In the final game of the 2001 NFL season, Giants Defensive end Michael Strahan needed one more sack to own the single-season record. Brett Favre, his long time friend, decided to help him out on the final play of the game. He talked about that final play in an interview with Eric Bolling.
“I ran a bootleg, and he’d been crying, belly-aching for a sack the whole game,” Favre said in the interview. “So I had an option to run or hand it off and I ran. I knew he was going to be there to just pace me, but he wasn’t there! So I sort of slid, and we had the game won so the worst thing I could do was go out of bounds, so I just sort of ended up falling down.”
“I’d known Michael for a long time, and he’s one hell of a player,” Favre continued. “I never got a thank you, I never got a new car, I never got anything! And he’s hit me pretty hard, but that ranks down at the bottom.”
Mark Gastineau Thinks Brett Favre Cheated Him Out of Sack Record
Mark Gastineau, the previous holder of the single-season sacks record, thinks the record should still be his. According to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gastineau had 22 sacks in the 1984 season and had Favre not folded, that would stand today. Michael Strahan’s sack on Brett Favre gave him 22.5 sacks on the season.
“It’s my record, and I want it to be known that it’s my record,” Gastineau told ESPN. “I’m not going to say, ‘I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings.’ It’s my record.”
Since that 1984 season, both Jared Allen and Justin Houston have matched the record in 2011 and 2014, respectively. No one has yet surpassed it other than Michael Strahan on the questionable play. Strahan has since said he regrets the play, saying “it may not have been worth it.”
“I caught so much flak over it. … It’s not worth it, because everyone looks as if one sack that they question is the defining moment of my career.”
