It's Time For Favre To Brett Out Of Way

It's Time For Favre To Brett Out Of Way January 1
New York Post columnist Steve Serby
"AS THE [Woody Johnson] World Turns, and stomachs of the Jets long-suffering fans turn along with it as they brace for the arrival of a new coach and possible return of an old quarterback, the prospects for a Happy New Year hinge too heavily on the fragile 39-year-old hinge that belongs to Brett Favre.

The franchise's coaching search was socked in the stomach with the thanks-but-no-thanks news from Bill Cowher and is reeling around the ring the way Joe Frazier was against George Foreman in Jamaica.

The Jets begin the new year trapped in the same black hole occupied by the 0-16 Lions, groping in the darkness, with little to offer their next savior other than Johnson's millions.

For the marquee names such as Mike Shanahan, there will be legitimate questions about the power structure and how much control GM Mike Tannenbaum would be willing to surrender, which are problematic enough.

The biggest roadblock, the biggest headache, is Favre.

He is this franchise's albatross.

Its Achilles Shoulder.

I was among the Go 4 It crowd back in August when Tannenbaum was at his persuasive best and wooed the legendary gunslinger here amidst riotous fanfare.

Now I send this message to Favre:

Do the Jets a favor and 4 Get It.

Hang 'em up, and stop hanging the Jets up.

No big coach worth his salt, unless he is that desperate for the biggest stage or for the opportunity or for the millions, would dive headfirst into a murky mess that must resemble a green-and-white Bermuda Triangle that leaves coaches and quarterbacks disappearing in the waters off Foxborough and now, Chad Pennington's Miami.

Imagine what a Cowher sitdown with Johnson and Tannenbaum might have sounded like:

Johnson: Your chin is even bigger in person!

Cowher: What's going on with Favre?

Johnson: We have no idea. He'll decide by the combine . . . we hope.

Cowher: It's time to go in a different direction.

Tannenbaum: That's exactly what we told our fans when we fired Eric!

The Jets, who look like Favre enablers here, start the New Year as the anti-Giants. The spin now is that Favre will be better given the benefit of a full training camp and another year in the same offense, when the bottom line is not so much the bottom line on the field, but the owner's bottom line, where Favre is the pitchman for his new stadium's PSLs. Memo to Woody: Winning sells PSLs.

The Jets don't have to worry about competing for their next coach with the wasteland where the Lions live, but the Broncos, for example, suddenly are offering less uncertainty, if not chaos, and more control . . . and a young franchise quarterback named Jay Cutler.

If Jets Held Hostage persists, then they run the risk of being perceived the way the 1992 Giants were following the Ray Handley fiasco, when first Tom Coughlin, and then Dave Wannstedt, who sprinted to the Bears and more control, spurned the late George Young, who settled for Dan Reeves.

Steve Spagnuolo is the best name out there now - the perfect temperament for this market, the perfect guy to rally a defense, absolutely ready after years under Andy Reid, Jim Johnson and Coughlin to be this year's Tony Sparano, Mike Smith or John Harbaugh."
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