Jets, Favre soar at gut check time

The Jets and their fans awoke this morning in first place in the AFC East because the man who was brought in to lead a good team and maybe make it a great one did so. Last night, Brett Favre was worth all the hype and hoopla.

Not that it was easy. Matt Cassel had his coming out party as an NFL QB, and the Jets defense was more worn down than most of the LIE. But Favre came up big when it mattered most on the Jets final two drives of the game. Two 14 play, time consuming marches that first tied the game at 24, followed by the FG winning drive in OT.

Favre wasn't the gunslinger of years past, rather under control, not forcing a play. Yet, when he needed two, he unleashed his patented fastball-particularly to Justin Keller. This kid may turn out to be all that Anthony Becht and Kyle Brady weren't.

After the game, several players claimed that they knew just by looking at Favre's eyes that the Jets would win. Jet fans, you do need to be concerned about your defense-it really does have trouble in passing situations. But a win is a win-and last night's overtime thriller is the kind that can change a season around. Fortunately, Gang Green won the coin toss in overtime-and had a future Hall of Famer at quarterback who put on a performance worthy of the description.