Nov 22
AndrewSports Football, New York Jets, NFL
Question: Is Brett Favre Having a Renaissance Year?
Answer: It is hard to argue that Brett Favre looks reenergized with the New York Jets after squirming his way out of Green Bay during the offseason. He picked a good time (assuming he really had any competitive offers from other teams to consider) to join the Jets, who themselves have been playing second-fiddle to the New England Patriots for a long time, and could reasonably command the AFC East division this season.
After 10 games, the Jets are 7-3 (vastly improving on their 4-12 record from last year) and added a number of high profile good players to complement Favre along the offensive line (notably Alan Faneca and tight end Bubba Franks.) They didn’t wallop the Tom Brady-less New England Patriots, but they did pull out an overtime win in week 11, and have managed to dominate their division at least with wins over Miami in week one and Buffalo in week 9. That positions them for a great run over the final stretch of the season.
But since you asked about Favre, a little of Favre goes a long way. His problem has always been control issues when he’s trying to press down the field. That much, even at 39 years old, hasn’t changed even when he shed his Green Bay legacy. But New York has managed to tone that down by degrees without limiting Favre’s effectiveness and while integrating him into a new system. Frankly, I doubt anyone would have expected the coaching staff to have this much success.
Maybe by the end of the season, the stats will tell a different tale, but this is the same Favre that we saw in Green Bay. Even in 2005 when the Packers went 4-12, Favre’s overall stats have been fairly consistent from year to year. He thrives with a strong ensemble cast around him and plays hard and strong with little subtly. The control all comes from a good game plan and a willful coach. Now, who could have guessed that would come from Eric Mangini, who plays spoiled brat an awful lot, but maybe what Mangini needed was someone like Favre to gameplan for.
The Jets face off against the undefeated Tennessee Titans. A win puts them in rarefied company of spoiling an undefeated season, but a respectable loss wouldn’t be the worst outcome. The Titans are a physically tough team and they have the mystique of an undefeated team.
Sep 10
AndrewSports Football, NFL, Pats
The New England Patriots have signed Matt Gutierrez to the practice squad after cutting the 2nd year quarterback just before the beginning of the regular season. Gutierrez could possibly to join the team on the depth chart before the Jets game on Sunday. He would join starting quarterback Matt Cassel (try saying that five times fast) and rookie QB Kevin O’Connell.
All of this made possible by the season-ending knee injury to Tom Brady that was suffered 8 minutes into the first game of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gutierrez has 5 game appearances for the Patriots in 2007, but only 1 passing attempt (it was a completion for 15 yards if you care) giving him, get this, a career quarterback rating of 118.8. Tom Brady’s career QB rating? 92.9. (Okay, that was cheap. In fact, Brady’s QB rating last season was 117.2.) His strength, though, may be in knowing the Patriot’s playbook and being familiar with the terminology used by the team. The Pats declined to work out veteran quarterbacks on Monday to add to the roster in Brady’s absence. But adding Gutierrez to the practice squad gives them at least the possibility of having a third-string quarterback on the field Sunday.
Sep 07
AndrewSports Football, NFL, Patriots, Tom Brady
Did Tom Brady just take a season ending injury in the second possession of the season? Rumors are swirling that Brady tore a anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee which would conceivably sideline him for the entire season. Brady left the season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs under his power and his return at the time was questionable. But depending how much truth there is to the diagnosis, that may be the last the Patriots see of him this season.
The Patriots organization typically keeps injuries close to the vest, as Bill Belichick is one of the cagiest head coaches when it comes to disclosure. It may take a day to sort out the truth from the rumor. But if so, that leaves Matt Cassel to take a starting role for the first time since high school. Cassel, a perennial back-up, led the Pats to a win today and completed the game with a respectable 13/18 for 152 yards. Even with an admittedly kind schedule, did the Pats ever plan to play the entire season behind Cassel?
Elsewhere in the AFC East, Brett Favre led the New York Jets to a victory over division-rivals Miami Dolphins, led by former Jets starting quarterback Chad Pennington who was released when the Jets picked up Favre from the Packers. And supposedly, the Buffalo Bills had improved enough to make a legitimate run at a Wild Card spot (they beat NFC favorites the Seattle Seahawks 34-10 today). Unless Cassel has less of a learning curve than we thought, or Brady is faking as usual, the division is suddenly wide open for the taking.
The Patriots next opponent is the New York Jets next Sunday.
Aug 25
AndrewSociety and Culture, Television ANTM, Football, Television
The unofficial marker of autumn is upon us with the start of the next season of Monday Night Football (the Monday after Labor Day), the start of a new semester of classes, and another birthday. Of course, fall is also the start of a new television season, after enduring so much new summer filler they threw at us on television.
I don’t watch much television, most of it seriously sucks, but there is room for America’s Next Top Model and a couple hours worth of Project Runway reruns every week. Kathy Griffin is a riot, so is Family Guy and both never fail to lighten my mood when I need a TV break. Most of my TV time is reserved for the Red Sox and anything related to pro football. That’s my ritual Sunday for the fall (and Monday night, and Thursdays when I can find someone who actually gets the NFL network).
But for the most part, I am no longer sucked in by medical dramas, supernatural mysteries (unless you count the popularity of Monk) politically correct sitcoms and How I Met Your Mother. Some of it is better written than the rest, but none of it drags me in front the TV the way Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends and early episodes of CSI used to.
Maybe it’s because a television habit is not a compatible activity without just about any other productive use of my time. Nothing drains away my mental capacity like Next. It’s not even the visual menagerie that distracts me so much as the constant audio stream. It’s amazing that I long ago learned to tune out commercials (even as I watch them, I have no idea what they are advertising) but the shows themselves still wrest away my attention.
I realize our addiction to TV is piled on years of conditioning. It’s my babysitter, my best friend and occasionally, my lover. It has been with me through all the ups and downs of my life and somehow, never passes judgment on…okay, I can’t keep that up anymore. But you know where I was going with it.
Fall itself is a product of the same rigorous conditioning. Even people who no longer live on the academic cycle from September to May have the imprint of twelves years or more of moving to the tune of the school year. It’s ingrained in many of us from an early age. The best television starts in the fall. Summer is for vacations, for camping and long weekends and day trips. Autumn is for buckling down and relearning all the good habits that were so easily forgotten for the three months when the sun shined. Winter is the darkness, and spring the revival. Even when all those patterns of behavior are striped away, we still think of the start of fall as a substantial indicator of promise, the least of which is there might be something worth watching on TV.
While I’m damn excited about the next season of Top Model, it’s the promise of another season of football that has me restless and buzzing with eagerness. Sure the Pats might have to rely on a back-up quarterback (pick one, the result will be the same) the Jets are riding Brett Favre until he drops, and Pennington is with Dolphins? Apparently, they are comfortable bottom dwelling for another year. But, fuck Lost, that’s all the drama I need to make my fall a special one.
Aug 07
AndrewSports Football, Trades
Well, the New York Jets finally put the coffin on the Chad Pennington era. About time. Favre is one of my favorite players ever and Green Bay was the first team I followed in professional football because of Favre, just as New England was the second because of Drew Bledsoe. The first Super Bowl that really imprinted on my brain: Pats v. Packers in the 1996 season.
Last season’s almost Packers/Pats Super Bowl was stopped just short when the Packers went down to the New York Giants in the NFC Conference Championship game largely on Favre’s gunslinging arm. For years, Green Bay lived (December 21, 2003) and died by that arm (all of 2005).
Now a Favre/Brady showdown in the AFC East would be…well it is not not a test of loyalties. My loyalty is towards New England and Tom Brady all the way. But somehow the trade today made this whole saga so much more personal for me.
Suddenly, I woke up this morning and instead of the story being just about Favre, a player I worship and have followed his entire career, it’s a story about the Patriots/Jets rivalry. It kind of blows me away.
So I had to dive into the archives back a couple of seasons to see what I’ve written about the Pats/Jets, if nothing else to remind myself just how much I obsess about these two teams.
- 11/12/2006
“The New England Patriots lost to the New York Jets today, marking the first time the team lost back-to-back games since they lost to the Jets on Dec 12, 2002.”
- 01/07/2007
“The Jets were stomped by Patriots in Gillette Stadium in the early game today…The final blow was an Asante Samuel interception of Jets quarterback Chad Pennington, which Samuel returned 36 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.”
- 06/21/07
“there was talk that former protégé Eric Mangini was planning a takedown of his mentor Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots in the wild-card game. Dream on.”
- 12/12/07
“So let’s rephrase the worst case scenario a) Brady plays 60 minutes or b) the Jets are so abysmal that Belichick actually puts Cassel in for the fourth quarter?
“…(never before has Mangini been so thankful for being in the AFC East. It’s two guaranteed under .500 opponents every year.)
“Just because the Patriots have clinched a first round bye, don’t think they aren’t playing for nothing. The perfect regular season record is tantalizing (with only the New York Giants realistically in the way,) and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs goes a long way to an undefeated season, especially deep in January when Gillette Stadium is almost as unfriendly as Lambeau Field. But the real motivation here is revenge, nothing more, nothing less. Mangini ratted out Belichick during their first-week match-up because Belichick was recording signals from the sidelines. The NFL handed down tough sanctions for the violation and now Belichick needs to take a first round draft pick and some salary out of Mangini’s ass. It’s that petty. This game is that personal for the coaches.
“Mangini should consider himself lucky if the Jets only lose by 40.”
and (sigh)
- 12/16/2007: Pats Revenge Scenario Spoiled by Weather
The Jets sent a conditional draft pick to the Green Bay Packers based on their performance in the 2008 season. The trade also includes a clause that prevents New York from trading him to the Minnesota Vikings without an extreme penalty (3 first round picks to the Packers.)
Jul 14
AndrewSports Football
Green Bay Packers fans, a few of them anyway, united around the possible return of Brett Favre to the organization. The AP reported 200 fans turned out for what is expected to be a weekly summer event, the “Bring Brett Back” rally. The rally, held at Lambeau Field yesterday, doubled as a can food drive to help flood victims. It is planned for every Sunday until Favre is reinstated to the team. Fans hope to encourage Green Bay Packers management to embrace Favre as the team’s starting quarterback for the upcoming football season.
If you missed the rally, you may have a second chance tonight in Milwaukee, WI. All the details are available at BringBackBrettFavrecom and while you’re there, you can purchase Favre 08 tees and yard signs.
Favre retired formally from the professional football at the end of last season, but recently expressed the desire to return. Packers management hasn’t exactly been in love with the idea, but Favre is on the payroll anyway so he might as well play right? Favre last week asked for an unconditional release from the team so he could sign with another team.
While it’s up to the league to reinstate Favre formally, the Packers have to decide what to do with the 9-time pro bowler who helmed the team for 16 seasons and has the most consecutive starts for a NFL quarterback at an astounding 253 regular season starts. Fans loyalty to Favre is well-deserved but Favre has also strung the team along by vacillating between playing and retirement for several seasons now. Now, they are faced with three possibilities:
- The team can install him as a backup quarterback to his replacement, Aaron Rodgers.
- The team can make him the starting quarterback.
- Or they can trade him to another team.
What they will probably not do is give him his unconditional release, which will almost certainly end with Favre on a team within the same division, either the Chicago Bears or the Minnesota Vikings.
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