Jets' fans should curb expectations

Favre will be rethinking his decision to continue playing.

It would be really easy for me to make my triumphant return to the "Wide, Wide World" with a rant about Brett Favre’s long odds of succeeding with the New York Jets being a result of the Jets’ lack of offensive playmakers and 4-12 record last season. However, this piece will be limited to Brett Favre’s shortcomings and why he was likely destined to fail no matter where he ended up.

So many NFL fans, especially those residing within 500 miles of Lambeau Field, thought since Favre had another great season in 2007 that he would automatically play that way for the short remainder of his career.

People better think twice about that. As stellar as Favre was for during the first 9 years of his career, the second half of Favre’s career has been a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly.

In the two seasons prior to 2007, Favre threw 47 interceptions and just 38 touchdowns. While his quarterback rating of 95.7 in 2007 was impressive, his rating has been in the seventies more times since 2000 (4) than in the nineties (3). Favre has turned into a great quarterback that is now only great sometimes.

In 2005, then Packers’ head coach Mike Sherman allowed Favre to stay away from all of the team’s mini-camps, OTA’s and off-season workouts. He was hoping that the time away from the team would have Favre chomping at the bit to return. When he did, the result was a 4-12, 29 interception season.

Now Favre must learn a new system, get familiar with new personnel and new coaches in a new city, all in less than a month. Having already missed the first two weeks of training camp layered on top of skipping an entire off-season of the aforementioned mini-camps, OTAs and off-season workouts, Favre’s first season as a New York Jet is already set up for failure.