There being such a noted absence of the Actually Historic Moment, the Falcons’ history instead is dotted with a maddening number of What-If Moments.
What if they had run the ball at the end against New England in the Super Bowl?
What if Michael Vick hadn’t fallen into the pit of dogfighting?
What if Eugene Robinson had stayed in that day in Miami before the Falcons first Super Bowl?
What if they had drafted anyone other than Aundray Bruce No. 1 overall in 1988 (among those available, a couple Hall of Fame wide receivers — Tim Brown and Michael Irvin — and a six-time Pro Bowl defensive end, Neil Smith)?
We have gathered to — what, celebrate? — the 25th anniversary of this franchise’s most infamous historical pivot point. At least it was up to that night in Houston when the Falcons were asked if they wanted to win a Super Bowl and Kyle Shanahan responded, “No, thanks, I’ll pass.”
On Feb. 11, 1992, two franchises were genetically altered when the Green Bay Packers new general manager Ron Wolf swung a deal for a Falcons back-up quarterback, exchanging a first-round pick for Brett Favre.
Over the 19 seasons that followed — 16 with the Packers — Favre constructed a Hall of Fame career on the foundation of two Super Bowl appearances (one victory), three consecutive MVP awards and an endless supply of drama both on the field and off. Favre today stands second in most career passing yards (71,838) and passing touchdowns (508), first in career completions (6,300) and holds the iron man record of 297 consecutive starts (321 including playoff games).
Meanwhile, the Falcons would start 16 quarterbacks while Favre toiled in Green Bay. Some memorable — Vick, Chris Chandler, Jeff George. Others — Kurt Kittner, Wade Wilson, Tony Graziani, Chris Redman, Joey Harrington — who live in that purgatory just to the right of an asterisk.
History paints that deal in zero shades of gray. One of the most significant trades ever — for both sides. The Falcons lose a franchise quarterback. The Packers return to glory (in the 24 years before Favre’s arrival they had four over-.500 seasons and one playoff victory).
The principals in the deal have long gone on the record with their misgivings and their hallelujahs.
The former Falcons GM Ken Herock, a Pittsburgh native, likened the move to the Steelers cutting Johnny Unitas before his rookie season even dawned, only to watch Johnny U go on to lasting fame in Baltimore. “Favre was my Unitas,” he told Sports on Earth last year.
The former Packers GM Ron Wolf told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel years ago, “I really don’t care how they recognize (the trade), but I have to use that Bum Phillips line: I don’t know if it’s the best, but it won’t take long to call the roll.”
Wolf had his eye on Favre from the time he was scouting for the Jets, before the Packers hired him late in 1991 as their GM. There had been questions about a degenerative hip condition, which looks particularly humorous now in light of Favre’s consecutive starts record. But the more Wolf studied tape, the more he became convinced the kid was the best player in the draft.
The Falcons took Favre one pick ahead of the Jets in the second round (New York had no first-round pick in 1991).
When he arrived at Falcons camp, the raw rookie from Kiln, Miss., found himself dressing near the flashy cornerback, Deion Sanders. Recalled Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, “Deion said, ‘Let’s get something straight right now: I’m Prime Time. You’re Country Time.’”
By all reports, the country quarterback immensely enjoyed the pleasures of the big city (As reported in the New York Times, Favre once said, “I’m sure I didn’t help my cause by trying to drink up Atlanta.”)
And, buried deep on the depth chart — behind Chris Miller, who was in the midst of a Pro Bowl season in 1991, and Billy Joe Tolliver — Favre had plenty of time to explore the night.
“Brett laughed and joked about it the other day,” said former Falcons (and Green Bay) center Jamie Dukes, who met up with his buddy recently. “That’s what people do. It could have gotten the best of him. It could have gotten the best of all of us. He didn’t do much more than anybody else — he had a good time because he didn’t have any responsibility. He knew he had a guy in front of him who was going to play. And he was a rookie in a big city — glitz and glamor and women. He did what all other rookies do. He just had a good time.”
Herock, and their head coach at the time, Jerry Glanville, had a frosty relationship at best. That has persisted through the countless autopsies of this trade, as Glanville disputes Herock’s assertion that he had little use for Favre from the day he was drafted.
“I’ve heard the same thing — Ken said it was Jerry and Jerry said it was Ken. I have no idea,” Cook said.
It was the coach who parceled out playing time. And Favre got scarce little as a Falcon, appearing briefly in two regular-season games, missing on all four of his pass attempts and throwing two interceptions against Washington. Missing a team photo and being occasionally late to meetings did not endear Favre, either.
And it was Glanville, who when explaining the trade to Green Bay said in 2010, “I could not sober him up. I sent him to a city where at 9:00 at night the only thing that’s open is Chili Joe’s. … And that’s what made Brett Favre make a comeback, (he) was going to a town that closed down. If I would have traded him to New York, nobody to this day would have known who Brett Favre ever was.”
By early in the offseason of 1992, Favre was an ex-Falcon, a second-round pick traded for the second of Green Bay’s two first-round picks of ’92. The Falcons spent it on another player from Southern Miss, a running back named Tony Smith, who made no dent in three seasons in Atlanta.
As easy as it is now to weigh gross inequity of this deal, at least one witness maintains it was a perfectly sound and logical transaction.
“You got a Pro Bowl quarterback (in Miller) and you have another who was a second-round pick that you get a first-round pick for. You’d do that all day,” Dukes said.
“It’s easy, it’s what we like to do is second guess,” the Falcons former center said. “But no one knew what Brett was going to be. Let’s be serious here. The reality is that any GM — Bill Belichick included — is making that deal.”
Midway through the ’92 season, Miller suffered a season-ending knee injury. And a series of concussions further shortened his career. Meanwhile, in Green Bay’s third game of that season, replacing an injured Don Majkowski, Favre overcame his four fumbles by leading a 92-yard, game-winning, fourth-quarter drive against Cincinnati.
The axis of the pro football world had tilted once more, as it always seemed to do then and seems to do yet today, keeping Atlanta in the dark and cold.
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