Five keys to the Jets' season Saturday, September 6, 2008 1. Will he be the Brett Favre of old, or an old Favre? The very candid Brett Favre has admitted that even he isn't quite sure what to expect now that he's left his football home for the past 16 years for a new team. He had 28 touchdown passes and only 15 interceptions last season, but had 20 TDs and 29 picks in 2005. Which QB will the Jets see? 2. How much will the rebuilt line help the offense? The Jets spent a lot of money to fix one of their biggest problems, giving a $40 million deal to left guard Alan Faneca and $25 million to right tackle Damien Woody, a guard for much of his career. This unit must jell in a hurry and open holes for the running game so Favre isn't asked to do it all. 3. Will more compatible pieces for the 3-4 result in a better defense? For the first two years of coach Eric Mangini's reign, there were many square pegs in round holes. But with space-eating nose tackle Kris Jenkins and versatile linebacker Calvin Pace, the Jets finally have several players who fit the 3-4 defense. They also need LB David Harris to avoid a slump. 4. Can the Jets find an answer at right cornerback? In a year in which running mates are particularly important, the Jets need to finally find one for second-year left cornerback Darrelle Revis, a potential Pro Bowler. Right corner has been a revolving door for the last two seasons, but fourth-round pick Dwight Lowery, a cerebral ballhawk, might be the guy. 5. Can the Jets successfully retool on the fly? The Jets almost stood pat after a 10-6 playoff season in 2006, but made major roster changes after a 4-12 finish in 2007. The most intriguing acquisition, of course, is Favre, and it will be interesting to see how the controlling, disciplined Mangini gets along with the larger-than-life gunslinger. 1. Will he be the Brett Favre of old, or an old Favre? The very candid Brett Favre has admitted that even he isn't quite sure what to expect now that he's left his football home for the past 16 years for a new team. He had 28 touchdown passes and only 15 interceptions last season, but had 20 TDs and 29 picks in 2005. Which QB will the Jets see? 2. How much will the rebuilt line help the offense? The Jets spent a lot of money to fix one of their biggest problems, giving a $40 million deal to left guard Alan Faneca and $25 million to right tackle Damien Woody, a guard for much of his career. This unit must jell in a hurry and open holes for the running game so Favre isn't asked to do it all. 3. Will more compatible pieces for the 3-4 result in a better defense? For the first two years of coach Eric Mangini's reign, there were many square pegs in round holes. But with space-eating nose tackle Kris Jenkins and versatile linebacker Calvin Pace, the Jets finally have several players who fit the 3-4 defense. They also need LB David Harris to avoid a slump. 4. Can the Jets find an answer at right cornerback? In a year in which running mates are particularly important, the Jets need to finally find one for second-year left cornerback Darrelle Revis, a potential Pro Bowler. Right corner has been a revolving door for the last two seasons, but fourth-round pick Dwight Lowery, a cerebral ballhawk, might be the guy. 5. Can the Jets successfully retool on the fly? The Jets almost stood pat after a 10-6 playoff season in 2006, but made major roster changes after a 4-12 finish in 2007. The most intriguing acquisition, of course, is Favre, and it will be interesting to see how the controlling, disciplined Mangini gets along with the larger-than-life gunslinger.
I've posted about this topic a few times on this board, but I think it's important to clear up especially for people who didn't get a chance to follow the 2005 Packers season closely....... The Packers went 4-12 (Brett's only losing season in 17 years) The ONLY reason 9 of those 12 losses were by 7 points or less is because of Favre's ability to keep the games close. The team was decimated by a new GM (Ted Thompson) that was setting them up to fail so he could fire Mike Sherman. He let the 2 all-pro guards walk via free agency (Whale to Carolina and Rivera to the Cowboys). He drafted a 1st round QB (of all things) when the defense had more holes than any defense in the league. Then to top it off the Packers suffered season-ending injuries to: Ahmahn Green, Tony Fisher, Najeh Davenport, and Noah Herron at RB. That left Samkon Gado as the feature back. Javon Walker, Robert Ferguson, Bubba Franks also suffered season ending injuries. Andrae Thurman, Rod Gardner, and Taco Wallace were lining up regularily at WR. They lost their center in the pre-sesaon with a season ending injury. The team shouldn't have won a game. The reason Brett threw so many picks (of the 29....24 were while trailing...and 19 were while trailing by 10+ points) was because they were always behind late and he was gambling and taking chances to try to come from behind. I guess my point is, there really hasn't been a "good Favre" and a "bad Favre". He's always been the same. He was just surrounded by an Arena Lague Football team in 2005. Everyone acts like because of that one season, he's been struggling for 10 years. Look at his stats in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2007. I'll take the 16 good years as my track record, over the one tough one.
The most important thing is to win this weekend. Get off to a good start by beating a division rival...on the road...and a team we should beat. Lose this weekend and it could fall apart early.
I agree with you 100% but people are going to believe what they want to believe. They don't want to put any context around the numbers they just see the numbers and jump to conclusions. This is especially true with dolphag fans. You could post this 1000 times a day and you'd still have people asking "which Favre" we're going to see.
Favre4MVP: You and I pretty much agree. The only thing I would add is that Favre plays to win and I would rather have a QB that take desperate chances to win and maybe lose by 20 to rather than plays close and loses by 6. There really isn't a bad Brett Favre. In 00- first 2/3rd of 06 I don't how many picks were because the receivers didn't run or quit on their routes, tipped balls, the packers really were struggling and the first half of 07' would have been 1-7 w/o Favre instead of 7-1 and this is for real, not bad for 38. The Jets have been showing a level of commitment to really improve and win and Favre will bring some intangibles and talent to that locker room. Just sit back and enjoy.
I did not know the injury situation for the Pack in 2005. Trouble with "journalists" is that most don't look deep enough into an issue before proclaiming it. Jet fans know what its like to have a plague of injuries and yeah, winning any game during that time is tough. Regarding another aspect of the article, even though we have better personnel for the 3-4, I'm still not convinced we can execute. It seems like all 3-4's are not equivalent and for whatever reason, our 3-4 design has not regularly performed well. To conclude it is the players and not the design may be premature. Murrell: looks like your letting the good old Jet fan doubts creep in!
Sports writers are not Journalists. Accept everything they write with a huge grain of salt. You'll find 30 or 40 posters here who are much more informed and put more time into things then these hacks that are paid to do it. All the points above are valid, but as plain as day to see. This could have been written by any Jet fan that had not been in a coma for the last month and a half.
people don't realize that in a lot of Favre's "terrible" post-season games in the last 10 years, the worst ones, against the rams falcons etc., the team had some critical season-ending injuries that came midway or at the end of the season. but that doesn't mean there isn't a bad favre. he is human and he has bad games occasionally i.e. last year against the redskins (even though they still won that game)
excuses are like a**holes, everybody has one. the fact of the matter is, favre leads the universe in interceptions. it was more than one bad season to get all those picks. they don't refer to him as a gambler/gunslinger for nothing. favre can be good and he can be bad. how much of the ladder is what will decide the jets season. injuries are nothing but excuses also, every team has them, not just brent favre's team!!! i want to wait to see which favre we have before i start heaping praise or hell on the guy. till then, it's all speculation...
Umm. True. And he got through many injuries and many seasons with a winning record. The year they went 4-12 and he threw 29 INT's, it was the most ridiculous amount of injuries I have ever seen. Seriously, the top 4 RB's go down and the #2 and #3 WR, and the starting TE, and 3 members of the line. Nobody would withstand that. Not Manning. Brady. Montana. I will take his career record of 156-81 over the other 16 seasons when I judge what kind of QB the Jets have now.
I think the line goes: "Excuses are like assholes, everyone has one, and they all stink." And for the record, if you call him Brent Favre, Im not sure you deserve to be a football fan.
not every team has them as bad as the packers did that season. it's not fair to base a QB's play on those circumstances since chances are anything in the future won't be as bad as that. also, his Pass Attempt to INT ratio is better than many of QBs often listed in the Top 10 of all time.
I think Favre will be just fine.. He'll have a blunder here and there, but he's playing with a huge, pissed off chip on his shoulder. I wouldn't bet against him.
