Dolphins Go to Playoffs, Jets Head to Uncertain Future

[BAMAPHIN 22]

Article by the New York Times:

The veteran cornerback Ty Law has ranked the Jets among the most talented teams he has ever played on, which was further evidenced when seven players made the Pro Bowl. But this team, however talented it may be, peaked in Tennessee at 8-3 after a five-game winning streak.

“I can’t recall another season where a team I played for fell apart like that,” said the Jets’ Tony Richardson, a veteran fullback. Two questions loomed largest after the loss. Had quarterback Brett Favre played the final game of his Hall of Fame career? And had Eric Mangini coached his last game from the Jets’ sideline?

“In my mind, I did everything I could do,” Favre said after the game.
In a WFAN radio interview earlier in the week, Joe Klecko, the Jets legend, said he felt Mangini had lost his team. Mangini is 23-26 in three seasons. He led the Jets to the playoffs in his first season, but failed in the past two.

The team’s owner, Woody Johnson, declined all interview requests this week. After the game, Mangini said he expected to return next season. In analyzing his team’s collapse down the stretch this season, the embattled Jets coach said he was proud of his team, but “to be in the position that we were in, and then all of a sudden just have a meltdown over the course of our last five or six weeks, is hard to really swallow right now.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/sports/football/29jets.html?_r=1&hp

 

[BAMAPHIN 22]

Game photos:

Pennington threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano in the third quarter.

Favre's attempted short pass to Thomas Jones instead went directly to defensive end Phillip Merling, who returned the interception for a touchdown.

After the Dolphins botched a snap on a punt in the third quarter, Leon Washington ran for a 10-yard touchdown. The score -- along with the 2-point conversion that followed -- gave the Jets a 17-14 lead.

The Dolphins responded on their next drive. Pennington and running back Ronnie Brown pulled off a trick play, with Pennington airing out a 44-yard pass to Tedd Ginn.

Favre completed 20 of 40 passes for 233 yards and 1 touchdown, but also threw 3 interceptions in the loss. It was his seventh multi-interception game of the season and third consecutive, as the Jets lost four of their final five games to fall out of contention. Favre was tackled while attempting a pass in the final moment of the game.

Pennington, who greeted his former teammates after the game, went from the scrap heap to M.V.P. candidate. On Sunday he was 22 of 30 for 200 yards and 2 touchdowns.

The clock continues ticking on the career of Favre, who is 39. During the game, he held and rotated his throwing shoulder, and in a news conference last week, he hinted that his right shoulder may be injured.