It’s the final stretch of the the regular season before the playoffs, the last opportunity for teams to prove their worth or show their true abilities. This is where great teams are set apart from the pretenders, and where once in a lifetime opportunities can come true for the underdogs. Going into week fourteen, the Jets were apparently still reeling from their sound beating by the Broncos. Although the numbers would say that the Jets should have been able to roll right over the 49ers, keep in mind this is the NFL and anything is possible. While at the start of the game the Niners looked as inept as one would expect, the Jets didn’t look much better. Their offense struggle early in the game and was only able to muster up a field goal early in the game despite getting into the red zone. Another red zone trip ended in an interception, and that’s when the game began to change. As the Jets continued to let the Niners hang in there, San Fransisco started to seize their opportunities and made the most of turnovers, including a Thomas Jones fumble, to swing momentum in their favor and to take a lead of 14-10 early in the second half. The Jets finally realized that they were losing this game, and Favre took over, decimating the Niners secondary, but still had trouble finding the end zone. Fortunately, Jones did not. The Niners, however tasted sensed blood in the water, and they weren’t going to be denied. A flurry of activity and the game came down the Niners final drive in the last minute of the game as the steadily drove towards the end zone to win the game, and then the Jets secondary saved the day with an interception and the Jets limped away with a 31-27 win. Favre threw for 230 yards, completing 17 of 25 passes for 1 TD and 1 INT. Turnovers almost cost them the game, and turnovers saved them the game. For the Jets to thrive in the playoffs, they need to do better than this. Can they in real life?
[Update] I had a feeling that the Jets were going to struggle this week, our Madden 09 sim made that clear enough. I just didn’t realize how much they would struggle. Maybe that loss to the Broncos was more pivotal than I thought. Whatever the case, the Jets found themselves in a much tougher game against the 49ers than they probably expected. Favre threw 20 of 31 passes for 0 TDs and 1 INT. The Niners defense stymied Jones and kept him to well under sixty yards and kept Brett from finding targets. Meanwhile, the Niners quarterback Sean Hill relished his chance to go up against the Favre legend, and came away with a game he’ll be telling his grandkids about. The Jets have now dropped two straight games and are sitting at 8-5. With only three left in the season, can Favre rally the Jets to their impressive winning ways before the playoffs. Keep checking in to Favre watch to find out.
