The Season Of Renewal

With Brady sidelined, the Jets, the Bills and even the Dolphins can dream a little dream about a division title. The Jets get first licks at New England this Sunday at the Meadowlands. A week later Pennington, Williams and the Dolphins head up to Foxborough.

AS IF their joust in Miami as second-chance quarterbacks wasn't enough, Favre and Pennington have one more thing in common. On Sept. 3, the Dolphins named Pennington a team captain. That same day, the Jets announced the results of their vote for the captaincies. Although he didn't yet know his way around the team's playbook (let alone New Jersey's highways), Favre was chosen to serve as one of the offense's captains, along with left guard Alan Faneca, himself a newcomer.

So it was a telling moment on Sunday, when Favre, for 16 seasons the leader in name and in spirit in Green Bay, glanced up at the scoreboard at one point and saw, listed among the Week 1 matchups, VIKINGS AT PACKERS. It would have been understandable if he'd had a moment of puzzlement or of lost concentration—like so many others around the league who found themselves in new surroundings. But Favre wasn't shaken.

"It wasn't like, 'I'm supposed to be there,'" Favre said. "I'm a Jet. I had a great career in Green Bay, but the only thing that matters is what happens now. We're 1--0."