As suggested by the boyfriend...

Some good reading by newly defected Monday Morning Quarterback on SI.com. An interview with Brett Favre where he's pretty damn candid about why he returned to the Packers this year.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- I came here last week still not knowing, deep down, why Brett Favre came back, at 36, for a 16th season. Because late last season he was done. Finished. He told coach Mike Holmgren as much twice, even saying in one late-season conversation, "I never should have come back this year.''

Former Packers center Mike Flanagan, now with the Texans, figured Favre was toast after an embarrassing 48-3 Monday-night loss at Baltimore in December. "Every time after a road game, on the bus, we'd always sit in back and talk about what worked and what didn't work,'' Flanagan told me. "Not that night. Brett just laid back there, saying nothing to anyone, like it was over.''

When Favre arrived at camp this year, all of his golfing buddies were gone. All of them. Doug Pederson, Craig Nall, Ryan Longwell, the last two in free agency this offseason. So why? Why was he back here, in a back hallway behind the Packers' locker room at Lambeau Field, holding up something that looked like a cross between a Devil Dog and a Moonpie, 10 minutes before his afternoon quarterback meeting, smiling with his mouth full and saying, "Pretty good lunch, huh?''

The easy answer seemed to be because he still wanted to play and the money was good. But there had to be something more, and I hadn't heard it yet.

"To be honest,'' he said, "I'm shocked too. I'm shocked to be back. Because I was gone.''

"So what happened? What really happened?'' I asked.

"I guess, really, there're two things,'' Favre said. "Last year, as our season kept going downhill [the Pack finished 4-12] and I knew it was over for me, I said to [then coach] Mike Sherman, 'I guess as soon as the season's over, I'll announce I'm retiring.'

"Mike said, 'Why? What's the hurry? Go home. Think for a while. With the season you've just been through, you don't want to make a quick decision. You're healthy. You owe it to yourself to take your time and think about it. If you make a quick decision, and if you make it now, you might regret it for a long time.'

"So even though I was sure I wasn't going to play, I thought what Mike said was smart. And I went home. I think I was home [in Mississippi] before this place even got cleaned out from our last game of the year. I had to get away. And as time passed, I knew I could still play. I felt healthy. I felt like I'd be a good fit in [new coach] Mike McCarthy's system. But I wasn't sure still, and as time went on, you know how it goes, you're looking for a sign or whatever to help you make that decision for sure.

"And one day, I'm down in Mississippi. I've got the satellite radio on. And I never do this, but for some reason I turned on the NFL Channel on the radio, and they're interviewing Phil Simms. I guess it was just a weird coincidence, but they asked him: 'What do you think Favre's going to do?'

"Phil says, 'I have no idea. But I think him being the competitor he is, he'd continue playing. I know if it was me, I'd make 'em drag me off the field. I don't care what he's doing down there in Mississippi. He's got the rest of his life to do that. He's only got a year or two more he can play this game.'

"And I thought," said Favre, "that really said it all. That helped make my decision a lot clearer. He was right. I still loved it. I wanted to play and I still thought I could be good. And there was nothing else I wanted to do as much as this.''

I called Simms after talking with Favre and told him the story.

"Holy crap!'' he said. "Holy crap! You are kidding me. That is unbelievable. You're serious?''

"Very,'' I said.

"Well, he's right. I remember it," said Simms. "I was on with Bob Papa that day, I think. I think I said, 'If it was me, they'd have to tear the uniform off me.'

"You get to that point in your career, and you're on top of everything so well mentally, and nothing the defense throws at you can confuse you, and you just want to keep playing. Because when it's over, it's over. But that's something.

"I've heard a lot of people say, 'Oh, Favre's coming back to a lousy team and it's going to be an awful year for him. What's he doing that for?' And I can tell you from personal experience -- sometimes your favorite year can be a year when you weren't supposed to do anything and you go 8-8. That's fun. You're just out there playing as hard as you can with a bunch of guys, nothing's expected of you, and you win some games and have fun. It's like [Bill] Parcells used to say when he was giving players advice: 'You can't always drive a Cadillac.'''

In McCarthy's offense, which features more short passes than previous Packers schemes, Favre will have the same sort of freedom to make the decisions he's always made, but he'll have more short and intermediate hot reads to choose from. That means he shouldn't get battered as much this year.

It also helps that Aaron Rodgers is having a good camp this summer. McCarthy even told Favre to get lost for the last five days of organized offseason practices, which meant Rodgers could get all the reps with the first unit those days. "We found out a lot of good things about Aaron,'' McCarthy said. "I've got a lot of confidence in him right now.''

I asked Favre: "What do you say to those who would say it's stupid for a guy like you to come back to a rebuilding team?''

"You mean from those people who think the Packers ain't gonna be worth a s---?''

"No,'' I said. "I mean from anyone.'' In other words, how could he say this was the most talented Green Bay team he's been around?

"Well, that's fine,'' he said. "I'm telling you, we're going to be OK. I know people will be surprised if we're 8-8. But who knows? This year may be better, it may not be. And if there comes a point in the season where it's like it was last year, I won't walk away, but I will totally understand if Mike says, 'We're going to look to the future.' That's fine. This thing has to be about our team, not about me.''

With the early precincts reporting, the start is inauspicious. At San Diego on Saturday night, Favre and the first offense generated zero points in four series. Stay tuned. This might not be pretty.