Transcript of Brett Favre's news conference after Wednesday's morning training camp practice:
On how he is feeling…
OK. It wasn't too bad. My arm is dragging a little bit today. It's not really sore, just fatigued. To be honest with you, I'm surprised. I don't want to say I feel good, but I've been able to make it through every practice so far. I think maybe this afternoon I'm going to talk to Eric [Mangini] about it, limit my throws a little bit.
I didn't throw the ball very well this morning. No pain, but I'm 38 years old, have to be fatigued a little bit. My arm for the most part has felt great. Legs, a little bit fatigued. You have to figure I'm a little bit behind some of these guys. Like Damien Woody said today, "I've been here since the 19th." So I'm a little bit behind but I'm surprised that up until this point, I've been doing OK.
On if training camp is going better than he thought it would…
From my point of view, how I felt to this point has adapted to not only the team but the system. Believe me, this system's not easy and I'm not going to sit here and tell you I've got it down. I've got just enough plays down to run those plays Saturday. How it turns out, I have no idea. I hope it turns out well.
In practice, practice has been able to run for the most part smoothly. That was my big concern that I'm sure Eric and everyone involved said "Is that OK?" We bring Brett in, as a coach your going to say, "We don't want to disrupt what we've been doing. We don't really want to stop, start over again. We want everything to run smoothly." But that's easier said than done.
I'll say this: for the most part we've been able to do that. We've had a few false starts, I've had to run a couple of laps. No big deal. No one wants to see that. You want it to run like it should and I think for the most part we've done that. Now, they haven't thrown everything at me but I can go into a game and I think I could manage a game OK.
On if he is starting to develop chemistry with the receivers…
Yes I do. How Laveranues [Coles] runs a slant vs. Jerricho [Cotchery] or Chansi [Stuckey], I don't know all of the ins and outs. To me, the most important thing right now is getting to know those guys, what they run well, just talking to them. There's no way — and this goes back to playing with the guys in Green Bay — you never practice every route. We knew each other fairly well. I knew what I threw best, I knew what those guys ran the best and we incorporated it into our system.
Here, like I was telling Schotty [Brian Schottenheimer] and [Brian] Daboll last night, I really want to watch some film of last year and see how Laveranues runs a deep corner route, how Chris Baker runs a crossing route, those types of things. Then, when I go out and throw, if it's a tight coverage or something, I've got a feel for where they're going to be. We missed on a couple of big plays today — you can't afford to do that during the season. I hope we're getting that out of our system now. But those were my fault. I overthrew one, underthrew another one. But I think that's where a week from now we'll be much better.
On his impressions of working with Eric Mangini so far…
Great guy. I'm sure everyone here knows how softspoken he is, but very structured. A little bit different than what I'm used to as far as how we practice, how your day's laid out for you. Physically speaking, it's really not any harder than what I'm used to, guys don't really hit a lot. But there's not much free time. Of course, for me right now I don't have a lot of free time, trying to catch up.
It's been good. I think he handles the players really well. The old saying "players' coach," I don't know exactly what that means but I think guys respect him and know what he stands for. They complain a little bit, they're going to do that anyway. I don't complain, but they do [smiles]. But he's been fun to work with so far.
On his relationship with Coles…
It's been fine. I had a little talk with him today. I said, "Look, I heard you're not talking to the media. I understand you don't want to say anything good about me. That's OK [laughs]." But he said, "No, it's not that, it's not that." Obviously, I was joking with him. I said, "Look, I'm not here to take Chad [Pennington]'s spot or replace him." It is what it is.
I said this the other day: I don't think I've ever beaten Chad. Those two guys had a great rapport together. I said, "Look, I'm not trying to replace him, I'm here to help you guys win. I hope you respect me for that. I can't guarantee you that. I would love to say I'll come in here and help this team not only get to the playoffs but get to the Super Bowl."
I think I should think that way. I'm not going to make any guarantees, I'm not going to come here and promise that I can throw him 90 balls. All I can promise is I'm going to do everything I can to not only help him but help this team win. Whatever you had with Chad, may that continue. I think he'll realize, if he doesn't already, that I'm an easygoing guy, easy to work with. You drop a ball, so what? I throw bad passes. We're in this thing together, and I'd like for us to come out of it together.
On if he has gotten back into the normal Monday-through-Saturday approach…
I still don't like it. I wondered this morning, "What in the heck am I doing [laughs]?". The answer to that question is I love to play. I hate to study. At times I hate to practice, but I love to play. I know I need to study, I know I need to practice. I know how important it is — doesn't mean I have to like it.
The question I have to ask myself is am I willing to do that? The answer is yes. There's no substitute for Sundays, and I've said that way back when. There's no way, playing in an NFL football game and getting to do the things that I've been able to do, you can replace that. It's impossible. Up until this point, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to continue doing that. It's harder. I felt 38 today. I'm not going to lie to you.
On the challenge of learning the offense…
It's a huge challenge. My wife told me last night, "Your worst enemy probably is your memory. You've remembered every play you've ever run." We call plays out here and I revert back. A lot of the terminology is used in this offense but it means something totally different.
Scat here is a totally different protection — in fact, it's a max protection here, where in Green Bay you've got five linemen. So any blitz at all, you've got to throw hard. As soon as I hear "scat," I'm going "blitz," I've got to get rid of it. That's not the case. I don't know if I'm ever going to get to a point where I say, "OK, 'scat' here, we're OK." But I've got to be able to process it in a hurry. Not that I'll forget it — I've got to be able to process it.
There's so many other things, shifts and motions and things like that that are so much different. I don't even want to say different — totally new. But the bottom line is football's football, a curl's a curl, a go route's a go route, an off-tackle handoff to the left is an off-tackle. How we call it is different. I keep saying this: I have to process this information very quickly.
The most important thing — and I've told Eric this, I know Schotty and I have had this conversation numerous times — is for any player, whoever that player may be, the only way you play well consistently is to react and not think. The less you have to think, the more you can react and just play. If a guy is going down the field and he's thinking, "OK, I got a curl but if it's this coverage I have to do this," the play's over, and it's the same thing for me.
You've got to come back and pull the cover. I've got to get to this point. Going into a game with 30 plays, so be it. Going in with 100 plays if I can process that, so be it. The bottom line is we have to know, me in particular, what to do, and do it fast. That's been the biggest challenge for me.
On how he's going to feel running out of the tunnel on Saturday…
Different. I'd be lying if I said anything else. Of course this game will be fun. As this thing gets rolling, the newness wears off and it gets down to playing. I'll keep saying this: I'm here for one reason and that's to help this team win. No other reason. People can say what they want. Yeah, there were discussions before I came here about going elsewhere and all that stuff. I am happy to be here, I really am.
It's a lot different than what I'm used to. Did I ever think it would end up this way? No. It's not over yet. I'm excited, I really like the guys. I don't know everyone by name. I told these guys, I said I need to get the playbook down first. I'll be very respectful. I think the people that come watch games and watch on TV will see.
As I've always played, I'll never guarantee anything but I'll play my butt off. It can be ugly or it can be good, but I'll play as hard as I can and that's the only thing I know how to do. I'm excited about it, not only for this week but in the future.
On if he knows where the home locker room is…
The home locker room? I know where the visitors' is. I think from there I can kind of backtrack. How many locker rooms are there? I don't even know. I'd better follow someone.
On how long he will play on Saturday…
We haven't really talked about it. I did tell Eric on the phone the day before I came up, "I want to play as soon as possible." I would've played three plays the other night [at Cleveland], but that would have been ugly. I don't know. I think we'll just play it by ear. I think the smart thing to do is just get your feet wet, try to get something going.
Like I always said in preseason, you'd love to win the game but there are other things. In all my years of playing, I don't want to say this is the most important game. From a preseason standpoint, if I go 6-for-6, great, if I go 0-for-6, so be it. There's no substitute for a game. You can do it all you want out here but there's no substitute. So whenever Eric and Schotty feel its OK: "We saw all we wanted to see." They'll probably ask me the same thing: "How are you feeling?" I may say, "Look, one more series."
On Coles' reaction to Brett's comments to him earlier…
We laughed. We laughed about it. I don't know Laveranues that well or well enough for him to make any kind of judgment on me. What he probably knows about me other than the last four or five days is what he sees and hears on TV.
Of course, I'm very familiar with Laveranues as a player. He and Jerricho both are a lot like the guys I've been throwing to in Green Bay — quick, deceptively powerful guys, hard to tackle, good in and out of space. Are those the type of guys that you want to drop back and throw to deep into coverage? Probably not, but I think these guys are definitely in-space types of players.
We made a living on yards after the catch in Green Bay. I'd much rather have it in their hands. Laveranues is a prime example. Throw him a 5-yard pass and let him do what he does. If you can throw a 30-yard pass and complete it, great. But throw him a 5-yard pass and if they tackle him right there, its 5 yards, an easy 5 yards. I would think that they're going to break most of those tackles. They're going to get 10, they're going to get 15, 20, and every once in a while they're going to bust a big one. I think our receiving group here in general is that type of player.
