Favre, Jets a work in progress

Brett Favre was 5-for-6 for 48 yards and one touchdown pass. AP Peter King's Mailbag Peter King will answer your questions each week in Monday Morning Quarterback: Tuesday Edition. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Peter King on Twitter

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Strange night, in a lot of ways. Strange to see Brett Favre in a slightly different shade of green, with the white helmet and black wristbands and nary a cheddar-cheesehead in sight. "Somebody told me they saw green cheeseheads!'' Favre exclaimed afterward.

Strange to see him playing a game of some significance in his Hall of Fame career, with the Brett Favre hype machine running overtime, in front of a half-full stadium. When he jogged onto the Giants Stadium FieldTurf for his first non-Packer snap since 1991 at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, maybe 35,000 were on hand to see him play his first game for the New York Jets. That's not odd for a preseason game at the Meadowlands under normal circumstances, but you'd think with Favre under center, the season ticket-holders for a Jet franchise ravenous for a savior would be in the house. They must be waiting for the real thing.

Washington beat the Jets 13-10, but the drama was over after 10 minutes of the first quarter. That's how long Favre stayed in the game -- long enough to play two series and 14 snaps.

Ten nights after a trade that shook two franchises, Favre got off to an A-minus start in his first action for the Jets. He completed five of six passes for 48 yards, engineered a six-play, 46-yard touchdown drive ending in a four-yard scoring pass to rookie tight end Dustin Keller, and had a boffo quarterback rating of 139.6. "I thought it was an excellent start,'' said coach Eric Mangini. "His presence alone put pressure on the defense.''

"Anything surprise you about tonight?'' Favre was asked, walking out of the stadium.

"Yeah,'' said a weary and hoarse and bloodshot-eyed Favre. "That I could complete a pass. Do you know how different this offense is from what I'm used to?''

Favre looked in complete control except for a momentary lapse that killed his first series. After completing his first three throws -- let the record show his first snap as a Jet resulted in a completed 11-yard fastball to Jerricho Cotchery -- he went back to pass on second-and-six from the Jet 47. The playcall was a screen to running back Leon Washington. But Washington got caught up in traffic from a strongside Washington blitz. Linebacker Marcus Washington and Cornelius Griffin converged on Favre. Instead of dumping it off, Favre got snowed under for a 10-yard sack, and New York punted two plays later.

On his second series, starting at the Redskin 46 after a Washington punt and unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty, Favre handed it twice to Washington for seven yards. On third-and-three, with tight end Chris Baker in motion and three wides in the game, Cotchery benefited from a moving pick by wideout Chansi Stuckey and got open for a 19-yard gain. Two plays later, Bubba Franks and Keller, who was six when Favre was drafted by Atlanta in 1991, ran twin square-outs from the Washington four-yard line. "Pretty simple,'' Favre said. "Franks had trouble getting off the line. Keller had better leverage.''

"I didn't have time to think,'' said Keller, the best offensive tight end in the draft this year. (It's shown in an impressive rookie camp for the Jets.) "You don't have time to think when the ball's coming at you 100 miles an hour.''

"Same old Brett Favre,'' said Washington cornerback Carlos Rogers. "Just a different jersey. He drove the ball against our first-team defense.''

Favre's big test has been forgetting 16 years of Green Bay playbook and digesting the Jets' plays and schemes in time to play a competent game Sept. 7 in Miami. What was impressive Saturday night was his knowledge of the limited number of formations and calls offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer had for him against Washington. Schottenheimer had Favre in two I-formation snaps with fullback Tony Richardson the up-back, three two-tight-end formations, at least four three-wide sets, and he called a reverse to wideout Brad Smith for a 12-yard gain -- with Favre helping the trickeration with his trademark fake over-the-top throw trying to suck in the defense while Smith ran around left end.

Favre seemed drained afterward, almost in a daze. "It worked out better than I thought it would,'' he said. "I thought I threw the ball well and moved around okay. Ten days ago I was doing yardwork.''

It'll be interesting to see how the Jets play Favre's development going forward. With the season opener 21 days away, Favre's probably got 20 percent of the playbook mastered. Next week the Jets play in the Meadowlands against the Giants, who use as many pressure packages as any team in the league. Favre said after this game he hopes Mangini allows him to play as much as a quarterback would normally play in the third preseason game, between two and three quarters. He probably needs to play as much as he can take physically, because his receivers are still getting to know his fastball and his linemen still don't know how he'll move around under pressure.

The great experiment has begun, and it's off to a good start. But there's a lot of yardwork left to do.