Brett Favre had just completed one of his typical workdays that Sunday, Nov. 12, 2006. He’d thrown the ball 42 times against the Minnesota Vikings’ defense, twice for touchdowns. He’d run it twice, for minus-2 yards. He’d been battered plenty, knocked to the ground a bunch, was limping in the postgame.
He had turned 37 years old a little over a month earlier.
“It’s funny,” Favre said that day. “When you get hit when you’re 27, it still hurts like hell if they get you in the right spot. But two plays later you’ve forgotten all about it.