"Opening Night for Broadway Brett"

In my debauchery-filled weekend of sun, fun, and beer, I sadly missed the preseason debut of Broadway Brett Favre and the Jets on Saturday night against the Washington Redskins. Although the Jets lost, Brett put on a great first performance considering he joined the team less than 2 weeks ago. The future Hall of Famer went an impressive 5 for 6 passing, for a total of 48 yards, including a four yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Dustin Keller. Any doubts Favre had were removed when he stated after the game that, "I knew I had made the right decision when I was on the field tonight." Ah, Brett Favre, he had me at hello.

Speaking of cheesy lines from a Tom Cruise film, Mr. Scientology himself was on hand at the game, making a rare New Jersey appearance, though he's originally from Glen Ridge. Cruise happens to be very close friends with Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who I'm guessing was his host for the game. This picture from ESPN.com showed Tom at the game actually being friendly with the fans, not like that time he almost engaged in fisticuffs with Matt Lauer on the Today show (2nd picture) a couple years back.

I think Favre's first real test will be when the Jets host the Giants this Saturday night. It will be the first time Favre is playing against the defending Super Bowl champions since throwing what would end up being the game winning interception in the NFC Championship Game last season. Perhaps this was Favre's plan all through the offseason: fake retirement, then get traded to the Jets and steal away any memory the New York media has of the Giants Super Bowl victory by robbing the headlines until the season starts. This should make for a good match up, and will most likely be Favre's last action until the season opener in Miami since most teams keep their starters on the bench for the fourth week of preseason games.

Another football event worth noting that took place this weekend was another quarterback making a debut with a new team: Chad Pennington and the Miami Dolphins who faced off against the Jacksonville Jaguars, also on Saturday night.
I wish Chad and the 'Phins all the best this year (so long as they don't get in the Jets way for the 2 games they'll play) as I'll always be a fan of his, and the image of him in a Dolphins uniform was just as jarring as Favre wearing the Jets shade of green. The Dolphins won their game 19-14 while Pennington also put up rather impressive numbers for a guy who's been with the team for about 10 days. Chad went 5 for 6 passing with 55 yards, no touchdowns. Ironic that these numbers were nearly identical to Favre's, save for the touchdown. We'll just have to see if they stay as even keeled for their season opener in Miami on September 7th.

The Jet Brett Favre era took the field for the first time this weekend, and Jets fans will be on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what he has in store for the rest of the season.