“It’s the most exciting time of the year.”

September

Jets coach Eric Mangini uttered the line above this morning during his daily pre-practice presser, and this season-opener packs more of a wallop than most games. Let us count the ways. First, it’s the debut of Brett the Jet. We have a story on Favre being named one of the captains on offense.

(To the left, a Florham Park salon welcomes the Jets.)

We’ll have more on the link between Chad Pennington and his former teammates. Kellen Clemens told me today that he and Pennington spoke three days ago, talking about a lot of things but not so much football. “I learned a lot about football from Chad,” the backup quarterback said. “But I also learned a lot about dealing with the media and having a family.” Clemens has a baby daughter and Pennington has two young sons.

OLB Calvin Pace was down to two teams in the offseason, the Jets and Miami. He ended up here, and said he was happy with the decision ever since he signed his name on the dotted line.

CBS will be showing the Jets-Miami game to 63 percent of the country and is sending the A broadcast team down to Miami to call it. Clearly, Favre’s return to football is one of the most compelling stories to come out of the NFL this season. The NFL Today will feature a sit-down between Favre and Dan Marino this Sunday at noon.

Between that and the ties between Eric Mangini, Bill Parcells and Dan Henning, this game has implications well beyond the wins and loss column. Which is perhaps why everyone is downplaying the significance.

There’s the way the offensive line gels, how the defense handles Pennington—What will you be looking for Sunday?

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 12:21 pm by Jane McManus.
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One Response to ““It’s the most exciting time of the year.””

Miloslav Mecir September 5th, 2008 at 12:58 am
Lets see how well protected Favre really is on Sunday. How many times is he going to be buried by opposing Blitz’s. Is there a running game? or is that just urban myth.
Will Mangini start to practice against defenses other than the 3-4??

I’d be happy with answers to those 3 Questions.

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