he knew what was going on, he eventually found out thanks to Detmer.
“Then I’m thrown for a loop when (Holmgren) says ‘Long yardage situation, dime comes in.’ And I’m thinking ‘what the hell is dime?’ . . . but I was afraid to ask, because I’m the starter. So after about our second year, finally I said ‘Ty, I have to ask you a question.’ I said, ‘Ty, what’s a nickel defense?’ He gets real quiet and says, ‘Are you serious?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m serious.’ He says, ‘Well, basically they take out a linebacker and bring in a DB.’ I said, ‘That’s it?’ He said, ‘That’s it.’ I said ‘Who gives a s—?'”
The lack of mental preparedness was par for the course for the future Hall of Famer early in his career but he quickly shifted his focus and became one of the greatest QBs is history.