 On July 14 , 1990 , before the start of Favre 's senior year at Southern Miss , he was involved in a near @-@ fatal car accident . When going around a bend a few tenths of a mile from his parents ' house , Favre lost control of his car , which flipped three times and came to rest against a tree . It was only after one of his brothers smashed a car window with a golf club that Favre could be evacuated and rushed to the hospital . In the ambulance , his mother was sitting with him . " All I kept asking [ her ] was ' Will I be able to play football again ? ' " Favre recalled later . Doctors would later remove 30 inches ( 76 cm ) of Favre 's small intestine . Six weeks after this incident , on September 8 , Favre led Southern Miss to a comeback victory over Alabama . Alabama coach Gene Stallings said , " You can call it a miracle or a legend or whatever you want to . I just know that on that day , Brett Favre was larger than life . " 
