Brett Favre's arm, game come up short BY RICH CIMINI DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Tuesday, October 21st 2008, 9:15 PM Avelar/AP Brett Favre's curiously conservative play has some speculating problem is his arm and not Jets' brain trust. The Brett Favre insider-trading story has created quite a buzz around the NFL, raising a semi-related question: If an opposing player shared secrets about Favre and the Jets' offense, what would he say? Actually, the Raiders provided some insight into that question, and there was nothing secret about it. They did it in broad daylight. Just check out the game tape and you will see that, in the overtime period of Sunday's game, the Raiders stacked the line of scrimmage, basically daring Favre to beat them with his arm - absolute heresy. Deploying safety Gibril Wilson as a linebacker, the Raiders put eight men in the box on seven of the 14 plays (mostly on first and second down), leaving the Jets' receivers in man-to-man coverage. Quarterbacks live for those situations, especially a gunslinger such as Favre, but he - and the coaches - played it safe. The situation screamed for a play-action pass. Instead of attacking downfield, they ran eight times into the teeth of the defense, resulting in three punts, an eventual loss and heavy criticism of conservative play calling. Maybe the Raiders were on to something. Only two of Favre's 34 pass attempts in regulation traveled more than 20 yards in the air, a shockingly low number for a big-armed passer. Maybe, just maybe, the big arm is hurting. There is circumstantial evidence. Many of his throws lacked the usual velocity, especially the 8-yard pass to Jerricho Cotchery that was intercepted in the end zone - a ball ... that ... took ... forever ... to ... get ... there. Perhaps Favre still was feeling the effects of a big hit from the previous week, when the Bengals' Jonathan Fanene crashed into the quarterback's fully extended arm, a play vaguely reminiscent of the one that wrecked Chad Pennington's rotator cuff. Favre got up slowly, rotating his arm as if to test the shoulder. CBS showed a clip of the Fanene hit during the Oakland game, with the announcers raising the issue of a possible injury. They said Favre told them it was just "wear and tear on a 39-year-old body." When Dick Enberg chimed in, he quoted Favre as saying his arm was "sore." At the start of the second quarter, Favre took another punishing shot. The camera caught him wincing as he made a shaking-out-the-sting motion. Maybe that explains why the Jets opted for a nickel-and-dime attack for the second straight week. If not, the coaching staff needs to take a hard look at the matter, because Favre's personality isn't suited to being a nickel-and-dime passer The Jets did take one shot in overtime - a wide-open Chris Baker fell down at the Oakland 32 - but it wasn't enough. Favre is averaging only 6.77 yards per attempt, 22nd in the league, far behind his predecessor. The weak-armed Pennington stands fourth at 8.12, an indictment of the Jets' passing game, which, except for the Cards, hasn't scared anyone. There's no need to panic if it's the game plan. If it's the shoulder, well, that's panic-worthy. Smith grabbing attention Welcome back, Brad Smith. After touching the ball only twice in the first five games, with no catches, the Jets' multi-purpose weapon finally was featured, producing 88 total yards against the Raiders (59 rushing, 29 receiving). That included one play in the Jets' version of the "Wildcat" formation, in which he took a snap from the shotgun and ran for five yards. "That's not really going away," Eric Mangini said. "The Brad Smith-specific plays will be in every week. What's nice about it now with Brad is that he's developing more and more as a receiver, so it's not like you have to put Brad in for his plays." With Jerricho Cotchery (undisclosed injury) banged up, Smith could see more time at receiver Sunday against the Chiefs. Ryan that got away The Chiefs, who come to town this weekend, could have changed the course of Jets history on their last visit. If the Jets had lost to the Chiefs in the 2007 finale - they won in OT, 13-10 - they would have drafted third instead of sixth. Let's play the what-if game. At No. 3, the Jets would have had a choice of RB Darren McFadden, QB Matt Ryan or LB Vernon Gholston. There would have been a public outcry to pick Ryan, who is off to a nice start with the Falcons, but it's believed the Jets' draft board lined up like this: OT Jake Long, DE Chris Long, McFadden and Gholston, their choice at No.6. It's unlikely, but they could have tweaked the board if they had known Ryan would be available. What if they had drafted him? Favre probably would be playing in Tampa or doing yard work in Hattiesburg, Miss. __________________
The Star- Ledger Hutch's Take on the New York Jets by Dave Hutchinson/The Star-Ledger LOOKING BACK What would Jets coach Eric Mangini do for an encore after he stubbornly ran Thomas Jones three straight times inside the 5-yard line against the Patriots in Week 2? How about running Jones on eight of 14 plays in Sunday's overtime loss to the Raiders. Jones, whose 159 yards were his best single-game showing as a Jet, ran the ball on first and second downs to start each of the Jets' three possessions in the extra session. Overall, it seems the Jets simply can't put a complete offensive game together. They can either run or pass in a game, but can't do both. They rushed for a season-high 242 yards versus the Raiders but threw for just 197 yards on 38 attempts. The Jets haven't had a 100-yard rusher and 200-yard passer in a game this season. LOOKING AHEAD Mangini is quickly getting the reputation as the only coach in NFL history to stop Favre, who has thrown for fewer than 200 yards in four of six games, the most games in a season with so few yards since 2005 (not including partial games). It was thought Favre would stretch the field with his bionic arm. Instead, Favre is averaging a career-low 9.9 yards per completion. Former Jets quarterback Chad Pennington, for goodness' sake, is averaging 11.8 yards per completion with the Dolphins. On the flip side, Favre has thrown seven interceptions in the past four games. His eight interceptions total are the second-most in the league behind the 49ers' J.T. O'Sullivan (10). Lost in the love affair with Favre is that before his magical season last year (28 TDs, 15 INTs), he had thrown 47 interceptions in the previous two seasons. LOOK AT THEM QB Tyler Thigpen vs. Jets defense With starter Brodie Croyle (knee) and backup Damon Huard (thumb) out, second-year man Tyler Thigpen will start. He has completed 38 of 90 passes for 392 yards, two TDs and four INTs. He has a league-worst 44.3 passer rating. The rebuilding Chiefs (1-5) rank 31st in total defense (402.2 yards per game) and 29th in total offense (257.3 yards).
Don't know what to say: Obviously the arm isn't 100%. It would most likely be best to let him rest it all week and show up on sunday's. Arms don't get "less soar" by throwing all week. I would keep his reps limited. It's not like Favre has anything to work on throwing hte ball anyways.
I agree packer! he is hall of famer so he should rest more because he cannot learn anything new but he has to still practice with Cotchery and coles also.
I don't know about the arm--certainly you would not want to disclose an arm injury but if you really don't have one, then you may want to allude to the possibility to influence defenses. I liked his interview. I hope it lays to rest the bullshit. I like his perspective on winning the KC game.
i still can't get the playcalling off my mind. they ran at the worst times and passed at the worst times. who cares that we ran for over 200 yards if we only got one TD out of it.
We're playing against KC. If we had a half way decent run game we could just pound it down their throats and win. Of course, that is what most teams do to Oakland too, and that did not work for us.
The saving grace, as everyone points out, is that we get KC at home, so we should have a winning record going into two games that will really determine where this team goes. If they want to get the playoffs, they first need to beat KC, but then show they can not just play with, but BEAT NE and BUFF. I think they can, but consistency has been a issue across the board for the Jets. If they ahve their A game, they can beat most anyone. There B game - they can beat some. C Game - only shitty teams at home. So, that is my concern right now. COnsistency. They ahve a lot to work on, and hope they just take it too KC. They need that boost of confidence.
In my opinion, the Raider defense had a vote on who won this game, too. Their two corners can play man to man and both of them are as fast if not faster than both our No. 1 and No. 2 wide outs. This was one time when a healthy Clowney would have made a big difference. The lack of protection also killed the passing game -- but I would nevertheless like to say that I have rarely seen anybody keep a play alive as cleverly for so long as Brett does. With subtle little moves here and there, he gets two or three more chances to complete the pass almost every passing down than most QBs would.
