Heatherthepackgirl
15 years ago
By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. As Brett Favre sought to identify the greatest challenge he has ever faced, he could not help but reflect on all of the obstacles he has overcome in building a storied, 18-year NFL career.

Was his greatest test the summer of 1990, when he was involved in a horrific car crash and willed his way back into the Southern Mississippi lineup one month after having 30 inches of his intestines removed?

GIANTS: Defending champs raising already-high expectations
JETS' KEYS: How they sustain momentum

Was it 1992, when he needed to prove that he was worth the first-round draft choice the Green Bay Packers used to obtain him from the Atlanta Falcons and responded by becoming the youngest quarterback to play in the Pro Bowl at 23?

Was it the end of the 1996 season, when he responded to the enormity of the Super Bowl by firing a 54-yard touchdown pass to Andre Rison on a first-throw audible and went on to lead Green Bay to a rousing 35-21 win vs. the New England Patriots?


No, Favre decided, it was none of those. He settled instead on the here and now. He focused on the expectation that, at 39, he can help the New York Jets to soar in what might be an all-or-nothing, one-year stop before he retires once and for all.

"I think it is probably the toughest challenge up to this point," he says.

Heck, he'd barely left Green Bay, had yet to throw his first pass in a different shade of green, when he was presented the keys to New York at City Hall. That's pressure.

But it is typical of laid-back Favre that he hasn't blinked.

Of greater significance, the Jets showed grit they lacked in past years when they ventured to New England and emerged with a 34-31 overtime decision Nov. 13 and followed it up by handing the Tennessee Titans their first loss Sunday.

Favre is not at all content at having helped to transform a 4-12 team into 8-3 AFC East leaders and a Super Bowl contender. "Believe me," he says, "we can get a lot better."

As carefree as the league's only three-time MVP acts, as quick as he is to smile and joke with teammates, the competitive fires that caused him to unretire burn brightly. For many reasons, Favre is exactly what the Jets needed as he commands an offense that averages 29.4 points, second in the league.

"He's got a great way about him at the games, that poise, that confidence, all those things," says Jets coach Eric Mangini. "But during the course of the week, he's also got a very good personality in the sense that he can be focused, get his work done, but keep the group light, keep practice fun, keep the guys excited about each day. He's got that passion for football, that love of the game, that is very contagious."

Favre possesses what few quarterbacks have ever had supreme confidence developed by succeeding for almost two decades.

And that quality helped make the difference in New England.

"Same old Jets!" Patriots fans chanted gleefully after their team forced overtime two weeks ago after trailing 24-6. "Same old Jets!"

But New York won the coin toss to begin overtime and Favre, sensing doubt on the sideline and in the huddle, took over. "The first thing he said," says running back Leon Washington, "is he assured us that we were going to go down there and put points on the board."

And so they did. A precise drive of 64 yards in 14 plays led to a nerveless 34-yard field goal by Jay Feely that rocked the AFC East, if not the NFL. "We know what we're going to get from Brett. He's going to go out and leave it all on the field," says receiver Jerricho Cotchery. "He's going to have fun, and we have to feed off of him."

Despite the ongoing process to learn a new offense, despite the struggle to keep his body together amid whispers that he has a sore arm, Favre continues to prove he can still compete at a high level, completing a league-best 70.6% of his passes for 2,461 yards, 20 touchdowns and 13 interceptions, also an NFL high.

Favre acknowledges that age, when combined with years of pounding, will undoubtedly cause his performance to eventually fall off. "I don't know when that point will be," he says, adding that he will not contemplate whether he will play next year until he has devoted all of his effort to this season.

New York, with an eye toward selling suites, personal seat licenses and corporate sponsorships as it prepares to enter a new stadium, had taken dramatic steps to improve the club even before Favre suddenly became available. The Jets devoted $140 million to player acquisitions before Favre came aboard in August.

That investment, on both sides of the ball, is being rewarded.

It helps, too, that Favre has a much bigger arm than Chad Pennington, his predecessor. "When you have a quarterback who can throw the ball downfield, they have to respect that," says AFC rushing leader Thomas Jones. "You don't have to worry about nine guys in the box."

Same old Jets? Don't think so.

KEYS TO JETS' CONTINUED SUCCESS

Good gambles by Favre: Quarterback Brett Favre is the career leader in touchdown passes (462), but there is a significant "but" with him. He's also thrown more interceptions (301) than anyone else in NFL history. While he's renowned as a gambler, there are some balls during the course of his career that should have never left his hand. Even a few ill-advised throws could dash this team's hopes at some critical juncture.

Run, Thomas, run: Top tailback Thomas Jones leads the AFC and ranks fourth overall with 950 rushing yards this season. Now in his second season in New York, the Jets have never lost in the nine games in which he scored a touchdown either rushing or receiving. That's hardly a coincidence.

Special special teams: Special-teams coach Mike Westhoff is as good as they come. The Jets have returned an NFL-high 11 kickoffs for touchdowns since 2002. This oft-overlooked aspect of the game can be a real difference-maker. Even when special teams don't produce points, field position is huge. To that end, return-man extraordinaire Leon Washington is fifth in the league in kickoff returns (28.8-yard average) and sixth in punt returns (12.1).

Keep stuffing the run: New York is not always viewed as one of the top teams at stopping the run, but it is; the 78 rushing yards the Jets allow a game rank third in the NFL. Of greater significance, they are perfect through seven games in which they held the opposition to fewer than 100 yards on the ground.

Withstand adversity: Past editions of the Jets didn't always react well when adversity struck, leading fans to complain they were the "same old Jets." There has been a different feeling around this team since laid-back Favre arrived. It will be interesting to see if those good vibrations continue in the big games ahead.
Heathiee
longtimefan
15 years ago
just a month ago this team was set to take on everyone
Pack93z
15 years ago
Should of.. would of... whatever...

We could drag up 100 articles on the Packers up to about week 8 about how good we are..

They collapsed.. so did Tampa.. so did the Bears.. so did we.. so did the Cards.. so did the Cowboys.. so did the Redskins..

Tampa and the Boys probably collapsed harder than the Jets..
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago

Good gambles by Favre: Quarterback Brett Favre is the career leader in touchdown passes (462), but there is a significant "but" with him. He's also thrown more interceptions (301) than anyone else in NFL history.

"Heatherthepackgirl" wrote:



He ended the season with 464 and 310, respectively.

5:3 career TD:INT ratio. Ouch.
UserPostedImage
zombieslayer
15 years ago

Should of.. would of... whatever...

We could drag up 100 articles on the Packers up to about week 8 about how good we are..

They collapsed.. so did Tampa.. so did the Bears.. so did we.. so did the Cards.. so did the Cowboys.. so did the Redskins..

Tampa and the Boys probably collapsed harder than the Jets..

"pack93z" wrote:



Heh. Now, THAT would be an interesting debate - whose fans have it worse.

Buc fans, Cow fans, or Jets fans. Who collapsed the hardest this year?

Wasn't there a time in '08 when the Cow O looked completely unstoppable?

EDIT: Never mind. This is such a non-issue. If anyone says it's harder to be a fan of their team than being a fan of the Lions, then they need to be slapped upside the head.
My man Donald Driver
UserPostedImage
(thanks to Pack93z for the pic)
2010 will be seen as the beginning of the new Packers dynasty. 🇹🇹 🇲🇲 🇦🇷
Cheesey
15 years ago
The only difference is: The Lions are never expected to do anything, the Jets were expected to at LEAST make the playoffs.

We were 5-5 at one point, and collapsed too.
UserPostedImage
Fan Shout
packerfanoutwest (6h) : 49ers are underdogs at Packers, ending streak of 36 straight games as favorites
Zero2Cool (14h) : 49ers might be down their QB, DL, TE and LT?
packerfanoutwest (22-Nov) : Jaire Alexander says he has a torn PCL
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : Even with the context it's ... what?
Mucky Tundra (20-Nov) : Matt LaFleur without context: “I don’t wanna pat you on the butt and you poop in my hand.”
beast (20-Nov) : We brought in a former Packers OL coach to help evaluate OL as a scout
beast (20-Nov) : Jets have been pretty good at picking DL
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : He landed good players thanks to high draft slot. He isn't good.
Zero2Cool (20-Nov) : He can shove his knowledge up his ass. He knows nothing.
beast (20-Nov) : More knowledge, just like bring in the Jets head coach
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : What? Why? Huh?
beast (19-Nov) : I wonder if the Packers might to try to bring Douglas in through Milt Hendrickson/Ravens connections
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : The Jets fired Joe Douglas, per sources
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : Jets are a mess......
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Pretty sure Jets fired their scouting staff and just pluck former Packers.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Jets sign Anders Carlson to their 53.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : When you cycle the weeks, the total over remains for season. But you get your W/L for that selected week. Confusing.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the total and percentage are the same as the previous weeks
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the total and percentage are the same as the previous weeks
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : the totals are accurate..nrvrtmind
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : I don't follow what you are saying. The totals are not the same as last week.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : ok so then wht are the totals the same as last week?
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : NFL Pick'em is auto updated when NFL Scores tab is clicked
Martha Careful (19-Nov) : The offense was OK. Let's not forget the Bear defense is very very good.
packerfanoutwest (19-Nov) : Who updates the leaderboard on NFLPickem?
beast (19-Nov) : Has the Packers offense been worse since the former Jets coach joined the Packers?
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Offense gets his ass in gear, this could be good.
Zero2Cool (19-Nov) : Backup QB helped with three wins. Special Teams contributed to three wins.
bboystyle (18-Nov) : Lions played outside thats why. They scored 16 and 17 in the only 2 outside games this year
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : The rest of the NFL is catching up to Packers ... kicking is an issue throughout league
packerfanoutwest (18-Nov) : Packers DL Kenny Clark: We knew 'we were going to block' Bears' game-winning field goal attempt
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : Lions seem to be throttling everyone, but only (only) got 24 lol maybe the rain is why
Zero2Cool (18-Nov) : Packers vs Lions game doesn't seem so bad.
beast (18-Nov) : Dennis Green "They are what we thought they were, and we let them off the hook!"
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : comment of the day Z2Cool "Bears better than we want to admit. Packers worse than we think. It's facts."
Mucky Tundra (17-Nov) : my worst case scenario: Bears fix their oline and get a coach like Johnson from the Lions and his scheme
Zero2Cool (17-Nov) : Bears get OL fixed amd we might have a problem
buckeyepackfan (17-Nov) : Pretty sure they already have scouting reports on guys who aren't even starting for their college team. The future is now for me.
buckeyepackfan (17-Nov) : I tend to let Gute and Co. Worry about the future.
beast (17-Nov) : That's great news and Packers need to keep upgrading their OL, DL and DBs this off-season, so missing one guy doesn't kill them
beast (17-Nov) : That's great news and Packers need to keep upgrading their OL, DL and DBs this off-season, so missing one guy doesn't kill them
buckeyepackfan (17-Nov) : Jaire and Evans Williams are both ACTIVE! Good news.
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : The badgers really need to change the whole offensive scheme. No draws no screens plus the quarterback is marginal
Cheesey (17-Nov) : If the Badgers had a decent QB, they would have won. The guy can't hit a wide open receiver
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : chop block
Martha Careful (17-Nov) : there was a very questionable job Block call that upon viewing replay was very borderline
beast (17-Nov) : How so? (I didn't watch)
Zero2Cool (17-Nov) : Badgers got hosed vs Oregon
packerfanoutwest (16-Nov) : damn,he hasn't played since week 2
Mucky Tundra (15-Nov) : poor guy can't catch a break
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2024 Packers Schedule
Friday, Sep 6 @ 7:15 PM
Eagles
Sunday, Sep 15 @ 12:00 PM
COLTS
Sunday, Sep 22 @ 12:00 PM
Titans
Sunday, Sep 29 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Sunday, Oct 6 @ 3:25 PM
Rams
Sunday, Oct 13 @ 12:00 PM
CARDINALS
Sunday, Oct 20 @ 12:00 PM
TEXANS
Sunday, Oct 27 @ 12:00 PM
Jaguars
Sunday, Nov 3 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Sunday, Nov 17 @ 12:00 PM
Bears
Sunday, Nov 24 @ 3:25 PM
49ERS
Thursday, Nov 28 @ 7:20 PM
DOLPHINS
Thursday, Dec 5 @ 7:15 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 15 @ 7:20 PM
Seahawks
Monday, Dec 23 @ 7:15 PM
SAINTS
Sunday, Dec 29 @ 12:00 PM
Vikings
Saturday, Jan 4 @ 11:00 PM
BEARS
Recent Topics
17m / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

15h / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

21-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

20-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

20-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

20-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

20-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

19-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / dfosterf

19-Nov / Featured Content / Zero2Cool

19-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

19-Nov / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2024 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.