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Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers teammates?
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They’re not so lucky. They’ll have to do more than just show up to put this one in the victory column
At least they’ll be able to plug into the wave of electricity crackling through the stands when Favre’s number is retired during a halftime ceremony. In what stands to be one of the biggest moments in the stadium’s history, the Packers announced Thursday that they would bestow their greatest honor on the future Hall of Fame quarterback on opening day.
It is an honor only five other players in team history have received.
President Mark Murphy and general manager Ted Thompson decided that they wanted to retire Favre’s number early in the season and the most logical dates were the season opener against Minnesota or the second home game against the Dallas Cowboys. Both will be nationally televised, but Murphy said the Vikings game, on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” made more sense.
“It’s a division rival, obviously,” Murphy said Thursday. “And it’s a national TV game and given what Brett meant to Packers fans and the number of fans around the country, we wanted to make sure everyone would see it. That was important.”
As a result of the Packers’ choice, ESPN and not NBC — which will televise the Cowboys game — gets the broadcast rights to the game. Murphy said he did not receive pressure from the National Football League to hold the ceremony on either date, but he said he was in contact with management at ESPN.
Because it is a sports-oriented channel, Murphy said ESPN would have more air time to devote to the Favre ceremony.
“You look at ESPN and there are a multitude of platforms for them to use over the entire weekend,” Murphy said. “They can do a lot to promote that ceremony. My guess is it will be a celebration of Brett and his career. It will be great for Brett, the Packers and the NFL.”
Thompson has been the front man in discussions with Favre over the retirement ceremony and Murphy said Favre told him he would prefer to have it in the early part of the season. Favre signed off on the season opener as the ceremony date earlier this week.
Favre’s agent, James “Bus” Cook, said Favre had not told him of the decision to retire his number during the opener and so he wasn’t privy to his thinking on the subject. He said Favre wouldn’t have done it then if he didn’t think it was the right time.
One person who might be affected by the timing is Rodgers, who is scheduled to become the first quarterback other than Favre to start a game for the Packers since 1992. There will be a lot of pressure on Rodgers to win a key divisional game and it wouldn’t be a stretch to think the Favre ceremony will intensify it.
But coach Mike McCarthy made it clear earlier this month that Rodgers and the team would be focused on the Vikings and little else.
“Ultimately, we felt that there would be a lot of attention on Brett Favre whether we retired the number or not,” Murphy said. “It will be the first game in 16 years someone other than Brett Favre will be the starter. There will be pressure on Aaron anyway.”
Murphy said the good thing was that Rodgers wouldn’t have the retirement ceremony hanging over his head the rest of the season.
The details of the ceremony have not been finalized other than it will take place at halftime and Favre’s No. 4 will be unveiled on the team’s wall of honor inside the stadium. Murphy said he did not know whether Favre would take part in any other activities that weekend.
As for Favre not submitting his retirement papers yet, Murphy said there was no concern on the Packers’ part because when they need his salary cap money, they can put him on the reserve/retired list, which would officially remove him from the active roster.
Cole signs up: Restricted free agent nose tackle Colin Cole signed his one-year, $1.417 million qualifying offer. The deadline for restricted free agents to sign contracts with other teams ends today.
