Nice
article in the New York Times about all the Jets moves in the off-season:
The team followed a rambling, risk-taking off-season by trading for Favre, football’s ultimate gambler. Thousands of fans showed up for his first practice. His jersey sold out at sporting-goods stores.
With that, the Jets — a team that shares a city affiliation and a stadium with the defending Super Bowl champions, a team coming off a dismal season — began winning the battle of the buzz.
“They were pushed back in New York sports for so long,” said tight end Sean Ryan, a former Jet who signed with the Dolphins. “You have to come out with something new. Obviously, last year wasn’t the best year. Changes had to be made.
“They came out guns blazing.”
Favre’s acquisition on Aug. 6 after a protracted divorce from Green Bay made the biggest splash. But Tannenbaum had revamped the Jets’ porous offensive line and defensive front seven, two important units that will always rank below quarterback on the glamour scale.
He signed Alan Faneca, a left guard fast compiling a Hall of Fame résumé, and Damien Woody, a right tackle with a Super Bowl ring. With left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson and center Nick Mangold, they will form an offensive line with four first-round picks. They will be taking direction from another off-season addition, the assistant head coach Bill Callahan.
On defense, the Jets added the free-agent linebacker Calvin Pace to rush the passer. They traded for an anchor at defensive tackle, Kris Jenkins.
The dividends have been immediate. The Jets went on a sack frenzy, with 13 in their first three preseason games; eight of those came against the Giants.
The gamble is that the average age of Favre, Faneca, Woody, Jenkins and Pace is 31, old by N.F.L. standards. Mangini played down the significance of money spent on aging veterans, preferring, as usual, to talk about process.
“It’s never like, ‘Let’s make a serious playoff run,’ ” he said.
Linebacker David Bowens said: “Even before Brett got here, I felt that things we did were helping us to establish confidence. Our goal is to win our division, and we feel like the tools are in place.”
Every move B.B. — Before Brett — was rendered less significant after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York gave Favre a ring, to hold a key to the city after the Jets win a title. And players sent one another text messages announcing the arrival of their new quarterback.
The Jets continued to insist that they had not raised expectations, even if they had.
“Just from a business standpoint, never mind football, they’ve already won,” said Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, a former backup to Favre in Green Bay. “There’s more excitement about Jets football than I can remember in a long time. I mean, they stole the spotlight in New York from the Super Bowl champs. That’s pretty impressive.”
With the Giants, who dominated the Washington Redskins in their opener on Thursday, the Jets have put New York back in the center of the football universe.
