Posts tagged Brett Favre at FanHouse

Dolphins 2008 Season Begins Like 2007 Did ... Oh, and Brett Favre! Brett Favre!

The Jets-Dolphins game was everything you could have wanted. The game went down to wire with the Jets pulling out the 20-14 victory.

Brett Favre was, at times, amazing. His two TD passes came on great plays by him: a beautiful play-action pass deep to Jerricho Cotchery and a gritty (and lucky) pass to Chansi Stuckey on a 4th-and-13. He managed the game very well and didn't do anything stupid.

Add to the fact that the Dolphins were very competitive -- which isn't a huge surprise to those who watched them last season.

Sure, Miami was a horrid 1-15 last year .. but it wasn't as if they were totally inept. They took the Washington Redskins into overtime before falling 16-13 at FedEx Field ... just the first of five games the Dolphins lost by exactly three points.

Today, the Dolphins kept that fight alive. Trailing 20-7, Miami rallied late with an amazing drive that ended with Chad Pennington's 11-yard TD pass to Derek Martin. After stuffing the Jets, Miami again waltzed down the field to the New York 18-yd line. After a couple tough incompletions, Pennington was picked off in the end zone and the game was over.

Thanks to Miami's 'Defense' Brett Favre Might Trump Everything Else This Week


There's only one story in the entire NFL topping a potential season derailing injury to Tom Brady, and I think we all know that's ... Matt Ryan kicking off his career the right way!

Actually, while that's a cool story and I feel good for Ryan, the thing we have to worry about hearing all week is what a difference Brett Favre is going to make for the Jets. So let me be the first to start it here: he will make a difference, but people are going to be in midst of a bit too much of a freakout.

Especially considering this first half line: 8/15 for 118 yards and two touchdowns. The first was a play-action cannon bomb to Jerricho Cotchery for 56 yards and the second was just your run of the mill 22 yarder to Chansi Stuckey (he's a Clemson alum, thanks for asking).

And while yes, this is the Dolphins, Tom Brady's first game this season isn't looking so hot, which means that the media is going to be eating up the purported AFC East power shift that took place on the first Sunday of the NFL Season, whether it's accurate or not.

Behind Enemy Lines: Talking Jets-Dolphins With a New York Blogger



As we get ready for week one matchup of the Dolphins and Jets, I chatted with longtime blogging friend John Butchko, aka "George Coztanza", from his own Coztanza's Commentary blog. John
was nice enough to offer some insights on the Jets for this week's Behind Enemy Lines feature.

Sportz Assassin: Hey: Brett Favre! Brett Favre! Brett Favre!!! Alright, real games are here. What's your expectations of the kind of season that Favre and the Jets will have?

John Butchko: I see three possibilities. The pessimist in me thinks Favre will revert to his 2005-2006 form and lead the team to 6 wins while throwing 5 interceptions in Foxborough. The realist in me thinks Favre is a tremendous upgrade at quarterback for a team that went 4-12 a year ago in no small part due to quarterback struggles. Combined with the other additions, he'll take the team to 10 or 11 wins, a wild card, and the second round of the Playoffs. The optimist in me thinks Favre plays just as well as he did in 2007 and lifts this team on his back to the Super Bowl. With the Jets, the pessimistic prediction usually plays out, but there is at least a minute chance the optimistic prediction does. There was no chance of a similar happy ending with Chad Pennington or Kellen Clemens under center so fans are naturally excited. We at least have a prayer of seeing a special season, which is more than one could say a month ago.

Sportz: You'll be seeing Chad Pennington on Sunday. When you think back on the Chad Pennington Era in New York, what comes to mind?

Jets-Dolphins: Battle Of The Unretired Stars

Two names will be at the forefront of Sunday's Dolphins-Jets game.

Both retired ... only to quickly unretire. Both totally peeved off the teams they retired from. And that's about all that binds them.

The main name, of course, is Brett Favre. Why else would CBS send their top broadcast team to cover a game featuring teams that combined for a 5-27 record last year?

J-E-T-S! Brett! Brett! Brett! The game will have a ton of interest just to see what Favre will do in Gotham Green. No other NFL player has been so loved by television audiences ... and that was when he was playing in the NFL's smallest market. This is New York, baby!

However, don't sleep on the guy on the other side of the ball. Ricky Williams has been named the starter for the Miami Dolphins ... which was just an unreal thought just two years ago.

Arlen Specter Still Interested in Investigating NFL, All He Needs Is a Good Reason

Tell me if this sounds familiar: U.S. senator crusades to end corruption, except nobody cares because: a) instead of targeting lobbyists or corporate negligence, it's a professional sports team, and b) this in no way helps his constituents.

Well, Arlen Specter, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, has decided that Spygate is, in fact, not over. Again. (He's the Brett Favre of Capitol Hill, but with fewer career interceptions.) Which means that after proclaiming the investigation dead on June 17, and then, three days later, leaving open the possibility that he wasn't necessarily finished wasting taxpayer dollars, Specter has decided that the Republican National Convention was the perfect time to get his name back in the paper.
"I don't do anything except with vigor," Specter told the Track yesterday ... "I think there will be more on the issue of irregularities with the NFL. I published a report in June that gave my position, but there will be more aspects of this that need to be examined."
Enjoy your heaping dose of vigor, Pennsylvania residents, because unless you work for Comcast, the guy you elected to represent you won't be doing his job. Apparently, the NFL needs saving and Specter's just the man to do it, although he readily admits he can't do anything for the Redskins offense.

via PFT

Thursday Night NFL Live Blog: Redskins vs. Giants -- It's on Like Donkey Kong


Alrighty, people, it's go time.

The 2008 season kicks off tonight and the Washington Redskins are hoping to score more points before John McCain's speech than the previous two weeks combined. The New York Giants just signed Plaxico Burress to a shiny, new deal, and Jerome McDougle will be reprising the role of Osi Umenyiora. Oh, and in case you missed it: John Madden still can't quit Brett Favre.

Okay, we're gonna live-blog like it's 1999 -- Ocho Cinco for everybody!

John Madden, Al Michaels Talk About the Only NFL Story That Matters: Brett Favre


Peter King has competition for the title of Brett Favre's Biggest Fan. Tonight, NBC will carry the season opener between the Redskins and Giants, which means that Al Michaels and John Madden will have three hours to talk about all the things that make Favre great (pray for overtime because, frankly, three hours just isn't enough time to do that eulogy justice).

The announcers spoke recently about the off-season goings-on that eventually led to Favre landing in New York, and, predictably, they were shocked at how events unfolded.
"It still does look weird," Michaels said. "It's Joe Montana in a Kansas City uniform. It's Wayne Gretzky in a Los Angeles Kings uniform. It's Michael Jordan in a Washington Wizards uniform. It's that kind of a thing. It's going to take a while to get used to, especially here in New York, seeing posters and a lot of stuff in the newspapers." ...

"I was really surprised the way this whole thing came down," Madden said. "I was surprised first of all when he retired. He always told me that as long as he was healthy and he had a chance to win, he'd keep playing. Obviously he was healthy and they were in the championship game, so they had a good team."
And that brings the grand total of Americans who actually thought Favre had retired when he gave that tearful retirement press conference to one.

Joey Porter Is Just Telling the Truth About Brett Favre


I was wondering when Joey Porter was going to commence with the gum-flapping. He's been less vocal since taking his game to South Florida, and that probably has everything to do with playing poorly for a one-win team. Blinding ineptitude has a way of humbling people.

Well, the 2008 season officially starts tomorrow and Porter still hasn't said anything inflammatory, but I'm sure somebody like, say, Peter King would take umbrage at Mr. Peezy's comments about the Dolphins' Week 1 opponent, the New York Jets.
Brett Favre is just another quarterback, according to legendary trash talker Joey Porter. [Porter], discussing Sunday's season-opening showdown against the Jets, refused to engage in Favre worship.

"It's all green to me," Porter told reporters Monday in Miami. "He's got on a green jersey, so I mean, a quarterback is a quarterback. As long as he's got a number on him and he's legal to hit, we'll be after him."
That, sir, will guarantee you a written reprimand in next week's MMQB column. (King has already castigated Jets fans for not properly owing fealty to the future Hall of Famer.)

Honestly, Porter's exactly right and nothing he said is either untrue or incendiary. I don't think Rodney Harrison could find anything to get upset about with those comments, and compared to some of Porter's finer moments, it doesn't even make the list. Doesn't mean PK's not writing that "why you HAVE to respect Brett" column, though.

Via SbB

FanHouse in the Stands: NFL Game Attire: What Not To Wear

This season, FanHouse writers will be taking their cameras around the NFL snapping photos of what people are wearing to tailgates and games. We've cleverly titled it "FanHouse in the Stands." Today, as a public service, I will be discussing what the average fan wears to rep their NFL team and writing down some of the unwritten rules of sports attire fandom. My photo essay blacks out their faces as I am a closet fan of Glamour Magazine's "Fashion Do's and Don'ts."

Don't Wear Unrelated Team Jerseys to Sporting Events.

These fans clearly spent some jack to purchase jerseys of two very good NFL quarterbacks. Neither of those quarterbacks were playing in the Tampa Bay-Texans preseason game however. If you wear those jerseys to a game where those quarterbacks are not playing, you are telling the world, "I am a braying donkey, please abuse me."

The only exception to this is the entertaining guy I saw wearing an Eagles jersey to a Texans-Cowboys game in Houston as his way of rooting against Dallas.

Packers Like Flynn > Brohm; Some Think Offense Is in Shambles Without Favre


When the Packers used a second-round pick on Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, they were working from the assumption that Brett Favre was actually going to stay retired this time. Green Bay would take LSU QB Matt Flynn five rounds later just for good measure.

Turns out, Favre was just joshing about spending the rest of his days fishin' in Mississippi, he re-un-retired, the Packers balked, and the future Hall of Famer ended up with the New York Jets. And Green Bay enters the season with a first-year starter in Aaron Roders, and two rookies behind him on the depth chart.

And while Brohm seemed like the obvious choice for the No. 2 job -- he came from a prolific college program and was at one time considered a first-round talent -- head coach Mike McCarthy has named Flynn Rodgers' backup.
"Now's the time when your reps are limited," McCarthy said after Monday's practice. "The ability to keep splitting them, we didn't feel was in the best interests (of the team). It would have been in the best interests of the group, but I wanted to be sure we gave one of the individuals an opportunity to get ready. We just felt Matt was a little more productive than Brian in the preseason, but it's a competition that will continue."
These things happen and it really says nothing about Brohm's NFL future; he's just one of countless players whose careers got off to a bumpy start. It happens.
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