This Is Why Favre Was Brought Here

Brett Favre greets Dustin Keller after he scored a touchdown late in the second quarter. (David L. Pokress, Newsday Staff Photographer / November 9, 2008)

Thursday night on WPIX, check out the Jets as they battle the Patriots for first place in the AFC East. Our coverage starts at 7:30 with Countdown To Kickoff, a half hour pre game show with Sal Marchiano, Lolita Lopez, and Sports Radio 66 WFAN’s Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton. Kickoff is shortly after 8 pm. Carton getting TV air time? The half hour prior to be kickoff should be interesting.

You already know how important the game is for both teams, particularly Gang Green. No Jet will have greater scrutiny heaped upon him than QB Brett Favre.

Think back to August. The Jets, coming off a 4-12 season, were as useful to NY football as Jeremiah Wright was to Obama’s campaign. The city was colored Big Blue following the Giants Super Bowl victory. The Jets? Sure, they made some great changes on both sides of the ball, but the biggest question was: Who will be the QB? Neither Chad Pennington nor Kellen Clemens gave you the feeling they were franchise QB’s. I wanted to see Clemens have a chance to grow into the job.

Suddenly though, Favre and the Packers couldn’t come to an agreement. The future Hall of Famer had retired and un retired, as cool and ‘obscure’ as Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan or Evander Holyfield. The Jets brain trust decided to take a chance, and after convincing Favre he’d survive New York, made a deal with the Pack.

Three months later, after all the hoopla, the Favre jerseys off the shelf at your local sporting goods store, the stories rehashing his good and bad times, here are the Jets at 6-3 in a first place tie with the Patriots. Outside of his 6 TD pass game against the porous Cardinals defense, Favre hasn’t been awesome. For all his Hall of Fame credentials, Favre has been and can be very streaky. Like Joe Namath, he can kill you with a bad pick. Yes, the Jets beat the Bills and Chiefs, but he kept the opponents in those games with interceptions. He was awful against the Raiders and lucky on Opening Day against the Dolphins. Only a pathetic Rams defense kept Favre from throwing two picks last Sunday-not that it would have mattered in the 47-3 blowout.

Remember: Brett the Jet threw a big pick against the Pats in Week 2. You know Patriots coach Bill Belichick will try to force Favre to win the game for the Jets. Even if Leon Washington and Thomas Jones run all day, there will come a time during the game when Favre will HAVE to make a play. They’ll be a third and long where the dink and dunk won’t work, and his leadership ability won’t necessarily matter. He will have to make a Hall of Fame play. At 39, after getting his way in wanting to keep playing, alienating his beloved Packers and their fans in the process, Favre will have to do something that says, “Wow, the Jets are darn lucky they have him.” Will Favre be up to the task? The balance of the Jets’ season may well depend on it.