Mark Gastineau forced a smile as he congratulated Michael Strahan for breaking his single-season sack record on the final day of the 2001 season. Gastineau, however, was outraged by how Strahan broke his record, and he let Brett know. Favre, the quarterback Strahan brought down for the record sack, more than two decades later.
Strahan got the record after Favre (who was seen talking to Strahan moments before) slid right in front of him near the end of the game. As you’ll see in the video below, Gastineau confronted Favre at a memorabilia show last year. Favre seemed friendly at the beginning of the conversation, but Gastineau quickly made it clear that he had a two-decade-old ax to sharpen.
“I’m going to get my jacket back,” Gastineau told Favre. “I’m going to get my jacket back, buddy… You hurt me. You hurt me. You hear me? You really hurt me. You hurt me, Brett.”
Gastineau, whose 22.0 sacks in 1984 stood as the record for 17 years, feels the NFL should have stepped in and overturned Strahan’s record sack to count.
“The NFL should have stopped that,” he said. “(Favre) took that record from me.”
Favre later responded to the video on social media. He said the capture was the result of his decision to run a smuggle and “squeeze the last of the fun out of a very close game.” But instead of seeing an open field, Favre saw Strahan and immediately went down.
“In a different game or situation, I would have tried harder to avoid the sack or the TFL,” Favre wrote in X. “But at no point did I think about hurting Gastineau. Maybe it crossed my mind to help Strahan. I didn’t think it through. That wasn’t my strong suit at the time. I just wanted to have fun and compete. In retrospect, I understand how it feels to not make generational wealth.
“Now I see how being the King of the Bag would raise his value at card shows, strengthen his case for the Hall of Fame, increase his demand as a public speaker. I had no way of knowing it then. Now I realize the possible implications Because football is much more business-oriented than when Mark and I played.
Favre hopes this situation will help shed light on Gastineau’s impressive career, which included three All-Pro nods, five Pro Bowl selections and a Defensive Player of the Year award. Gastineau is also the Jets’ all-time sacks leader.
“I have great respect for Mark,” Favre wrote. “I hope one day he joins me in the Hall of Fame. He earned it.”
Gastineau’s record was eventually equaled by Jared Allen in 2011 and surpassed in 2021 by TJ Watt, who tied Strahan’s record of 22.5 sacks. Ironically, the player who unofficially holds the record is Al Baker, who recorded 23 sacks in 1978 as a member of the Detroit Lions. Unfortunately for Baker, the NFL didn’t begin making individual sacks an official statistic until 1982 (Baker’s total was compiled by Pro Football Reference in 2021).
Footage of Gastineau’s encounter with Favre is part of ESPN’s upcoming documentary about the Jets’ iconic “New York Sack Exchange” defensive line, a unit that included Gastineau, 2023 Football Hall of Famer Joe Klecko , Marty Lyons and Abdul Salaam.
