Brian Schottenheimer had just started to doze off. Tucked away in his road hotel room, the Jets offensive coordinator closed his eyes ever so briefly before being interrupted by a ring and a breaking news alert on a television scroll.
The Jets had just acquired Brett Favre.
"I remember I was sitting in my room in Cleveland," he told reporters late this afternoon. "Then I got a phone call and it just flashed on the bottom line, and actually I just started to fall asleep."
There would be little rest for the weary. Schotty called his wife, Gemmi, and wished her a good night. He probably hasn't slept much since as he continues to get Favre up to speed in his offense.
"He's really doing a good job picking it up," Schottenheimer said of the future Hall of Famer. "We have a number of guys on the staff and on the team that actually have been in the system that he comes from, so you hear a lot of translating going on. Not just from Brett to me or Brian Daboll, but all the players around.
"It's been good — it's been a lot of fun."
Favre's got a great memory. After 17 seasons and thousands of plays, Schottenheimer said he occasionally presses rewind.
"We'll be sitting in here and we'll be talking about a play and he'll be like, 'Oh, yeah, I hit Antonio Freeman on that back in 1995 and we called it this.' We kind of chuckle and the other quarterbacks are like, 'What did you call that play?' It's been fun. He's got a great football mind and a great feel for the game."
Despite being labeled as reckless by outsiders, Favre, the son of a high school football coach, has been praised internally for his football smarts.
"He is very intelligent and he has a good feel for what is going on both offensively and defensively," Schotty said. "I think the gunslinger tag is a little bit unfair because he has a great feel for what is going on."
When Favre steps on the field Saturday night at the Meadowlands, the Redskins "D" will know there is no throw he cannot make. Even though it's a preseason game, Favre will keep you on your toes.
"If you go back and look at Brett, one of the things he's done a great job of his whole career is play-action, the ability to use his hands and sell things," said Schottenheimer. "He also makes the running game go, along with the guys that we added in the off-season."
With the Jets not having night meetings tonight, Schottenheimer was excited to get back to his wife and his two kids. But he'll be back early Friday, putting the finishing touches on his first game plan with Favre at the controls.
"It's going to be a very specific plan for Brett and I'm sure he'll go out and do a great job of just executing the call to the best of his ability," he said.
