Favre looks back on his only Jets season

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Brett Favre was almost positive he was shutting things down for good, though he left the door slightly ajar as only he can, eventually sliding right through it again.

No, not in 2010. In 2009.

The iconic quarterback had spoken with Jets coach Rex Ryan, general manager Mike Tannenbaum and owner Woody Johnson Feb. 11 of last year, telling them he didn't think he had another season left in his injured right arm after that 1-4 finish.

"At that time I had a torn bicep, didn't really know what I wanted to do," Favre said Thursday. "I really felt like the writing was on the wall. Here I am, pushing 40 with a torn bicep, I felt like that was kind of the wakeup call I was looking for. They had asked if I wanted to come back, and I was like, 'I don't know if I want to go through another surgery and all this stuff.' "

Favre said he'd had enough, that the 2008 campaign was going to be his last - though he acknowledged Thursday that Ryan might've been able to coax him out of retirement. The Jets placed him on the retired list after that chat and began looking for the franchise's future quarterback.

"I almost felt like I was a fan talking to him and letting him know how much I appreciated him," Ryan said. "I was not actively recruiting him. Trust me, if I would've recruited him, he would've known. He would've had to kick me off the porch or something. I would've give him my 'A' game, not my 'D' game."

So in April, after the Jets traded up in the draft to select quarterback Mark Sanchez, Favre was granted his release. He navigated his way to Minnesota four months later, leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game.

Now he'll bring his act to New Meadowlands Stadium on Monday night, marking his first return to the area as he takes on the team that gave up a fourth-round pick to acquire him from Green Bay.

Favre's lone season with the Jets was a whirlwind five months that concluded with a 9-7 record and no playoff berth after an 8-3 start. "It was a great experience," Favre said. "I wish it would've ended better. Of course, the start was amazing, I think probably more so than anyone could've envisioned."

The Jets tailored their offense for Favre, scrapping installations and changing code words and cadence that had been in place before he set foot on the practice field at Hofstra Aug. 9.

"The stories after games were funny," offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. "There would be times where guys would be like, 'Yeah, you won't believe what play he called there.' He'd go into the huddle and call a play and Nick [Mangold] would be like, 'Uh, what's the protection?' He'd be like, 'What do you want?' . . . So Nick would call a protection. That's just Brett being Brett."

But Favre also has a penchant for ill-advised decisions. He threw nine interceptions and only two TD passes as the Jets flamed out down the stretch. Favre tore his biceps but played anyway - something that came to light when the Jets were fined $125,000 last year for never listing him on the injury report.

"I felt like my accuracy was affected considerably," Favre said. "Then we started struggling to score points, I maybe pressed the issue a little bit in that area."

"Should I have sat and taken some time off? Hindsight, it's always easy to say yeah or no. But I was determined to lead that team to victory and into the playoffs . . . I've felt a considerable amount of responsibility as I should, but I just think it was a little bit of everything.

"It went well early and not so good at the end. But that's OK. I'll take that on my shoulders."