Footballology: Don't print Jets playoff tickets yet

By Rick Morris

With our new Friends of FDH Club, we promised to bring you additional content from other corners of the web in this space in addition to our own efforts. Conversely, some of what we produce here will show up in those same corners as well -- it's just a good way for the Friends to be able to expose some of our most timely work to more eyeballs.

We've linked time and time again from this site to Sportsology, the excellent sports media entity administered by our good friend Russ Cohen. Viewers of our FDH Lounge Internet TV program (new episodes airing live every other Sunday night from 8-11 PM EDT on SportsTalkNetwork.com) have heard him come on there with us repeatedly.

As an East Coast guy and Jets fan, we are pleased to replicate his thoughts here in full on the matter of Brett Favre's move to the Big Apple this week. Russ is dubious that the move will result in any guaranteed big gains by the Jets and I concur with this. In a league that is increasingly geared toward a 12-month schedule, missing the chance to work with his new team in the offseason and learn the playbook in a measured manner will hamper him greatly. Plus, the team is pretty stinky at the skill positions (don't even get me started on Thomas Jones!). The team will probably be at the periphery of the playoff hunt this year, a big step up from 2007, but those with expectations more grandiose than that are going to be crushed.

Here's Russ's column, courtesy of the Footballology part of the Sportsology media family.


Favre in New York might be a bad idea
Byline: Russ Cohen

So now that it’s official and Brett Favre will soon be the #1 quarterback of the New York Jets, I have some issues to talk about. The first one is that he apparently needed convincing because of his perception of the metropolitan area, and SI's Peter King was said to have given him some geographical schooling to let him know that he can still enjoy the country life out on Long Island, or in New Jersey. OK, that’s the first hurdle but there are more.

Last season Favre had a renaissance and still threw 15 interceptions. The year before, he threw 18, and his number was 29 the year before that. Yes, he throws a terrific deep ball, but that’s the only thing that sets him apart from Chad Pennington, the former #1 QB of the Jets.

Last year Favre’s completion percentage was 66% and that’s terrific. It was just 56% the year before. Last year Pennington wrecked his ankle in Week One and he still managed to get a 68% completion percentage, and 64% the year before. Two years ago, Pennington had a career high for picks with 16, and last season he threw just nine, and considering the shape that the Jets line was in, that’s pretty good.

For all the Jets fans who are willing to cast aside Pennington for an aging 38-year-old slinger, be careful what you wish for.

Favre can certainly succeed in New York and he can definitely throw some bullets into the wind that the Meadowlands gets in the middle of the season.

For all the experts that now say he will make the Jets a winner, I say let's wait and see. My gut was telling me that quarterback wasn’t going to be the problem this season.