Brett Favre: 17 seasons in the NFL

How he started

1991 draft: Atlanta Falcons make Favre their second-round pick, No. 33 overall, out of Southern Mississippi.

Rookie season: Active for three games during the regular season, he played in two (debut Oct. 27 vs. Los Angeles Rams and Nov. 10 at Washington). Only statistics were four incomplete passes in Redskins game.

Feb. 10, 1992: Traded to Packers, for 17th overall pick in 1992 draft.

Playing highlights

Sept. 13, 1992: at Tampa Bay, Favre completes his first NFL pass -- to himself. A deflected pass lands in Favre’s hands, and he is tackled for a seven-yard loss. Favre completes eight of 14 passes for 73 yards.

Sept. 20, 1992: vs. Cincinnati at Lambeau Field, replaces injured starter Don Majkowski in the first quarter, and never looks back. Favre leads two scoring drives in the final eight minutes of the game. His 35-yard touchdown pass to Kitrick Taylor with 13 seconds left gives the Packers a come-from-behind 24-23 victory over the Bengals.

Nov. 15, 1992: . Despite sustaining a first-degree separation of his left shoulder early in the game vs. Philadelphia in Milwaukee, Favre leads the Packers to a come-from-behind 27-24 victory. Reggie White, then a defensive end for the Eagles, would later say the toughness Favre showed was a factor in his decision to sign with Green Bay as a free agent in the off-season.

Jan. 8, 1994: With the Packers trailing, 24-21, in the final minute of a wild-card playoff game at Detroit, Favre rolls to his left and throws across his body, completing a 40-yard pass to Sterling Sharpe on the other side of the field with 55 seconds remaining to give the Packers a 28-24 victory.

Oct. 31, 1994: Playing with a severely bruised hip in a driving rainstorm at Soldier Field in Chicago, Favre rushes for a career-high 58 yards -- including a 36-yard touchdown in the second quarter when Favre leaped over a Bears defender -- and leads the Packers to a 33-6 victory.

Dec. 18, 1994: With the Packers needing a victory to keep their playoff chances alive vs. Atlanta in Milwaukee, Favre’s diving nine-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left gives the Packers a 21-17 victory over the Falcons in the final football game at County Stadium.

Sept. 11, 1995: Favre throws a 99-yard touchdown pass to Robert Brooks -- becoming only the eighth QB in league history to do so -- and the Packers beat the Bears, 27-24, in Chicago.

Nov. 12, 1995: Playing with a severely sprained left ankle that forced him to the bench in the previous week’s game at Minnesota and would eventually require off-season surgery, Favre throws five touchdown passes in a 35-28 victory over Chicago at Lambeau Field.

Dec. 24, 1995: Favre rolls out and is hit hard by three Pittsburgh defenders, forcing the Packers to call timeout and sending Favre to the Lambeau Field sidelines coughing up blood. He returns to throw a one-yard touchdown pass to Mark Chmura on the next play. The Packers’ 24-19 victory clinches the division title.

Jan. 6, 1996: Favre completes 21 of 28 passes for 299 yards and two touchdowns as the Packers knock the defending Super Bowl champion 49ers out of the playoffs with a 27-17 victory in San Francisco.

Jan. 26, 1997: In Super Bowl XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome, Favre is 14 of 27 for 246 yards and no interceptions to beat New England, 35-21 -- the Packers’ first championship in 29 years. Favre throws a 54-yard touchdown pass to Andre Rison on his first throw of the game. Later, he throws a Super Bowl-record 81-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman.

Jan. 11, 1998: Trudging through the mud in sloppy San Francisco, Favre is 16 of 27 for 222 yards and a touchdown as the Packers beat the 49ers, 23-10, to advance to the Super Bowl for the second straight season, where they lose to the Denver Broncos, 31-24.

Nov. 2, 2003: One game after breaking the thumb on his right hand, Favre throws three touchdowns in a 30-27 victory over the Vikings in Minnesota.

Dec. 22, 2003: Playing on “Monday Night Football” in Oakland the day after his father, Irvin, died, Favre is 22 of 30 for 399 yards and four touchdowns as the Packers beat the Oakland Raiders, 41-7.

Sept. 30, 2007: Favre throws his record-breaking 421st career touchdown pass to Greg Jennings, breaking Dan Marino’s record in a 23-16 victory in Minnesota.

March 4, 2008: Announces retirement.

Troubling times

Drug addiction: Battled an addiction to painkillers, spending time in the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kan., in 1996.

Father’s death: His father, Irvin, died suddenly in December 2003 -- and Favre memorably threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns in a victory over the Raiders the next day.

Ill wife: Deanna has survived breast cancer.

Loss: Favre and his wife mourned the death of her brother in an all-terrain vehicle accident.

Hurricane: Several members of Favre’s family in Mississippi were displaced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

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Source: Times wire services

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Quotebook

What people were saying about Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre after he retired Tuesday:

‘He said it was time for him to hang up the cleats.’

Mike McCarthy, Packers coach

‘Brett’s career accomplishments will be measured among the greats of the game for the balance of time. He truly was as gifted a player as I have ever seen.’

Mike Holmgren,

Seahawks coach and Favre’s coach with the Packers from 1992 to ’98

‘He’s a deep thinker. I know he’s happy with his decision. But now the city has to get happy with

his decision.’

Jim Schmitt, Green Bay mayor

‘He played with such a great passion. He must have figured he no longer had that passion, and it was time to get out.’

Ron Wolf,

former Packers general manager

‘His record for most consecutive starts will never be broken. It’s one of the most amazing records in sports. I guarantee you, he gets an immense amount of respect from every quarterback in the NFL for that record.’

Carson Palmer,

Bengals quarterback

‘When you were tackling him in the open field, it was almost like going up against a tight end. . . . He’s one of those quarterbacks that has a linebacking mentality when he plays. That’s why our defensive guys always liked him. He was one of the tougher quarterbacks. He wasn’t a chump.’

Ken Norton Jr., former NFL linebacker

‘He just felt like it was time to go out. He’s been lucky. He’s been injury free, and it’s time to go out on top.’

Scott Favre,

Brett Favre’s brother

‘I think it’s just his love for the game. I’m not sure that I’ve been around anybody who is 37 years old and is jumping on people and acting like he’s 12. That’s how he played every day.’

Andy Reid,

Eagles coach and Favre’s former quarterbacks coach with the Packers

‘He was the prototypical gunslinger type. He’s the type of guy where, “Oh, what’s he throwing into that crowd for?” But he had intuition, toughness, resilience. It helped to have a good cast around him, which he often did.’

Marv Levy, former Bills coach

‘I’ve said many times it’s a lot easier to govern this state when the Packers are winning than when they’re losing. And with Brett Favre, they have won a lot more than they have lost, and they have done it

with great style.’

Jim Doyle, Wisconsin governor

‘If people say to me, “Who are the athletes you respect the most?” I would tell you that I respect Andre Agassi and Brett Favre the most because they were guys that played through pain, played through misery.’

Lance Armstrong,

Tour de France champion