Brett Favre attempts to ‘clear the air’ with Mark Gastineau over viral, years-long NFL beef

Brett Favre has addressed his 2023 interaction with Mark Gastineau that appears in ESPN’s forthcoming documentary, The New York Sack Exchange.

The sports doc about the the front four defensive line of the NFL’s New York Jets in the 1980s sees Gastineau confronting Favre about losing his single-season sack record, which Michael Strahan broke in 2001 after tackling Favre. Marty Lyons, Joe Klecko, and the late Abdul Salaam are the other three members of the Sack Exchange.

In a clip shared by ESPN, Gastineau is seen talking about his 1984 record for 22 sacks in a single season. A sack is when the quarterback or other passer is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before they can throw the football.

In the 2001 game between the Giants and the Green Bay Packers, quarterback Favre appeared to fall, allowing Strahan to make the sack and break the record with 22.5 sacks. This record is now tied with current Pittsburgh Steelers player, TJ Watt.

After Strahan broke the record, Favre was one of the many people joining in to congratulate the defensive end. Last year, Favre and Gastineau discussed the moment at a memorabilia event where Gastineau accused Favre of falling on purpose for him to deliberately lose his record.

“When you fell down for [Strahan],” the former Jets player told Favre “I’m going to get my sack back. I’m going to get my sack back, dude.”

“You probably would hurt me,” Favre replied.

“Well, I don’t care,” Gastineau said. “You hurt me. You hurt me! You hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you,” Favre said.

“You really hurt me. You hurt me, Brett,” Gastineau said before Favre was escorted away by someone at the event.

In the teaser clip for the documentary, Gastineau further explains his viewpoint as he says, “Anybody will tell you that Brett Favre took a dive.”

The former NFL quarterback has since addressed the accusations in a thread on X (formerly Twitter). “I want to clear the air on the footage released showing a small dustup between myself and Mark Gastineau, the former New York Jet,” he wrote.

Favre explained that he was “in no way trying to hurt” Gastineau and wanted to finish the last game of the season while “squeezing the last bit of fun out of a hard-fought game.”

He said that he thought he was “wide open” but saw Strahan and ducked, without really attempting to avoid the sack because “the game was over.” “In a different game or situation, I would have made a bigger effort to avoid the sack or TFL,” he wrote.

The former Minnesota Vikings QB admitted that it might have “crossed his mind” to help Strahan, but it wasn’t out of a need to hurt Gastineau and he only wanted to have fun.

“I see now how being the Sack King would elevate his value at card shows, strengthen his case for the Hall of Fame, increase his demand as a public speaker,” he continued.

“I had no way of knowing that then. I realize now the potential financial implications because football is far more business-oriented than when me or Mark played.”

Favre said the moment between the two of them should not have been filmed or released because it was “a private moment of frustration.”

He then listed off Gastineau’s accolades, such as achieving over 20 sacks in a single season twice. “I hope one day he joins me in the Hall of Fame,” he concluded.

The New York Sack Exchange airs onESPN on December 13 at 8 pm ET and will be available to stream onESPN+after the premiere.