The New York Jets evened their record at 2–2, beating the Arizona Cardinals 56–35 on Sunday in a record-setting performance that still leaves question marks about how good this team really is.
The New York Jets were hammered last Monday night in San Diego by the Chargers. They then took the red-eye back to New York having one less day than usual to prepare for the Arizona Cardinals. All the talk surrounding Jets QB Brett Favre centered on his ankle injury and if he’d be able to play on Sunday.
The Jets wore their blue and gold New York Titans throw-back uniforms—just another curve ball for the fans who are still not used to seeing Favre in the traditional green and white uniform of the Jets.
The Jets really needed to bounce back into the win column before their bye week and the Cardinals did their best to make that possible in the first half.
In a battle of two illustrious veteran QBs—Arizona’s Kurt Warner, 37 and Favre, 38—one might have had more questions about Warner’s ability to lead the offense after the first half he had.
Down 7–0, and under no pressure, Warner simply telegraphed a pass to the Jets’ Darrelle Revis who took the interception 32 yards for the score.
After Favre made it two TD passes to Laveranues Coles for a 21–0 lead, Warner threw another interception in his own half of the field. After two defensive penalties on the Cardinals, Jay Feeley added a field goal making it 24–0.
On the next Arizona possession, Warner would fumble after being sacked, leading to a third TD pass from Favre to Coles. One would think things could not get much worse for the Cardinals, but Warner would fumble again on the next possession and the Jets would tack on another field goal.
In a second quarter to forget for Warner and the Cardinals, the Jets scored 34 points, setting a team record for most points in a quarter. The game was essentially signed, sealed, and delivered but the Jets had not proven that they are a good football team. Arizona had shot themselves in the foot with too many turnovers (five in the first half), defensive penalties, and sloppy tackling.
Big Numbers
One had to have sympathy for Warner who had achieved such heights, winning the Super Bowl with the St. Louis Rams (does that seem like a long time ago?), and then being dropped by the Giants before coming to Arizona. Warner was chosen as the Cardinals starting QB over former USC star Matt Leinart.
But Warner is a winner and he jumped all over the lackadaisical Jets in the third quarter, putting up 21 straight points.
“We did a really good job in the first half. Moving into the second half, we had some issues there. They moved the ball extremely effectively,” said Jets coach Eric Mangini.
Favre and the Jets snapped out of their daze and got back to work in a wild fourth quarter. Five touchdowns would be scored as the Jets and Cardinals would alternate flexing their offensive muscles.
Favre would spread around the TD passes, throwing two to Jerricho Cotchery and one to Dustin Keller.
After the smoke cleared and the dust settled, 91 points had been scored, the most thus far in the NFL this season. Favre had thrown for six touchdown passes, tying Joe Namath’s Jets record and setting his own career-high, and the Jets had scored 56 points, their highest tally since 1985.
“I’m proud of this team, the way we battled today. We knew our offense could score a lot of points. I think it shows the potential this team has,” said Favre.
But Favre cautioned fans not to go buying playoff tickets quite yet.
“It’s just one game,” he said.
On a somber note, Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin was carted off the field with under 30 seconds left to play after a scary helmet-to-helmet collision in the end zone. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital. He was talking and able to move his extremities.
Favre’s Team
Dispelling questions about the Jets offense being out of sync, Coles handed Favre the ball after his third touchdown catch.
“The main thing is about him [Favre],” Laveranues Coles told Fox as he was walking off the field. “We’ve just been off here and there. Things started clicking today.”
“It’s great for him [Favre], great for his confidence—not that he needs any.”
Coles wanted to dismiss the rumors that he and Favre were not on the same page. “I’m excited about having the chance to play football with a legend,” he said in the post-game press conference.
“There’s nothing I can do to enhance his career but there’s a lot he can do to enhance mine.”
Favre seemed to hurt his ankle on a couple of plays during the game but he fought through pain and put his team in a good position to make some noise in the AFC East division. After the bye week next week, the Jets face the Bengals, Raiders, and Chiefs, who are all not expected to make the playoffs, before taking on the Buffalo Bills.
