No Monday night magic for Brett Favre this time, eh?
Favre had plenty of magical Monday night moments in his 16 seasons with Green Bay, but his first Monday night experience with the New York Jets wasn’t too magical, as Philip Rivers and San Diego pulled away in the second quarter and rolled to a 48-29 win.
With all the success that Favre has had on Monday night, and with his previous record against the Chargers, you’d have expected nothing less than another big-time performance from him, even in the new jersey and on the road. But, the Chargers came out with a fire after two disappointing losses and got off the mark in a big way.
If you’ve been considering putting your money on the Jets to win the Super Bowl thanks to their acquisition of Favre, you might be better served to wait a while, because it’s clear that it’s going to take a little time for this team to come together, and it won’t be a surprise to see them fall short of the high expectations that immediately were heaped on them after they got their ‘missing piece.’
Unfortunately for the Jets, time isn’t really on their side if they want to win the AFC East, what with Buffalo having started 3-0, and New England still very much a threat despite the loss of Tom Brady and Sunday’s loss to Miami.
They have made the playoffs in each of the last three even years and have winning records in the last five, so history is on their side. Favre and his new receivers will continue to get better and better with each other, and past that, as long as Thomas Jones can have more games like he did in the first couple of weeks and not last night, with the same going for the defense, they’ll have a shot to live up to those expectations.
Like the Jets, the Chargers have some ground to make up in the AFC West after two late losses to start the season, but they came to play and got the job done in a game that they needed to win after surprising Denver went to 3-0 with Sunday’s win over New Orleans.
Offensively, the Chargers haven’t had a problem putting up points in the first three weeks, and after Monday night’s win, are averaging nearly 37 points per game.
Philip Rivers kept up his hot start last night, overcoming throwing a pick-six to David Barrett on his first pass of the game to complete 19 of 25 passes for 250 yards and toss three touchdown passes for the third straight game to start the season.
What’s notable about their offensive output is that LaDainian Tomlinson hasn’t run for 100 yards yet, that he only scored his first two touchdowns of the season against the Jets, and that he’s averaged 2.6 yards per carry in each of the last two games, thanks in part to a toe injury. Tomlinson has the tendency to be streaky sometimes, but when he really gets it going - and it’s only a matter of time before we see his best, he’s a beast.
More importantly, the defense, while it did allow some garbage points and yards in the fourth quarter when the game was all but decided, forced Favre into a couple of interceptions (three total on the night), forced four total turnovers (and could‘ve had more), and recorded three sacks in a bounce-back effort after not being able to make key plays in the first two games.
If there is anything to worry about for San Diego, it’s the kick coverage, which allowed multiple long returns on Monday night, including a 94-yard return by Leon Washington that set up a second-quarter touchdown.
Winning is a must for both teams if they don’t want to fall too far behind in their respective divisions, but while San Diego came away with their first victory and the Jets lost their second in a row, both teams should have a pretty good idea of what they need to do in order to push and overtake the teams currently on top of their divisions.
