Brett Favre played 20 seasons. He led his team to the postseason in 12 of those seasons and was 1-1 in the Super Bowl. That one win, in Super Bowl XXXI, came against the New England Patriots. Of course that was two decades ago, when Bill Parcells was the coach and Drew Bledsoe was the quarterback, but Favre, originally a Falcons' second-round pick who became one of the league's best players when he was traded to Green Bay, knows something about overcoming long odds.

And that no doubt has something to do with Eagles coach Doug Pederson asking the Hall of Famer to speak to his team on Saturday, the day before they face the Patriots in Super Bowl LII.

Pederson and Favre go way back; the former was the backup quarterback on those Packers' Super Bowl teams and after brief stints in Philadelphia and Cleveland, he played the final four years of his career behind Favre in Green Bay. It's also no surprise Favre agreed to Pederson's request; he holds the Eagles' coach in high regard based on their time together as teammates.

Favre told TheMMQB.com's Peter King that Pederson was an "incredibly valuable and important to my career," adding: "When Doug was with me, I hate to say he was a lot like a coach, but he was. Very instinctive. He thought the way I thought. He knew me. He knew what I was thinking, and he was able to relay that to the coach, or the play-caller. Not a lot of the backup QBs have the headset on, but I wanted him talking to the coach."

Those instincts have served Pederson well in Philly. He's 20-12 in two seasons and has the Eagles back in the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2004 season. Interestingly, Eagles tight end Zach Ertz echoed many of Favre's thoughts on Pederson's abilities.

"From a player's standpoint, Doug is an unbelievable offensive play-caller," Ertz told King. "He has a unique ability to see the game. I don't know if it stems from him being behind great quarterbacks in his career — Dan Marino, Donovan McNabb, Brett Favre. But he sees the game like he's playing it. He calls the game like he's still a quarterback, like he's in the flow of the game with us."

And the hope is that Pederson's preparation plus Favre's experience -- and a little comic relief (see below) -- will be enough to propel the underdog Eagles past the Patriots on Sunday.