When week four of the NFL season started, I was not looking for too much astonishment. Some of the best teams in the league were on byes and the match ups (minus the excitement in the NFC East and Scobee having to be a kicking hero, again) were relatively boring to the say the least. However, I and most other National Football League fans were blown away by the power-house playing of the New York Jets.
To be perfectly honest, many die-hard sports fans were not looking forward to the admittance of Brett Favre back into professional football. Admittedly Favre is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. His NFL records include most career touchdown passes, most career passing yards, most career pass completions, most career pass attempts, and most consecutive starts as an NFL quarterback. But Favre has played in the league since 1991 on three different teams and has played more games than any football player currently on the field. It was time to retire, and it had been for many years, but he chose to come back and play another season for a team that greatly needed a starting quarterback with some sort of play dynamic.
Week four was the moment in this season where I think everyone finally understood why Brett Favre plays football. The match up on Sunday, Sept. 28 was not supposed to be a blow out, but the New York Jets swept the Arizona Cardinals in a 56 to 35 victory that surprised all followers of the game. Brett Favre threw for six touchdown completions, a personal best and a feat barely seen during a regular season. Thirty-four of the points were scored in a single quarter, beating any known franchise record currently held. Favre rallied the offense and inspired the defense to pummel the Cardinals keep their third place spot behind the battered and bruised New England Patriots.
But what does this all mean? For the non-football fans out there, it means yet another season to see Brett Favre play, and yet another season where his abilities are probably going to be endless. Expect the Jets to play heavily throughout the season and be big contenders for the AFC playoffs.
As for those of us who love the game, well, it’s another year of Favre. Another year of his antics, another year of him showing up our most beloved quarterbacks, and another year that proves years of practice (no matter how many) still makes you one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. With a week to rest before a game against Cincinnati, we can be sure to see Favre play spectacular yet again.
