Fun part of formula for Jets success

Brett Favre has never had a hard time having fun on the football field. Al Tielemans/SI

After leading the Jets to their most impressive win of the season last Sunday, a 34-13 demolition of the previously undefeated Titans on their home field, quarterback Brett Favre ran off the field wearing a broad smile. When he got beneath the stadium and turned left toward the visitors' locker room, a female team employee was standing outside the doors. Favre jogged up to her and acted as if he were going to deliver a chest bump before stopping and arching his eyebrows as if to say, Gotcha!

Those who witnessed the moment marveled at how much fun Favre seems to be having in his first year in New York and his 18th season in the league. No teammates were around, but the story of Favre's behavior came as little surprise. The players get a look at it every week in practice. In fact, they say that type of fun personality by Favre and other players is a key reason the Jets (8-3) have won five in a row and seven of eight to become legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

New York's practices are simultaneously loose and disciplined. The coaches view the sessions as an opportunity to teach and install the game plan, but the players see them as mini games that present chances to compete against each other. And go at it they do, with a spirit and intensity that makes them smile when discussing it. It's common for linebacker Eric Barton to talk the same trash to Favre that he does to opposing QBs on Sunday, and Favre is just as quick to respond with Mississippi charm.

"When I was in Pittsburgh, we always did a competitive third-down period," says veteran guard Alan Faneca. "It was nothing but trash talking and people placing bets and everyone getting after it. It always ended on an odd number [of plays], so there was definitely a winner and a loser every time. But that was just one period. Here, we go through the whole practice like that. The offense is giving the defense a hard time, and the defense is giving the offense a hard time. If we're on the sideline and our scout team is out there doing something good, we're harassing them. They're doing the same to us. It's comical. It's fun to go out there because we're working hard and still having a good time."

That's critical because coach Eric Mangini has "long ass practices," according to cornerback Ty Law. Players often drift mentally when they're on the practice field longer than two hours, however that's not the case with the Jets because the players are more focused on the work and the competition than they are the time that has passed on the clock.

"It's that emotional and that intense," says cornerback Derrelle Revis.

Mangini contributes to the atmosphere during the week of road games. Like other coaches, he prepares his team for hostile environments by having simulated noise piped in during practices. But unlike some coaches who only turn up the volume when their offense has the ball, he pretty much has it going from the moment the players hit the field until they leave for the locker room.

Also, instead of using recordings of jet takeoffs to simulate crowd noise, he brings in a disc jockey and has him boom tunes over the sound system. Not any tunes, mind you. But songs that are somehow associated with the geographical area in which the Jets will be playing.

Before a game at Oakland in October, the selections included songs from California rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. And before last Sunday's game at Nashville, the music had a country-western flavor.

"You look around and see guys' heads bobbing and things," says fullback Tony Richardson. "The music kind of relaxes you in a way. At the same time it prepares you for days when you can't hear the snap count and you can't communicate. When the crowd gets loud, it's like been there, done that. ...

"Sometimes practices can be drudgery, but that's one of the ways we have fun. Our best practices of the year were Thursday and Friday [last week]. The music was playing and guys were out there razzing each other. Offense was competing against defense, defense against offense. It was a lot of fun."

Richardson is with the third team of his 14-year career, and he says the atmosphere in the locker room and on the practice field with the Jets is unlike anything he has been around.

"The reason you play this game is to play on Sunday; you don't play to practice," he says. "But when you have a group of guys that enjoys coming to work each day and looks forward to getting on the practice field because you've got Brett yelling at Barton, and Barton yelling at Brett, it's a lot of fun. We enjoy it. One thing about this team that separates it from teams that I've been on in the past is, we enjoy going to work together and we genuinely care and love each other. That's special when you have something like that."

There's no question that the Jets' ability to rebound from a 1-2 start is because Favre is cutting down on his giveaways (one interception in the last three games after throwing eight in the four games prior to that) and the defense it reducing the frequency with which opponents cross the goal line (it has allowed only nine TDs in the last seven games after surrendering 13 in the first four). But the players contend there's no overstating the importance of having a good time.

"Brett is a fun guy," Law says. "He's always clowning, laughing. I'm the same way. You take this game seriously, but you never can take it so seriously that you get tight and anxious. You've got to try to go out there and enjoy it. That's what we're doing."

Jim Trotter can be reached at siwriters@simail.com.