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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, September 10, 2009

NFL: Jets GM says he made mistake handling Favre injury


By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
AP Sports Writer

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — New York Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum acknowledged Thursday he made a mistake handling Brett Favre's biceps tendon injury last season, and should have listed the quarterback on the team's injury report.

Tannenbaum and the Jets could face disciplinary action from the NFL for not listing Favre's torn biceps tendon on the weekly report following the injury with four or five games remaining. Tannenbaum said Favre should've appeared on the report as "probable."

"I'll take responsibility for that," he said. "As the GM of this team, I should've handled that differently and listed him on the report. We didn't, just because he wasn't getting treatment every day and we knew he was going to play. But, looking back on it now, I should've listed him as probable, and we didn't, and I'll take responsibility for that."

Tannenbaum called the league offices and spoke to Ray Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, about the issue. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed the league is looking into the situation.

"I'll just say that we'll cooperate with them," Tannenbaum said, "and we'll go from there."

Favre led the Jets to a terrific start as the team soared into first place in the AFC East at 8-3 with consecutive road wins at New England and Tennessee. But Favre's injury hampered him and he threw nine interceptions down the stretch as the team lost four of its last five games and missed the playoffs.

Favre retired after the season, and was later released by the Jets. The quarterback came out of retirement — again — last month and signed with Minnesota. On Wednesday, Favre told reporters in Minnesota he may not be able to play all 16 games with the Vikings this season. The biceps tendon was surgically repaired, but he's playing with a torn rotator cuff and he recently suggested he might have a cracked rib.

He said he felt as though he was harming the Jets with slight misses on some throws late last season. Favre, who has started 269 consecutive regular-season games, also said he spoke with Tannenbaum, offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and quarterbacks coach Brian Daboll — he didn't name then-Jets head coach Eric Mangini — but the consensus was to finish it out.

"It was a decision that we made collectively and Brett was part of it," Tannenbaum said. "We just felt he gave us the best chance to win and that was based on how he was playing and how the team was doing. Again, he was part of that decision, but collectively, we thought that was in the best interest of the team."

Backup quarterback Kellen Clemens said he was aware Favre was in some pain, but there was never a point he was told he might have to start in the veteran's place.

"Brett Favre at 85 percent is still better than most, myself included," Clemens said. "Not to mention, he's Brett Favre. He probably would've had to be in a wheelchair or something. I didn't take that personal."

Clemens added that Favre was limited in practice and took less snaps as the season wore on.

"I knew just because of the situation with Brett being in some pain, off and on, that as a backup, I had a little bit better chance of playing on Sundays," he said. "You're still behind Brett Favre and he's still the ironman and your chances still aren't great, but they go up from 2 percent to 4 percent or something."

Schottenheimer spoke with Favre often throughout the season, and said the team never came close to benching the quarterback.

"No, I don't think so," Schottenheimer said Thursday. "It was one of those things where you're talking about one of the toughest competitors that you'll ever see. I know there were some days where he felt worse than others. ... He loves to play and it's hard to keep him off the field."

Mangini, now the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, echoed Tannenbaum's comments and refused to blame Favre's performance for the Jets' late-season collapse.

"With that whole part of the season, I made the decisions that I thought were best for the team at that time," he said. "You take all the information in and you move forward with it. There were a lot of things that I could have done better. There were a lot of things the coaches could have done better, and there are a lot of things as players we could have done better. I don't think winning or losing is ever going to come down to one guy, it's a cumulative thing."

He also said as far as he knew, the Jets followed protocol in regard to the injury report.

"I can tell you that we always fill out the injury report by the guidelines set through the NFL," Mangini said. "That was true there. It's true here and it will be true every week of the season and that's how we approach it."

___

AP Sports Writers Dave Campbell in Eden Prairie, Minn., and Tom Withers in Berea, Ohio, contributed to this report.