Agree completely which is why Pennington should have been cut a veteran back up brought in for short money and a war chest of funds prepared to jump on a solid veteran who will get cut in TC to fill a need on the OL.
The only reason I disagree is that I think Pennington is a good insurance policy and is a good back up QB. There is no veteran back up out there that is as good as him. Plus the Jets are not in any cap trouble and can afford him this year. Plus, unlike Favre, he will be a team players and a mentor to Clemens. Unless Pennington's issues last year were completely physical (his ankle) and he emerges back in 2004 or early 2006 form , I don't think you have to worry too much about his long term future as a Jet starting QB. He will either be entrenched as the back up behind Clemens by 2009 or on another team. There was no need to get rid of him this year, though.
The reason to get rid of him is he wants to start and is taking reps from Clemens and cost way to much and is no better than most NFL backups. He is Collins on Washington good.
My thoughts exactly. You don't weaken your team at QB with no plan and hope something works out afterwards. Favre looks good in green and for one year would be the best QB on our roster, but probably not worth what he would cost. That signing would have Ronnie Lott and Art Monk written all over it--a brand name you can't dispute but probably a mediocre performance at a high price.
Why do you assume Favre would give us a mediocre performance? Pennington has been giving us a mediocre performance at a high price for years, you don't seem to have any problems with that.
We already have Pennington, we don't have to give up anything for him. I wouldn't go and trade for him to pay him top dollar at this point either, but he's here and there was nobody better to replace him with so they kept him. Plus, we drafted Clemens rather high and we're two years into the process with him, so bringing Favre in just blows that whole thing out of the water and next year at this time we have the same question mark at the position. You guys who are so worried about the future and Clemens that you don't even want Chad on the team or any competition at QB now want Brett Favre at 38 years old??? I can't see Favre, after retiring, coming to New York and doing what he did in Green Bay last year. He's not even sure he wants to play, he'd have to leave the team and town he played in for 18 years or whatever, I just don't see him making a seemless transition to New York at his age with his heart half in it. Plus, we're the Jets. If Ronnie Lott and Art Monk can come here and look average, what do you think Brett Favre is going to do? He's older than Boomer was when we got rid of him.
This is all hypothetical because it will never happen. That said, there would be a world of difference between having 38 year old Brett Favre playing over Clemens than Pennington. Favre is far better than Pennington could ever dream to be and could give us a shot at a superbowl. He could take the team to another level. If we had a QB that gave us a shot at a title playing instead of Clemens, I would hope that no Jets fan would argue with that. Now if a washed up Pennington is playing over Clemens, I have a problem with that. No one is saying they don't want competition for Clemens, this is something you make up - clearly some of us would love Favre as competition. Your point about giving up something for Favre is a good one, I read something that said he could force GB's hand into releasing him thus making him a free agent. I honestly don't recall the details but it had something to do with the way coming back from retirement works. edit: I don't give a flying fuck how old Favre is if he's still playing at a very high level, and based on last year he certainly is.
I think we agree that Favre would easily be the best QB on the team, even at his age, I said that before. I do think he's very overrated, always have, but he is still a great QB. Being the big man in a small town, he got away with a lot of bad picks and throwing games away that he would have been crucified for in New York, I think people underestimate that element of it. Seems like he would be a one-year, all or nothing shot, and that doesn't seem to be where the Jets are at right now. Even if we thought he had a few years left like Vinny did it would be different, but Favre has been on the brink of retirement for a few years now. Regarding Pennington, he's a Jet, he fits here. I'm under no delusion that he's an All-Pro or whatever, but I think people underestimate his value to the team on and off the field, especially here on this board. The money he makes he earned as a Jet, he gave it up and earned it back, that doesn't bother me. If we make the transition to Clemens, Chad is the perfect guy to have here with him. He can come in for an injury and we don't miss a beat, he can help Clemens with this offense from the sideline, and he's going to push him to be better to even win the job in the first place. That's why it blows my mind that some people don't want a QB competition, competition makes people better. Or at the very least it exposes who they are. If Favre comes in here and sucks, throws a few games away, what do we do then? Go to Clemens? No, we're going to be stuck with Favre, a media circus and another season going down the tank.
So if Favre gave us a shot at a superbowl, you would pass on it because there is a possibility of him sucking and there being a media circus? Sounds like Chad Pennington doing a 2 minute drill - he has a shot to go downfield and possibly win the game but there's a possibility it would get picked so he checks down to a swing pass for a 3 yard gain. Like I said, I don't think anyone is against a competition we'd just like it to be with someone who has a bigger upside that Pennington. I agree he'd be a nice backup.
I don't know why some posters are concerned about a media circus. The Giants have been a bigger circus in recent years. They have a Super Bowl title; the Jets don't. Teams can win in a media circus environment. Teams can lose in a media circus environment. Teams can win in a non-circus environment. Teams can lose in a non-circus environment. It comes down to players, coaches, and management. The Jets would be better in '08 with Favre than with no Favre. Alas, there is probably a 5% chance the Jets could/would get him.
You're taking a few different points and twisting them all together. First of all, if you bring Favre in here there is no competition with Clemens, Clemens sits for another year. Now if Favre or OJ Simpson or anyone else gave us a shot at a Super Bowl I'd say go for it, but I don't think Favre does that. He had all the planets align for him last year in his own city on his own team and still managed to throw the NFC title game away with a bad pick at the end, in his own stadium. Not the first playoff game (and season) he's thrown away with a stupid pick, by the way, but again, being the big man on campus in Green Bay he's always gotten a free pass. Except for one year, 12 seasons ago when they beat the expansion Panthers at home, what makes you think Brett Favre is taking us to the Super Bowl? Look at his past five years before having the one great year last year. A lot of good QBs put that one good last year together, but it rarely lasts. Especially if you're going to take a Green Bay lifer and put him in New York. So when you factor in what it would take to get him, compensation and money, is the risk worth the shot in the dark? Maybe on a message board, but if you're job depends on it and you're lookng at another black hole at QB next year, you probably don't. It depends on how close you think we are to being a good solid team and how much faith you have in our current two QBs. Personally, I think between the two guys we have we can probably win as many games this year as we could with an aging gunslinger in Favre trying to adjust to a new team in a new city. He may be more spectacular in victory and in defeat, but I don't know that he'd be worth the trouble it would take to get him and have him here. You have to take Pennington out of the equasion, it's not about picking one over the other with all else being equal because all else is not equal. One is already here, which is why he's still here, the other one you have to give up a lot to get. A lot of this for me also is that I've always felt Favre is very overrated, as I mentioned before. And I only mention a media circus as a sidelight, because that's what it will be, win or lose. If we lose it will be that much worse and maybe lead us down that slipery slope to laughingstock. That's how it went the last time we loaded up on aging Hall of Famers gettng their last big payday.
Yep if NFL Live is correct BF has to write a letter to the GBPs asking for reinstatement then according to the TV the GBPs have 2 options 1) Reinstate him 2) Give him his outright release
I think our difference in opinion on what Favre could potentially do for this team is where our where our differences on this hypothetical situation begin and end. What you say makes a lot of sense given your opinion on Favre.
Yeah, I think that's the issue. At his best I think he gives you a puncher's chance every year and it could be a fun ride, but his track record is he's flamed out at the end in 15 of his 16 years in Green Bay. Not to sound like champ here, but if you get him and don't win it all you've probably wasted your time, money, whatever you traded for him, and left yourself a giant hole and question mark at the QB position going forward. The knock on Pennington has been that he can "only" get you to the playoffs and can't get past a certain point, I'm not sure how long Favre gets to live off of 1996 and not face the same rap to some degree. Favre looks better getting to that point, but the end result has been the same.
For people who believe that Brett Favre is not an elite quarterback, of course it won't make sense. Those people happen to be ignoring all the factual evidence to the contrary, but to each his own.
Actually, Pennington started playing in his third year, right where Clemens is now. He never got any garbage time to get his feet wet because the team was always in the hunt with Vinny. Regarding Favre, you can certainly build the case for him being an elite QB, no doubt Hall of Famer, I'm not disputing that. My point is for 2008 by itself, I don't think we go much if any further with him than we do without him. Just my thought. Trust me, I'd love to see him come to NY for a last magic carpet ride and go off into the sunset. A QB winning a Super Bowl 12 years after his first one for a team winning their first one in 40 years, that would be the story of all stories, which should tell you how unlikely it is.
