TC Report 8/10: Getting To Know You

Bump for the Monday morning crowd who may have missed this thread over the weekend.

NYT
Published: August 10, 2008

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — To his voluminous records, Brett Favre can now add this: He has run the most famous penalty lap in N.F.L. history.

Any idea that Favre might be getting the royal treatment since joining the Jets went out the window Sunday, after he and center Nick Mangold botched a snap midway through the morning practice. The ball hit the ground, and Mangold and Favre — adhering to Coach Eric Mangini’s old-school methods — hit the road, to cheering from the crowd.

During the run, Mangold asked Favre if the fumble was his fault, and Favre said no, although Mangold said he did not believe him. Favre was not scheduled to speak to reporters Sunday, but he talked about the lap — which was posted to YouTube minutes after it was completed — in a statement from the team.

“I don’t know if I have ever run a penalty lap,” said Favre, who laughed his way around the field. “Maybe little league, maybe. It is part of being on the team. I told Eric Day 1 that unless I pass out, I am going to try to do everything that everyone else does. I’m no different aside from being a little gray-headed and a little bit older.”

The snap was illustrative of the adjustment process that Favre and the Jets are going through. Favre has to learn all the minute procedures the Jets adhere to, from how to stretch to where the quarterback stands in the huddle. And the other members of the offense are adapting to almost everything else: the cadence Favre uses in the snap count, which words he emphasizes, where he places his hands for the snap, how quickly he pulls back from center once he takes the snap.

They are the kinds of things most offenses work on in the spring, away from the prying eyes of reporters and fans. But in the Jets’ case, the integration of two new members to the offensive line is exacerbated by the introduction of a superstar to the mix.

Alan Faneca, the veteran guard signed in the off-season, said the offensive line had improved over the past few days in making last-second decisions and communicating changes in protection. That is critical for the line, whose members must know where everyone else is going once the ball is snapped. It is supposed to be second nature, but even Steve Mariucci, Favre’s friend and former coach, who is now an analyst for NFL Network, said he expected the Jets’ offense to look ragged early in the season, and better later on.

This, Faneca said, is a greater transition than in Pittsburgh, where Ben Roethlisberger became the starter during his rookie season, and the Jets are doing everything they can to ease it for Favre.

The Jets typically pump in loud music during practice, but they have turned down the volume when Favre is taking the snaps so that he can concentrate and so that Mangini can hear his cadence and watch his mechanics.

One amusing hitch in the adjustment process is that some players, particularly younger ones, are a bit nervous around Favre. Nobody quite knows how to tell him to do something differently.

“You can’t,” Mangold said. “You suggest. You ask real nicely and with your head down and mumble a little bit.”

After Sunday’s practice, he may not need much more adjusting. The workout was noticeably crisper than Saturday’s. The Jets were working on third-down plays, so Favre was able to unleash the type of passes that have made him a highlight-reel legend.

He fired a 15-yard bullet to receiver Laveranues Coles, who is still apparently so upset by the release of his friend Chad Pennington that he declined interview requests for the third straight day. He has told the team’s public relations staff that he needs some time.

On another play, Favre pump-faked and hit Jerricho Cotchery for a 35-yard completion down the right sideline. Later, Favre uncorked a classic: off his back foot, 65 yards down the left sideline over the shoulder of cornerback David Barrett, who had tight coverage on Cotchery.

Cotchery caught the pass in stride without having to reach for it and ran another 10 yards into the end zone. The crowd whooped — Jets fans had not seen a pass fly that far in years. At that moment, Favre did not look like someone who had not put on shoulder pads in five months and missed two weeks of practice. In a tent nearby, two team employees manned a table selling nothing but Favre jerseys. At a rack a few feet away, at 50 percent, were the last of the Pennington jerseys.

At the cash register and in the players’ dorm, the transition is under way.

“The quarterback is there,” Mangold said. “And it so happens the quarterback is Brett Favre.”