YOU won’t see him in any fur coat or white shoes, and he won’t be wearing a Fu Manchu mustache, or pantyhose, or No. 12.
VACCARO: THIS IS SUPER – AND MAYBE SUPER
GREENBERG: FAVRE TOO LITTLE, FAVRE TOO LATE FOR JETS
FAVRE JOINING UP WITH GANG GREEN
COMPLETE TANNENBAUM TRANSCRIPT
REPORT: SPECIFICS OF THE TRADE
But Broadway Brett Favre gives the Jets the kind of arm, the kind of presence, the kind of credibility and the kind of hope that Joe Namath gave them 40 long years ago.
He gives the Jets their biggest star since Namath, gives the Jets their best chance to overcome Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, makes them a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
It is way too early for Woody Johnson and GM Mike Tannenbaum to even think about taking a practice ride down the Canyon of Heroes, because these are the Jets, and there never are any guarantees, unless Namath is the one making them.
But by making this blockbuster play for Favre, what the Jets did last night, in no uncertain terms, was shout from here to Foxborough: Game on!
Even after Tannenbaum’s $140 million offseason spending spree, no one could dare mention the Jets in the same sentence with the Patriots, Colts or Chargers. Or Super Bowl Giants. Now everyone can.
The valiant Chad Pennington, who goes now, simply didn’t have enough arm to get the Jets to a Super Bowl. Kellen Clemens, who stays, didn’t have enough experience. The minute Favre shows up he transforms the Jets from a good team to a team that will not be afraid to knock on the door of greatness.
You only get so many shots at a Super Bowl. Bill Parcells sat in the bowels of Mile High Stadium after John Elway shattered his Super Bowl dream in the 1998 AFC Championship Game because he knew he would have to start over in 1999. With a 37-year-old Vinny Testaverde. Who promptly shattered his Achilles – and Parcells’ Jets coaching career – on the opening day of that ’99 season.
So Woody Johnson and Mike Tannenbaum take their shot, at a time when they would have been buried beneath the shadow of the Giants. At a time when they sure could use the fuzzy, grizzled face of an old gunslinger to take the sting away from PSL High Noon at their next OK Corral.
Favre does not come without questions. He is 38 years old, which means he is a year older than his new coach, Eric Mangini. He has a history of reckless interceptions in the playoffs, including the overtime gift to Corey Webster that sent the Giants to the Super Bowl. He has forever been the biggest fish in the small Green Bay pond. Now he is the biggest fish in the biggest pond. He is a diva who cannot make up his mind and may not play beyond this season.
To hell with all that.
The franchise now has its franchise quarterback.
By beating the Bucs to Favre with the offer of a conditional fourth-round pick that can escalate to a No. 2, Jets management, which did everything but put Donald Trump, Mayor Bloomberg, Bo Dietl and Namath on the phone with Favre Tuesday night, sent a loud and clear message to everyone in and around Weeb Ewbank Hall, and soon Florham Park, N.J., all the way down to the secretaries and water boys. And that message is this: We are Going 4 It, and Going 4 It NOW.
Please indulge all Jets fans who woke up today singing: 4 he’s a jolly good fellow.