Is Favre Fitting In?
After a solid performance last week by the offense, Erik Boland talks to some of Favre’s teammates to get a sense of how well Favre knows the offense.
Favre’s grasping of the playbook has been a process involving its share of bumps. Right guard Damien Woody snapped his fingers three straight times in emphasizing how confidently Favre barks out the play calls in the huddle now as opposed to even two weeks ago.
“He’s not forgetting the play call in the huddle, now it’s like he just knows it,” Woody said. “Once you get to that point, you just go out and play football. I think he’s definitely more comfortable in the offense, guys are more comfortable with him calling the plays.”
Tight end Chris Baker smiled when asked to compare Favre in the huddle now to Favre in training camp.
“It’s been a dramatic jump,” Baker said. “We do have a pretty complex offense and just to call the play out was tough for him early on. A couple times we just got the play, we didn’t get a formation or the protection, things like that, back in camp. But he’s really evolved and he’s obviously had to study a lot and he’s taken ownership and he really understands what we’re trying to do and the concept of everything we’ve done. There’s been a lot of effort put into it and I guess you could say you saw some of the results of that on Sunday.”
Favre of course downplayed the progress, and noted that he and the team have more work to do, but it’s clear that the miscommunications we saw early in the season with his line and receivers are improving. I’ll hold off the effusive praise until I see this offense take on Oakland’s (Oct. 19) or Buffalo’s (Nov. 2) pass defense.
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After mondays game it looks like the “gunslinger” has learned that you just can’t come into town and sling it. I’m glad that so far it has only cost us the Pats game and that he has finally realized that you must allways go into a fight with a plan.
I hope they (CS) don’t limit the teams chances by tearing pages out of the book to make it “easy” for him.
For $13 million/year and all his HOF credentials he should be leading the offense not dragging down with his historic dumb mistakes. !!
Hank, ????? You blame the Pats loss on Favre? Dumb mistakes? He is the highest rated QB so far. Maybe I misunderstand your points.
And lead’s in TD’s with 12.Last time he had 12 TD’S after 4 game’s was 96″…….Hmmmm Packer’s won the super bowl that year……..I guess we should hope he know’s the playbook better huh??
Hank you just don’t like Favre,No matter what he doe’s and quick to blame him when something goe’s wrong.
I still like the acquisition of Favre, and it has nothing to do with me being starstruck. As the saying goes, “Big time players make big time plays.” That has been something I’ve been on the Jets about for the last however many years, they just didn’t have anybody who could fit that role until now. It lends the team credibility.
However, I still have many a complaint to make about the current roster (including the coaching roster)…
One little quiet note here… Did anyone notice when we came out running that it was Leon and not TJ on the first drive?
Repro, I heard Mangini answer a question on that, and he said simply that that “package” was what they had decided to open the game with. It didn’t have any significance otherwise. I believe him because that’s how he is, he isn’t tied up in who the “starter” is. Also, Thomas Jones got most of the carries.
hank/naples, on September 27th, 2008 at 7:43 pm Said:
pat d;
How many times does it have to ba said (I have said this a dozen times) that he doesn’t know the play book and that is the problem.
Look I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but all you Farve lovers are either blind too dumb to see but that is the difference between Chad and this guy. Chad has met every monday and wednesday with his receiving core at night to study film and get to know each other. He also stays after practice with his receivers. THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN LEADERSHIP THAT WE ARE SORELY MISSING !!!!
Boy you were right on with your evaluation of Farve.
hank….what games are you watching?
anyway….d let down witha huge lead..as most nfl d’s do….jets are on their way to a huge season…mark my words
the jets are definitely jelling. brett is starting to understand and know the plays. the next three games you will see more of the same w/ easier competition on the other side. i can see him throw another 12 tds in those three games. the jets are only going to get better!!!
Chad had to meet with his wide receivers all week. his game is much more synchronized than brett’s. he had to be perfect and detailed every night. brett can call an audible and go long. chad will call one and call a screen. big difference!!! chad thorws the ball before the cut and brett trows the seem pass 50 yds. they can both win but i like brett’s arm. we haven’t had that in a while. and we need a change in jet-land. besides chads had enough chances. with brett you know everytime the defense makes a mistake he will take advantage of it and maximize on it like he did on sunday.
Brett is a better model for the back ups to follow. he plays hurt and has played many games. there is nothing he hasnt seen!!
DID YOU SEE WHEN BRETT FAKED TO LC? HE THEN TURNED HIS BACK TO WHERE HE WAS GOING TO THROW THE BALL. THE DEFENDER WAS ON THE GROWN AND HE COMPLETED THE LONG PASS TO LC. THAT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. DID THE DEFENDER EVER GOT BACK UP AND CONTINUEDTO PLAY? BRETT IS THE MAN!!!!
If Favre struggles next game, what is the media going to attack about his process? He had a great week and I’m sure the chemistry is improving between him and the rest of the team. But we should also note that according to FootballOutsiders DVOA rankings, the Cardinals are 20th in pass defense. Familiarity with the system helps, but so does a below average pass defense.
This is going to be a roller coaster (sorry for the played out analogy, but my creative juices are shot), where Favre is going to have dominant games and he is also going to have some games where the media is going to attack his lack of chemistry and familiarity with the players.
I personally liked the Favre move because we needed to take a risk, and last week showed the positives of the move. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…he has a lot of work to do to prove to me that he can make this team a contender. The potential is there, but we need to see a strong performance against stronger defenses.
Essential, of course Favre and the Jets will have ups and downs. The point is that the team has been aggressive in improving the roster. Case in point, trading for Favre makes the Jets a better team. We can always look at any part of the team and say it needs improvement. But the Jets are a better team right now than they were 2 months, 6 months, a year ago. That’s whats important. Not really understanding your point.
I have to say that I think the ‘Favre is too much of a gunslinger” criticism is like bemoaning that Ryan Howard doesn’t hit for average or Albert Pujols doesn’t steal bases. Favre is on the short list of one of the greatest QBs in NFL history. That’s why along with the negative (INTs), he also has the most TDs, Wins and consecutive game starts in NFL history. He isn’t just a “gunslinger” he’s a great leader and tactical QB that goes for the jugular better that any QB that I’ve ever seen.
Now, what we’ve also seen is that his intelligence may match his amazing athletic prowess (like Pedro Martinez at his peak, you look at Brett, who is not a big guy, and marvel at his rocket-launcher arm). He was tossing passes to high school kids on August 6th. His first Jets practice was August 9 and on September 28, he tossed 6 TD passes in a Jets win. That is simply awesome.
Guys like hank/naples and Nikolas pine away for Chad. I like Chad, Chad’s a good QB and was an inspirational figure. But, Chad is no Brett Favre. Not even close. And, as for “gunslinger” which I interpret as throwing reckless INTs, Chad post-shoulder injury of 2004 was barely over 1 TD pass to 1 INT. Favre just needs 11 more TD passes to have more in a Jets uniform than Chad ever had and, when Brett gets 6 more, he’ll have a higher total than Chad ever had post-2002. For reference, Chad also had a career high of 16 INTs in his only full 16 game season as a the Jets starter. While Brett may have more INTs than Chad ever had, Brett could smash the Jets single-season record for passing TDs, which is 29 by Vinny in ‘98.
So, hank/naples, Nikolas, and all other Favre haters, enjoy the ride, you’re getting to see one of the greatest players in NFL history perform.
Sack, can’t even start to understand those guys. I think it comes down to a certain personality type. They just choose to be miserable, and then have to concoct reasons for their misery.
Great post Sack- You hit upon some great points!!!
There are folks that just do not like #4. I have not missed one of his games since he began playing for the Pack. Sure he has had many heart-breaking interceptions for Packer fans, but do you know how many passes in his career he has completed that no one else would even attempt???? Many of those completions sustained game winning drives, and others simply won the game.
Also, Sunday was no fluke- having watched him for so many years, I can tell you that it was the first game since playing for the Jets that he looked comfortable.
Don’t doubt him- just sit back and enjoy the time he will spend with the Jets!!!
“The Jets best reciever would be # 3 on the packers” – Tom Jackson
All I can say is these Favre detractors partial to the ultra-modest, studious, boy scout type would have hated Joe Namath.
Pete-
My point is that it is still early to say we’re a better team with Favre. One thing with Pennington, is that he rarely made mistakes but rarely ever opened up games. Like you said, Favre will obviously have his downs. But how many downs is the question? Last week indicated that he is more likely to have more ups then downs, but I’ll be more confident to say that once he performs against a good defense, particularly against the pass.
I’m more or less criticizing some of the optimism that I deem a little too much at this point in the year. Favre had a great game, so now it’s a great move. Well, I think it will probably end up being a good move. But I also know that he has a lot to prove before I’m satisfied saying the move worked.
Granted letting Favre go and do what he does will help this offense, but what about the defense? This team only gave up 33 points over the first 2 games. The next two accumulated to over 80 and now they’re average is nearly giving up 30 points per game which is an obvious concern. As you can imagine I don’t get many Jet games in San Antonio so anybody who saw the 56-35 thrashing of the Cardinals can answer a question. Was the Jet defense that bad in the 2nd half or were they just lax because of the trmendous halftime lead? If it’s the former this team is in deep trouble because I don’t see them putting up 30-40 points every week.
scary – I was there. The second half comeback was fuelled by a number of things. Yes, it was done against a prevent defense. Sure, they took more risks (and it cost them as they had a couple more turnovers). 15 quick points came with an onside kick in between giving them great field position. Warner did get into a rhythm picking apart the soft zone, although they never got close to getting within one score.
The key in my eyes was that they rested Jenkins throughout much of the second half and if you recall, he also missed much of the SD game, which also was not as bad as the 48 points made it seem because there were turnovers creating TDs and a short field on a few occasions. Up 34, they were probably right to rest Jenkins, who is clearly a key to this team. They need somebody else in the rotation to step up and be more effective at the nose though and it hasn’t happened yet.
In conclusion, the defense isn’t as bad as 80+ points in two games makes it look and with the starters in has been really good overall.
Bent, thanks for your input. Hopefully you are correct. I’m concerned with Cincinnati playing Dallas this week and will probably fall to 0-5. Not many teams start 0-6 and I hate to see the JEts be their first victim.