Bretty And The Jets

So it's official - and just like a New York team to announce something big like this in the middle of the night - Brett Favre is a New York Jet.

Some things to keep in mind, roughly 24 hours after news of the trade broke:

1) For all the talk of the greatness, amazing ability, and all-around God-like qualities Mr. Favre apparently possesses, it strikes me as somewhat humbling (I hope) that the best deal the Packers could get for him was a conditional draft pick. For one of the all-time great quarterbacks in NFL history, Green Bay is guaranteed a 4th-round pick, and only gets a 1st-round pick if the Jets make the Super Bowl under Favre's command. A tall order, especially since their odds of making the playoffs are low to begin with.

2) New York decided, in its infinite wisdom, that an accurate quarterback in Chad Pennington is less appealing to them and their future than a "gunslinger" QB who has the ability to lose a game as much as he has the ability to win it. Don't get me wrong; Brett Favre, even at age 38, is a better pivot than Chad Pennington. But is he really the saviour for a franchise trying to compete with a Super Bowl champion who plays in the same stadium?

3) If Favre had ended up in Tampa as was reported on Wednesday, Jeff Garcia would officially have the title of "Most Underappreciated Quarterback." All the guy does in win wherever he goes, and still nothing. He should have never left the Stampeders...

4) If Aaron Rodgers does well in Green Bay and Favre stumbles with the Jets, public and media sympathy for Brett will go very far...out the window.

5) The Jets and Packers don't play this year, which means we won't have to deal with the inevitable media build-up to such a match-up, particularly had it been in Green Bay.

6) Summer brings out some really lazy headlines by sports writers and editors: "Leaving On A Jet Plane"? How about "Pack, Pack, Gone!" or the title of this entry. Everyone checks out in August, it seems.

In the end, the NFL season is so unpredictable that a trade like this will have little to no effect on the outcome of the season. Neither Green Bay nor New York is a playoff team, so, once the season gets going and the post-Favre hangover wears off, we can focus on what matters: watching the Patriots crash and burn.

ADDENDUM: As per the headlines, the NFL home page probably had the most clever one: "New Jersey for Favre". Well done.