Brett's a Jet: Ten things to know about Favre being an ex-Packer

Tom Brady and the Patriots' rivalry with the Jets will hit a new level in Week 2. Elsa/Getty Images Don Banks's Mailbag Don Banks will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Don Banks on Twitter

Now that Brett Favre is finally an ex-Packer, here are 10 things to know about him being a Jet:

1. We get two Favre vs. Tom Brady showdowns a year: The Giants' overtime win at Lambeau Field in last January's NFC Championship Game spoiled the Favre vs. Brady Super Bowl storyline many were dreaming of, but now we're guaranteed a couple per season. Unless, of course, Favre is injured and misses a game -- and he never does -- or shocks everyone (not!) by re-retiring at some point in the near future.

Providing Favre gets the Jets offense down ("Somebody get open and I'll find ya'') we're not going to have to wait long for the first 2008 meeting of the quarterbacking giants. In Week 2, the Patriots travel to the Jets, in a game that was already going to have beaucoup "Return to Spygate'' angles out the wazoo. Now we've got Favre-Brady to chew on as well.

Then, in a Week 11 rematch, as part of the NFL Network's late-season schedule, the Jets will play New England in a Thursday night prime-timer at Gillette Stadium. It might even be cold enough by then in Foxboro to remind Favre of late September in Lambeau.

If you're wondering, Favre is 1-1 in his career against Brady, beating him in a 2002 regular-season game at Gillette, and losing 35-0 at Lambeau in a mid-November 2006 rematch, a game in which Favre was knocked out of in the second quarter after a Tedy Bruschi sack injured the ulnar nerve in his right elbow.

2. There's even more juice for the Patriots-Jets blood feud: Not that we were running low on sub-plots in a rivalry that truly requires no hype -- see earlier reference to a certain video-taping incident of some renown -- but adding Favre into this combustible mix jacks up the headline quotient another three notches.

It'd be like the Yankees signing Barry Bonds out of retirement (or exile) just to give their rivalry with the Red Sox a little more buzz. Come to think of it, wasn't that a consideration for both New York and Boston at one point this summer?

3. Favre's right arm vs. the Meadowlands winds: You may have heard, but Giants Stadium isn't the most quarterback-friendly of NFL venues. You've got to know how to play the wind, especially late in the season when the gales of November come early (apologies to Gordon Lightfoot). For advice, maybe Favre can call Phil Simms, the ex-Giants QB who last year instructed Favre to keep playing as long as he could, because retirement's forever.

Lot of good that nugget did.

It might surprise you to learn Favre has played just five games in Giants Stadium over his 17-year career. He's 3-2 there, with eight touchdown passes, but his finest performance was his most recent -- a three-touchdown day in Green Bay's 35-13 win over the Giants in Week 2 last season.

New York did get even, however, picking Favre off in overtime to pave the way for Lawrence Tynes' game-winning field goal in that frosty NFC title game at Lambeau.

4. The Jets continue their love affair with older quarterbacks: What do Vinny Testaverde, Boomer Esiason and Neil O'Donnell have in common? Well, besides the fact they all grew up on either Long Island or in New Jersey, the Jets' two neighborhoods for years now, they all quarterbacked the green and white relatively late in their careers.

And not with much success, I might add. In the 10 seasons from 1993 to 2005 in which one of those three veterans started at least four games for New York, the Jets made the playoffs exactly twice -- 1998 and 2001 with Testaverde.

Shoot, even the franchise's quarterbacking standard-bearer, Hall of Famer Joe Namath, only made the playoffs twice in 12 seasons in New York (1965-76), and his last trip was in 1969, at the age of 26. Somebody should let Favre know: The Jets and old quarterbacks just don't mix well.