Michael Strahan after sacking Brett Favre
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Brett Favre played a key role in helping Michael Strahan break Mark Gastineau’s single-season sack record, and the latter made it very clear he wasn’t pleased with how things went down while confronting the former at a card show. The retired QB didn’t have much to say at the time, but you have to respect the route he opted to take after the clip went viral.
Mark Gastineau was a member of the Jets defensive front known as the “New York Sack Exchange” that was a force to be reckoned with in the 1980s, and he’ll be prominently featured in the 30 For 30 documentary that takes its name from that crew that’s set to premiere on December 13th.
On Tuesday, we were treated to a clip of Gastineau confronting Brett Favre at a card show in 2023 over the fairly infamous moment where the Packers QB gave Michael Strahan a clutch assist in his quest to secure the sack he needed to hit 22.5 for the year and become the NFL’s new single-season sack leader in the closing minutes of Green Bay’s regular season finale against the Giants in 2002 (the Jets DE had set the mark to beat after racking up 22 sacks in 1984).
It’s kind of hard to blame Gastineau for being salty about the manner in which his record was broken, and the fact that he could no longer market himself as the NFL’s “Sack King” probably had some financial ramifications when it came to cashing in on the speaking circuit and at the kind of memorabilia shows where he gave Favre a piece of his mind.
It is worth noting T.J. Watt tied Strahan’s record in 2021, but Gastineau would have had close to two more decades to capitalize on his achievement if the former Giant had ultimately come up short.
On Tuesday night, Favre addressed his showdown with Gastineau in a string of tweets where he essentially admitted he gave Strahan a gift while praising the ex-Jet for what he achieved in the NFL while lobbying for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Here’s the entirety of those comments:
Brett Favre responds to Mark Gastineau
Brett Favre responds to Mark Gastineau
Brett Favre responds to Mark Gastineau
Brett Favre responds to Mark Gastineau
Brett Favre responds to Mark Gastineau
Say what you will about Favre, but he deserves credit where credit is due for that response.