12/26 — It is hoped from here that Brian Schottenheimer holds his usual biweekly informal news conference with reporters two weeks from today, because that would mean the Jets are already past the AFC Wild Card Round and planning for their divisional opponent.

But if that's not the case, then today was probably the last time we'll hear from Coach Schott for a while. And he provided some interesting answers to questions. No deep, dark secrets revealed, no answers that will produce a sure victory over the Dolphins, but interesting takes from the OC on several topics of interest nevertheless.

For instance, he didn't necessarily buy into the Favre's aching shoulder theory that some have espoused, including the QB himself at his Wednesday news conference. At today's practice, for instance, Schottenheimer said "there was a long ball down the boundary he threw — it was perfect and it was right on the money.

"Anytime you’re dealing with quarterbacks and you’re dealing with a player as talented as Brett is, when he misses some throws, people starting thinking, ‘Oh, older guys, there’s something wrong.’ I really don’t get that sense. I haven’t had that feeling."

Then how to explain such stats from the last four games as Favre's one touchdown pass to six interceptions, or his odd-quarter (first and third quarters) passer rating of 92.4 to his even-quarter rating of 33.9?

"I think it’s not fair to put it all on Brett," Schotty said. "I have to take a big part of that. I accept that. I think we’re a team that really plays well when we’re able to gain some momentum and move the ball and sustain some drives. ... We all have to play better, I have to coach better, I have to call better plays."

On if Leon Washington's had enough offensive touches recently: "I think when you look at the stats, the answer to that is probably no, but I think that when you look at the number of touches we’ve had, we haven’t been real good on third down. That’s hurt our ability to sustain drives and to control the football, which I think we were doing a much better job of early in the season. Leon is always a big part of our planning process, but unfortunately we haven’t gotten it done the last couple of weeks."

On if he has shifted away from the run: "No, I don’t think so. I think when you look at the outcome of the games and the way we’ve played, Thomas [Jones] has had a great year. We have a lot of confidence in our offensive line. A lot of times when you build a run, there are things that we build into those runs — those bubble screens where we have a run called and if we see something, he likes the leverage of the defense — I think that’s something we want to take advantage of.

"Nobody was talking about that and nobody was complaining about that against Tennessee. ... I don't want to say that we have gotten away from the run. That would be an untrue statement, in my opinion."

On protecting Brett Favre against the pass-rushing forays of Joey Porter and company on Sunday against Miami: "Obviously, with Joey you have to have what we call — the guys laugh at me, but we call it an APB, All-Points Bulletin. He’s a great player. You have to know where he is. They’ll move him around some, they do a good job with that. Without giving away the plan, we’ll have some hats looking at him and being aware of him. The main thing is just knowing and trying to identify where he is."

Coach Schott acknowledges the offensive slump of recent weeks but not that anyone's throwing in the towel against the Dolphins.

"We realize we haven’t played up to our potential," he said. "We’re guaranteed one more shot, at least, and we plan on playing well Sunday."