GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Brett Favre says he would be reluctant to
return to Green Bay next season if Mike Sherman isn't still
coaching the Packers.
The Packers (1-6) are off to their worst start since 1991, which
has led to speculation about Sherman's future.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Favre
said Sherman's status would play an important role in his annual
decision to keep on playing or to call it a career.
"I don't think there's one specific thing that would make me
say yeah or no. It's just a culmination of a lot of different
things, that being one of them," Favre said. "Maybe you're on the
verge of saying yeah, and then you say, 'You know what, do I really
want to sit in meetings and have to learn something all over
again?'
"That could be the straw that breaks the camel's back."
General manager Ted Thompson, who has refused to comment on
Sherman's future, was out of his office and didn't immediately
return a call from The AP.
Sherman, who signed a two-year, $6.4 million contract extension
on Aug. 23 that would take him through 2007, declined comment on
Favre's remarks.
Favre, who turned 36 last month, previously has said he wouldn't
want to finish his career in another uniform because he's too set
in his ways to learn a new offense.
Favre, who was traded to the Packers in 1992 after a year in
Atlanta, has spent his entire time in Green Bay running various
versions of the West Coast offense.
"I think that I've been maybe the only player that's ever
played 14 years in the same offense," he said. "This offense has
evolved; it's something a little bit different, but I've been here
through the evolution. No one else has. The downside of that is, it
would be so hard for me to learn something new in a year.
"It would just be so difficult. I mean, it could be done.
Anything can be done. We're talking about just the logistics of the
Xs and Os and stuff. But when you've spent 14 years, all they have
to do is come in and say right now ... instead of odd being to the
left, now it's going to be to the right. You see where I'm coming
from?
"It's no different than my first time in Tokyo, you're driving
on the wrong side of the road and it was hell. And I didn't drive;
I just rode."
Favre said that even small tweaks in the offense would force him
to deprogram what he's perfected and would have a big impact on his
play.
"What happens is your mind almost has just been engraved with
certain things," he said. "I mean, it could be done. It would be
a pain in the [rear end] I would think. Maybe I'm wrong."
Favre said he won't know about next season until the offseason,
but the weekly grind of preparing for games wears on him more with
each passing year.
"It could come down to some of the littlest things, what I'm
willing to put myself through. I mean, if it was coming down to
just games, I don't think nothing could pull me away from the
games. I love to play. I love to play," Favre said.
"But you know, I know, it's not baseball, it's not basketball.
You only play three hours a week. You spend all this time -- people
think at home that I just show up on Sundays and we play. I'm here
taking a damn nap here at lunch, spend all day and watch film at
night. For three hours. And if it doesn't go your way, it's so
disappointing all the time you've put into it."
Favre pondered retirement last winter while his wife, Deanna,
was undergoing treatment for breast cancer, the latest in a long
list of tragedies to strike the Favre family.
When Deanna recovered, she encouraged her husband to keep
playing so they could enjoy the twilight of his career after two
years of heartache.
But Hurricane Katrina changed those plans, leaving some of his
family members without homes.
Favre said the Packers' record and rash of injuries this year
won't play a major role when he decides whether to return in 2006
because in the NFL nowadays a team can go from worst to first in no
time.
"I think it comes down to a couple draft picks and luck,
obviously, good luck, and very easily we could be sitting here and
be totally different" next year, Favre said. "I'm well aware of
that. I mean, I don't sit here and say, 'It's going to take a
while.' You get a good crop of players, you get a couple veterans
that you might bring in, it's amazing how it can transform your
team.
"And then, in this division, not only is it open this year,
it's open most years. I know that if I come back next year, we
could be right back in the thick of it."
Favre has thrown for 15 TDs and is completing a career-best 66.7
percent of his passes despite missing Ahman Green, Javon Walker,
Najeh Davenport and Terrence Murphy, who are all out for the
season.