When Brett Favre went down intentionally to allow his friend, New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, to sack him, breaking New York Jets sackmaster Mark Gastineau’s single season sack record of 22, nobody could have expected the lasting negative impact it would have on No. 99’s life after football.
ESPN’s latest “30-for-30” documentary, “The New York Sack Exchange,” is the story of the 1980s record-setting Jets defense and premieres on Friday night at 8 p.m.
ESPN’s ‘30-for-30’ On New York Sack Exchange Captures NY Jets Legend Mark Gastineau Living In The Past
Gastineau, a ferocious pass-rushing force, was the head of that sack exchange for the New York Jets, from 1979-1988. He recorded sacks at an historic rate and had the moxy and charisma to go along with the package, in an era when the NFL was less accepting of showboating and swag.
Gastineau embraced Strahan with a huge hug on the field at the time, but as details of how he garnered the sack began to surface and the years went on and the Hall of Fame still hasn’t come calling, Gastineau is dealing with the painful after-effects of Favre’s decision and expresses that in the new film.
“I didn’t know what had happened. The NFL should have stopped that and said listen, No, no,no,no,no. That’s not a sack,” the former NFL star, who allegedly had an affair which also produced a child, with actress Brigitte Nielsen while married to his first wife, Lisa.
“He took my record away from me,” Gastineau said. “Anybody will tell you Brett Favre took a dive. You know it. He knows it, she knows it and everybody knows it.”
Mark Gastineau Steps To Brett Favre At Autograph Show For Giving Up His Sack Record To Michael Strahan In 2001
Then the preview clip switches to a shot of Brett Favre approaching Gastineau at a Chicago Sports Spectacular memorabilia event and sticking his hand out to shake a fellow NFL great’s hand. Gastineau had other intentions as he brushed off Favre’s greeting and said:
“Yeah, right. When you fell down for him. I’m gonna get my sack back. I’m gonna get my sack back, dude,” Gastineau said.
Favre, clearly shocked and trying to keep it cordial, replied, “You’d probably hurt me.”
“Well I don’t care. You hurt me. You hurt me. You hear me. You really hurt me. You hurt me bro,” Gastineau continued as he pierced deep into Favre’s eyes, before the event coordinators interceded and reminded Favre of the task at hand.
Favre was probably a bit shaken up by a casual interaction turned into a character assassination. Favre is just distancing himself from his alleged participation in a Mississippi welfare scheme in which money allocated for underserved families were being pushed toward projects supported by the wealthy for personal gain.
Brett Favre Defends Himself On X Against Mark Gastineau Accusations
The Hall of Fame quarterback took to X to eloquently and humbly clear up any misconceptions.
“In a different game or situation, I would have made a bigger effort to avoid the sack or TFL,” Favre said. “But at no point was I thinking about hurting Gastineau. Maybe it crossed my mind to help Strahan. I didn’t think it through. That wasn’t my forte at the time”
Favre handled the situation like a man. How would he know that Gastineau would be so deeply affected after all of these years.
Added Favre: “I just wanted to have fun and compete and in retrospect, I understand how Gastineau feels. We played a brutal game. … Gastineau played during an era where guys didn’t make generational wealth. I have a great deal of respect for Mark. I hope one day he joins me in the Hall of Fame.”
Mark Gastineau had 107.5 sacks over his career, which places him 44th in the history of the game in that category.
During his two-year peak he was the best at his position, leading the NFL in sacks in 1983 and 1984, earning back-to-back Pro Bowl selections.
As a football player and celebrity personality, he definitely impacted the culture of the game. Favre can understand why he’s hurting and so could some fans on social media who are familiar and unfamiliar with this situation.
“Gastineau is 100% right, even if he should let it go at this point. Records should never be broken like that. Was so bush league,” said one X user .
“As a Giants fan, I was grateful Favre gave Strahan the record… never thought about how it would affect Gastineau. now i kinda feel bad,” admitted another.
Others just want to see Favre, who has been walking a fine line of morality lately, get taken to task.
“Nothing makes me happier than to see that fraud [Favre] get confronted,” one fan tweeted.
There were also plenty of fans who had no sympathy for Gastineau and saw the moment as reflective of a Jets franchise that can’t get right.
“The Jets making themselves look pathetic doesn’t have any end in sight,” a frustrated X user wrote.
“Nah that’s ridiculous dude was genuinely pissed about that. I thought he was just gonna be messing around w him smh,” said one befuddled X user.
“Lmfao this is pathetic. Makes sense for a Jet,” another X user laughed.
Why Isn’t NY Jets Sack Exchange Master Mark Gastineau In Hall of Fame?
Maybe a trip to the Hall of Fame would ease Gastineau’s troubles, but that’s probably not in the cards. When discussing Gastineau’s Hall of Fame résumé, some football historians say he falls in the same category as Pittsburgh Steelers legend LC Greenwood, who helped the team win four Super Bowls in the 1970s, but was overshadowed by a more dominant generational talent in ‘Mean’ Joe Green.
While Greenwood retired with better overall numbers, most people attribute his success to playing alongside Green. In the same vein, Gastineau played alongside legendary nose tackle Joe Klecko, a 2023 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee.
As far as sack records go, Steelers edge rusher TJ Watt tied Michael Strahan’s 20-year sack record in 2021 in just 15 games. With the NFL season having 17 games now and the NFL being a pass-first league, that record will be broken one day in the near future.
