Props

Throughout the NFL season, you're going to hear about who 'sucks', who's 'overrated', who should be released, who should be traded, who needs to retire, who needs to quit and on... and on... and on...

Here on Scribe, you'll get something a little different. Taking a page from long-time friend and fellow writer JP Prag, there will be a positive spin on a few NFL items from someone who gets to see one of its teams up close.

Wednesday may be just Day 2 of the league's week, but it's the middle of the normal calendar week. It's the perfect time to get the last word of the previous weekend's action while hopefully giving you something to look out for just a few days from now.

• Kickoff: To start off, big-ups to Mr. Prag. Not only did I co-write Hidden Highlights with him back in May (and it was much harder than it may appear), but he asked me to be a resource for his second column, The Hamilton Avenue Journal. What I did not expect was to be given props in a reader's comment. So props right back, boss.
  
  
• 1st Quarter - Ron Jaworski: When ESPN picked up the slack (and bill) for Monday Night Football from ABC, they revamped the broadcast team in hopes of mixing the voice (Mike Tirico) with the fan's mindset (Tony Kornheiser) and the insider's perspective (Jaworski). Jaws, quite simply, is the man. Jaws is known for being one of the most detailed and scrutinizing television anaylsts in all of sports and his breakdowns of plays and players keeps the hardcore fan into the game. Yet, how he continually called out Kornheiser for the predictable comparisons between Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers and New York Jets' signal caller Brett Favre was a welcome deterrent from the usual hype and recycled Favre-fest. Maybe he did so because he was personally tired of the run-into-the-ground angle or because he wanted to profile the relatively-unknown Rodgers to the American audience, but what he did was remind MNF fans that a new star can be born if they keep their eyes on this 'kid'.
  
  
• 2nd Quarter - Mark Clayton of the Baltimore Ravens: Can you remember the last time an end-around worked in the real NFL? Of course, since Jerry Rice tore his ACL on a reverse to start the 1997 season, seeing this play still freaks me out. Yet, the Madden favorite of many caught the Cincinnati defense completely off-guard and Clayton didn't break, tear, sprain or bruise anything in his body in the process. It's amazing though that because the Ravens have yet to have much of an offense since leaving Cleveland, the score was the ninth of his four-year career.
  
  
• Halftime - Chad Pennington of the Miami Dolphins: The Fins are not going to go 1-15 again this season, but they are a long way from being a playoff contender. Yet, admist the hype around Favre, Pennington was nearly his equal with the exception of the reckless-turned-OMG touchdown pass #4 threw in the second quarter. The former Jet may not have the 70-yard bomb in him, but what he does have is the know-how to put his teammates in the right position to make plays. When was the last time (Miami or New Orleans) that you've seen Ricky Williams split out wide as a receiver? How did an offensive line marred by penalties - two notable penalties by No. 1 overall pick Jake Long - keep itself in the game against a revamped Jets defensive front seven? Who knew that Ted Ginn, Jr. could be a little more than a kick/punt returner... okay, so the verdict may still be out in some circles? Miami's receivers need to get in rhythm with Pennington and the coaches need to utilize both Williams and Ronnie Brown in all facets of the offense to give their quarterback a chance to win a few games for them. Jets fans know he can, even if their new crush has created a memory lapse of the former Marshall product.
  
  
• 3rd Quarter - Seemingly immobile quarterbacks running for touchdowns: While a horrendous traffic jam cause myself and a couple of fellow writers to miss the first five minutes of the Redskins-Giants tilt, seeing the highlight of Eli Manning running for the season's first score was quite... hilarious. Manning quipped about a pre-game bet he made with Plaxico Burress about who would have more touchdowns this season. Though he has the early lead, expect Burress to surpass his QB pretty soon because Manning is far from the fleetest of feet.
  Returning to the Cresent City, rookie QB Joe Flacco made a score with his own feet as well. Though the best description of the run comes from a YouTube comment: "Great run by Flacco, although you could have timed him with a sundial!"
  
  
  
  
• 4th Quarter - Showtime for picking up Inside the NFL: There are a few people reading this who are quite happy about what I'm saying here, but they did not influence the decision to give props to the new premium cable king.
  As mentioned a while back, HBO dropped the program after 31 years. The reasoning given shortly after its cancellation was that after setting the template for so many sports highlight shows, Inside outlived its usefulness. Former host Bob Costas called the move 'idiotic' and it's been said that HBO did not keep the show because of production cost. Whether you want to believe the cable channel or not, it's a show that tends to keep the volume down compared to other highlight shows on the tube. Bringing the venerable James Brown onboard is a big plus. As good of a job as Curt Menefee has done for FOX's pregame, Brown felt like the more natural fit with the varying personalities on the program.

*Credit: Image courtesy of CollegeHumor.com. Not exactly part of the theme of Scribe, but the image works here.

Grounded

The question has been asked in every direction. As much as the Olympics – for better or worse – deserve more attention on this space, keeping up with familiar sports and learning some rarely viewed ones is a daunting task that many others have valiantly taken on (some rather well). And so despite what the caption below the new photo asks (and a general reluctance to discuss too much from the New York area), here’s the answer to the Question of the Year of the Moment.

Brett Favre’s arrival to the Meadowlands has given excitement to the New York Jets’ fan base, the metro area media (what a shock) and anyone who has a major financial investment in the franchise. The future Hall of Famer forced himself back into the game and away from the organization that he shared a once-glorious, now-acrimonious relationship. Where the future of the Green Bay Packers in Aaron Rodgers becomes the present, its past moves on to a team that for various reasons has never grabbed the attention of the country’s biggest market.

In the business of cynics and critics, many have asked if Favre knew what he was getting into. Favre actually admitted that much in his introductory press conference last week:

"I haven't faced anything like this. I don't know anyone in this locker room. To a certain degree, I really don't know what I'm getting into."

While he referred mostly to his new teammates, anyone with a sports pulse in this city may have been thinking about the hornet’s nest that this place can be when a player slips up. Considering that no one has ever batted 1.000, had the 158.3 passer rating, shot 100% from the field or scored a goal in every period of a hockey game in a season, Mr. Favre will be booed for an errant pass at some point this year. However, in the face of the doom-and-gloom predictions for Favre himself, he’ll be fine.

If you haven’t heard, he’s pretty deft with dealing with the media and as it has been known for years, he has a few die hard fans in the press box and broadcasting booth. He also knows what it means to be the signal-caller for a high-profile team. Despite playing in a town whose population is almost one-fourth of that of Staten Island (no joke), Green Bay is home to one of the few franchises in American sports that enjoys a national following. So in terms of playing in the NYC metro area, Favre has a unique perspective compared to other major stars that have come here. The bright lights are nothing new to him, even if those who shine them here are far quicker to highlight something wrong than elsewhere.

As for him knowing the playbook and getting to know his new teammates, this is also something that while it will take some time, he will be in sync with them sooner than later. He’s an unknown to some of these players already because they have gone through the trenches with Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens for a couple of years now. He’s a complete unknown to the team’s biggest free agent acquisitions, offensive linemen Damien Woody and Alan Faneca. Woody split his first seven seasons with New England and Detroit, having protected Tom Brady for four and a rotation of QBs in the Motor City. Faneca left Pittsburgh after ten seasons blocking for Kordell Stewart, Charlie Batch, Tommy Maddox and Ben Roethlisberger, but giving Jerome Bettis, Deuce Staley and Willie Parker major holes to run through. With the emergence of D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold, the improved line will give Favre and running back Thomas Jones the time they need to execute on offense. He’ll develop chemistry with Lavernues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery over the coming weeks. The vastly underrated fullback Tony Richardson has laid down major hits for various runners and gunslingers in his thirteen-year career. Whoever would have been the quarterback of this team before Favre’s arrival would have found success, albeit with shorter passes and trying to win the time of possession battle. With Favre, the team will be able to test secondaries with deep routes, though the counter on his 288 interceptions will keep clicking for sure. Favre will be fine under center for New York. The light may not come on until late September considering how much time he has missed since the unretirement saga began. Offense is not so much of a concern as defense should be.

Team management traded LB Jonathan Vilma to New Orleans and Dewayne Robinson to Denver in order to bring in players the felt would suit their 3-4 scheme (three down linemen, four linebackers) better. Nose tackle Kris Jenkins and linebacker Calvin Pace were signed in return, and with Shaun Ellis and Kerry Rhodes being the team’s best defenders, the Jets hope that they can emulate the New England Patriots with a defense that relies more on confusing the opponent than physically overwhelming them. That said, they may have been the ninth-best defense against the pass, but they were horrendous against the run (29th of all 32 teams). Much of this can be traced to being on the field too long because the Jets’ offense sputtered so much. However, this coming season finds them facing upper-echelon backs (San Diego’s LaDanian Tomlinson, Cincinnati’s Rudi Johnson, St. Louis’ Steven Jackson and San Francisco’s Frank Gore), teams with two very good backs (Miami, Oakland), a New England team that runs when they need to with Laurence Maroney and a Denver team with an offensive line that always leads the way for out-of-nowhere 1,000-yard runners. Teams know that to beat the Jets, they have to put pressure on their offense and constantly run on their defense.

What should also prevent fans from printing Super Bowl t-shirts for these Jets is that in they will have to fight at least four other teams for what could be just one playoff spot. Besides the Jets, there are eleven legitimate playoff contenders (only Oakland, Kansas City, Baltimore and Miami seem to be in complete rebuilding mode). Contrary to popular belief, Favre cannot be the sole reason why the Jets can eclipse last year’s Wild Card team’s (Tennessee and Jacksonville) or teams that just missed the postseason (Cleveland and Buffalo).

You can argue that the Packers were the most complete team in the NFL last season with a great offensive line, solid wide receivers, unexpected fortunes with Ryan Grant as the running back and a talented defense that had the desired mix of speed and power. Favre may have made a drastic turnaround from two seasons of sub-par football (29 picks in 2005 and 18 in 2006) and heard a few calls to hang up the cleats, yet he got within a game of the Super Bowl because of an elite defense and a very timely discovery of a running game.

Those will be the same factors that determine if he’ll get closer to another one or if he’ll break out the hunting rifle back home after the December 28th finale against Miami.