Transcript of Jets QB Brett Favre's news conference before Wednesday's midday practice:
On the chemistry he has with the receivers…
The chemistry has gotten a lot better. I would hope it would continue to get better, a lot like the chemistry I had with our guys in Green Bay the last couple years. Of course, Donald [Driver] and I had thrown the ball [together for many years]. We had so much success together. This group is more of a veteran group, has been around and knows the game. So I would think the chemistry would come a little bit quicker. In my opinion, it has. The most important stat is wins. What leads to that? Plays, obviously.
In the game the other day, there were some plays that I could point to. The pass I threw to Jerricho [Cotchery] that was called back. He wasn't open, but I felt like from watching him on tape and the little bit of time I spent with him that our chances were better than theirs if I just threw it up to him and gave him a shot. I actually looked at LC [Laveranues Coles] on the same play. The corner was way off. Jerricho's side, it was going to be a jumpball. I felt confident doing that.
Things like that, not that you want to throw the balls up, but I feel confident that our guys can do it, especially in certain situations. The play on the goal line, the touchdown [to WR Chansi Stuckey], was a play we'd been talking about. It was a simple check, audible or whatever you want to call it, trusting that our guys would get a pick or rub, and it worked. You start coming back to plays like that or you build off of that. You're able to expand. Also, like the pass to Jerricho, at some point you just say, "Hey, guys are not going to be open all the time, I got to trust that these guys will make plays." I feel confident with those guys.
On if he is frustrated about not being able to throw a pass in Sunday's game when the Jets had first-and-goal at the 3 and rushed three times…
It was frustrating that we didn't get the ball in. Hopefully these questions will subside at some point. I have the utmost confidence in our offensive line. Would I liked to have thrown it? Sure, I would, but I would much rather get the ball in, whether it be running or throwing. Any quarterback who would sit up in front of you right now and tell you in that situation he didn't want to throw the ball would be lying.
I feel very confident in Brian [Schottenheimer]'s playcalling ability. We made some off-season acquisitions as far as the offensive line. I'm one of those, too. We had chances to get the ball in on those three running plays. For whatever reason, we didn't execute it. You give those guys credit across from us. That's what they're good at. Their front seven is as good as anybody's in football. It was a bad angle, lining up on the wrong side, whatever it may be, that cost us not getting in.
I'd like to tell you something different, but there are no guarantees throwing the ball would have worked. Do I like my chances? Absolutely, but I'm going to say that no matter what. People can call it conservative or whatever. Had we run the ball in on one of those three, they're great calls.
On if he was disappointed that a running play was called…
After the fact, yeah [smiles].
On if he was disappointed when he got the play…
No. It's fun throwing touchdown passes, don't get me wrong, but I knew we were very capable of running the ball in. If I didn't think we would do it, I wouldn't rant and rave on the field, I would talk to Schotty about it.
On if he has the power to veto plays…
No, not on the goal line, no. There's nothing to check to, but I felt very confident in his decision to run the ball. I didn't think it would take three times, to be totally honest with you. Historically on the goal line, I've made a lot of plays, so I have a lot of confidence in what I do. I have to be honest with you, I have a lot of confidence in our offensive line and our running backs. If we got in that situation again and we threw the ball, we would score, but if we ran it, we would score as well.
On if he feels restricted with the playcalling…
No. We've talked so much, aside from the typical meetings we've had, where we meet as a group. I sat down with Schotty, I sat down with [Brian] Daboll, even with Eric [Mangini] at times. They've all asked what I feel comfortable with, if there's something that we don't have in that I felt comfortable with in the past that we could put in that fits into what we're trying to do. We're trying to do that.
I don't feel the decisions they've made with me in the room have changed when we're on the field. I feel confident that I can go to them at any point and ask to install something that maybe we don't have in and that it will get done. Just because I'm here, we don't change our offense. I said this from day one: It's much easier for one to get on board with 10 than vice versa. It's been a great working relationship. Ultimately, we're judged by wins and losses. I know that. Schotty knows it, Eric knows it, on down the line. How we get to that point is what we're trying to achieve right now.
I didn't come here to lose. Neither did Alan Faneca, Kris Jenkins or the guys who have been here before. You could see guys like Shaun Ellis' frustration at the end of the game. That's 10 years of frustration that he's had to go through. We're trying to change that, old and new.
The path that we're on right now is the right path. At the end of the season, who knows? You guys may think differently. Right now we're 1-1. We lost to a very good football team. Three plays in that game didn't make the difference. There were a lot of plays that made the difference. I had numerous opportunities during the course of the game on throws that I could have made that could have been the difference that I missed. I underthrew Chris Baker on a corner route that was picked. It resulted in seven points. You can't do that.
You can point to a lot of plays. We all need to take ownership in not only the wins but the losses. That's the only way we're going to get better. The path we're on is the right path.
On if the upcoming game is a must-win for the Chargers based on how they lost their first two games…
I don't know what they're saying. Norv [Turner] may be saying this is a must-win. I'm sure in the back of his mind they're all must-wins. I feel like we're in a must-win situation as well. At the end of the season, when you look back, you can always say that one game or one play may have cost us a chance at the playoffs.
It was heartbreaking the way they've lost. Last week was a little bit different. It was something that, for the most part, they couldn't control, but it is football. The play the week before, you give Carolina credit, it was a hard-fought game. I know they thought they had it won. One play.
They have 21 of 22 starters back. Shawne Merriman is out, but they're still very explosive, and explosive on defense. They give up some plays on defense. Believe me, we'll see their best on Monday night, no doubt about it. We have to look at it as a must-win situation as well.
On if playing an explosive offense puts more pressure on the Jets to match the Chargers…
Your mindset should be not only this week but in every week. I can never look at a drive as "OK, guys, this is a drive we can afford to punt or go three-and-out." I don't look at it that way. That's the way I've always played my game. It happens. The way I've always looked at my game is regardless if it was a 2-yard pass or a 50-yard pass, whether the play is designed to go short or whether it's designed to go long, we should score or I should give us a chance to score on every single play.
No different on run plays. When I hand the ball off, I try to fake, I try to do whatever I can to deceive the defense so we can score, get a big play out of it. That's a mindset that we all on offense should take. That goes across the league. In a game like this, I think it's magnified even more. Every time you go three-and-out, you're giving this team another opportunity to go up on you more and more. They're going to score. They're good. It's just hard to stop all their weapons. We have to have that mentality, but we don't need to shoot ourselves in the foot as well. Manage the game — that's the key. When you have opportunities, however they may come, you have to make the most of them.
On the performance of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers…
I said from day one Aaron Rodgers would play well. Not once did I ever say this guy can't play. This is his fourth year. He's playing with a very talented football team, he has all the weapons, not only from a team standpoint but himself. He has a great arm. He's a real smart guy. He's played behind a pretty smart guy [smiles], maybe not as smart as him [smiles]. He's seen me do it a certain way, but he's going to have his angles on how he wants to do things.
There's no reason that guy shouldn't succeed, none whatsoever. He's on a team that he can just dink and dunk it to whoever, he can throw it down the field. We saw that last year, along with the fact the guys around him, the coaching staff, the team was 13-3 last year. He's inheriting a great football team. I'm not taking anything away from him. The guy can play.
On if the expectations for the Jets are too high…
That remains to be seen. I like the fact that people expect a lot out of us when maybe they didn't before. That's a good thing. Each individual in that locker room can look at it however they want to look at it, but I expect us to win. We have the nucleus in place. We have a very good coaching staff. Woody Johnson has done everything in his power to make it easy on us and comfortable. You know, until they're dethroned, the Patriots are the team. That's giving them all the respect they deserve.
We made some changes this off-season that have bettered this team across the board, and that brings high expectations. But so what? We had an opportunity to win that game the other day. Maybe what's happened here in the past plagued us some in that game. I don't know. I give them credit because they find ways not to lose a game, and we did, but if someone walks away from that game and says that we didn't have a chance, they're kidding themselves. We should feel like that every game we play. We have a chance to win. Now we have to do it — we have to win. If you want to call that high expectations, fine.
On how much of the offense he has learned…
Some of it doesn't hit my brain exactly the way I want it to. Now more so than in training camp, when you start simplifying or game-planning, where you just go in, "This is how we want to attack Cover-2, this is how we want to attack man-to-man." Then you kind of simplify and narrow down certain plays. What we have in, I feel like I've managed very well up to this point. I know there's a lot more we could put in, but I feel like what we have in, not only the last two weeks, but what we're putting in this week, and probably in weeks to come, we can win every game.
