WELCOME, BRETT

So much for Brett Favre becoming the Mets' closer. But I guess this is better.

Let me just get this out of the way - I still think what Favre did to the Packers was unfair. Just because they wanted a decision back in March doesn't give him the right to hold them over a barrel when he decided he still wanted to play in June or July. The Packers did what was best for them - they couldn't play the waiting game and hold their whole franchise in limbo while one person was making up their mind. And they gave Favre his opportunities to stay with the team in the end...but by that time, for whatever reason, Favre decided he'd rather play for Minnesota. Which is ridiculous. This seems like the best-case scenario for everyone that was involved, except, I guess, for the Vikings and the Buccaneers.

But now that everything is settled, this is a great move for the Jets. I'm probably going to post multiple times today to cover different angles, but let's start with Favre, since it's been all about him for months now, and it's been a little more than a week since I last addressed the situation.

The only drawback I can see to this is that the expectations for the Jets are suddenly sky-high. I felt good about the Jets coming into this season - they made significant improvements, and the best thing was that they were flying under the radar - seasons where no one expects much are the seasons where the Jets tend to surprise and do well. Now, though, the Jets will be on national TV a lot, they'll be featured all the time - Favre is like an ESPN magnet - and they're suddenly playoff contenders. Rightly so - the only question mark they had was at quarterback - and that's now an exclamation point.

Brett Favre gives the Jets a legit downfield threat, which they just didn't seem to have with Chad Pennington. That makes Thomas Jones more of a threat, because now the Jets' passing game alone can beat a team, so defenses can't stack the box.

The other unexpected piece here is that this doesn't seem to be a one-year, one-shot deal with Favre. I think he'll play for a few more years, provided he doesn't get beat up this season. And that means, with a pretty good mix of youth and veterans at the key positions, the Jets might be contenders for a few years.

I'm slightly cautious here. Before last year, Favre was starting to look washed up. He was great last year, and he might be able to repeat that for the next couple of years, but that could be questionable. And to be good, he needs the Jets receivers to be good. Do the likes of Laveraneus Coles, Jerricho Cotchery, and Brad Smith, along with tight ends Chris Baker and (former Packer!) Bubba Franks equal the likes of Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, and Donald Lee? Or is it Favre that makes the receivers better? I guess we'll find out. And there's still the Patriots - Brett Favre can't guard Randy Moss.

Suddenly, I'm excited about football season. More to come....