Favre Most Untriumphant in Meadowlands Debut

It felt like it was meant to be, a symbolic changing of the guard in AFC if you will. The Meadowlands was unbelievably adorned with Brett Favre jerseys (green ones, blue one, green and yellow ones, and even makeshift spray painted ones), considering the fact that he had not played a single game in New Jersey as a Jet yet. The terrible cliches were out in force, including but not limited to excessive use of Braodway Brett and Jett Favre. And of course, Tom Brady wasn't playing.

When the first drive commenced, Brett Favre looked exactly like the Brett Favre who picked apart my Lions last Thanksgiving with 20 straight completions. That first drive reminded why this guy is so popular. When he is on, he's the best quarterback in the world. The Jets made quick work of the Pats defense, marching right down the field. Then, in classic Jets form, they sputtered in the red zone, settling for a field goal from the 11. Which they missed. And That was the end of the game.

From that moment on, the Jets looked bad. The line which was so dominant just a drive before, couldn't keep the pressure off. The running game, despite a much improved O-Line, couldn't get it going. Brett's best completion came on a tremendous grab by Jericho Cotchery on a towering one-on-one fly pattern only to be called back by a crappy offensive pass interference call. Favre's only TD pass came on a red zone crossing pattern, which was a blatant pick one the defender that they got away with, so I guess it's only fair.

Most reports will say that Cassel outplayed Favre, but that's a stretch. Cassel did little to nothing outside of his first nice drive as well. After that it was the a wholly uninspired game. Favre did throw a disastrous pick though, which was just a terrible throw.

Overall, this was a poorly played game by two teams, but the Pats made less dumb mistakes. Also, Ben Graham's punting was a major contributor as the Pats started most drives inside the 50. I think the big Aussie drank a lot of bloody mary's Sunday morning in hopes of curbing his hangover, because he practically missed the ball on every punt. One actually flew about 25 yards out of bounds.

As for notes about my first trip to the Meadowlands, the dude with the Fireman's hat who does the J-E-T-S chant was amusing, not because he does anything enjoyable, but more so because the kid I sat next to for most of the game was terrified of him. Everytime he came on the Jumbo he would excitedly tell us, "He's on again, look, look." So, finally I asked, "Do you actually like him?" and he matter-of-factly responded, "Not at all, I'm scared of him."

Also, Jenn Sterger seems to have found a new role as Sprint's random in-game, on-field personality, whereby she introduces the cheerleaders before they bust into a routine. It's pretty random and she actually has a pretty bad on-air presence. I think she is actually a decent writer, so not sure why she keeps going this route. She also asks trivia questions to fans and that type of thing. Remember that sweet interview we did with her? Man are we cool or what?


A lot of people give the Meadowlands a bad rap for transportation to and from the stadium. I was actually totally impressed with the NJ Transit system. The train from Penn Station took 10 minutes and then we promptly took the bus for a net travel time of about 45 minutes. After the game, the wait for that bus was slightly on the brutal side, but nothing like what I expected. I'm sure the complaints come more from people who attempt to drive to the game.

In terms of crazy fan stories, I don't have any good ones today, because I was doing the work thing, so we didn't get to tailgate, but it looked like a great parking lot scene out there. Jets fans definitely know how to do it up.

All in all, just a poorly played game, but a grand old time at the soon to be defunct Meadowlands. It always fun to check out a new venue for the first time, unfortunately, I really hoped for a different outcome. Next time, the Jets win this game.