On the charter home from Nashville on Sunday night, before takeoff, old friend Bubba Franks walked by Brett Favre's seat on the plane. "How do you feel?'' Franks wondered.
"Like I'm 39,'' Favre said.
And he sounded weary -- weary but happy -- after the Jets manhandled the Titans 34-13, ruining Tennessee's hopes for a perfect season. "I never expected a game like this,'' he said. "When I put the film on to watch them last week, I said, "Holy crap, they're good. Really good. But it's the kind of win that means something, where there's a lot of hooting and hollering in the locker room after the game, and you say to yourself, 'This is fun. This is why I came back.'"
I told Favre it's pretty amazing that four months ago he seemed determined to play for Green Bay or Minnesota or no team, and look what's happened. "You're right,'' he said. "Who'da thunk it? Me, a New York Jet. I remember those days. I was not open to playing anywhere else, but for all the wrong reasons. For revenge, or whatever. And that was wrong. I knew what a change it would be, especially in New York. I was about to be 39, and New York wasn't a great fit. The media, coming off a 4-12 season, learning a new offense, the high expectations ... Did I really want to go through that?
"A change like that would have been tough on a 22-year-old. As a matter of fact, after I reached the agreement with the Jets, we were in the plane coming up to New Jersey and I thought, 'Oh no! What am I doing? I'm making a big mistake.'
"It might have been more than I was up for. But then [wife] Deanna said something to me that made sense. She said, 'Hey, whether you're here one year, two years, or five weeks, whatever, you've got to be committed.' And she was right. I owed it to the Jets to give them everything I had.
"And it's been great. It hasn't been all smooth, but I've enjoyed it. I'm having fun. Now, if we were 3-8 instead of 8-3, I know I'd be back on the farm next year and it'd be over. But I'm just going to play as hard as I can every week the rest of the way and we'll see how it goes.''
No promises about next year. He just doesn't know yet, and he's not allowing himself to think ahead. He did think ahead about one thing Sunday, though.
"There's a good chance we play the Titans again,'' he said. "These guys are good.''
So are the Jets. Maybe second-seed-in-the-AFC good.