Seems like the same old stuff for new-look Favre

One of his touchdown throws was a miracle toss that was more luck than skill, reminding us of the Favre days in Green Bay. Haven't there been a lot of these for Favre: throwing off the back foot, a tackler draped all over him, only to flick one to an open receiver for a first down or, even better, a touchdown?

That's what he did again Sunday, making for a vintage Favre moment, something else for the legion of No. 4 lovers to salivate all over.

With the score tied 7-7 in the second quarter, the Jets faced a fourth-and-13 at the Miami 22. Normally that's a time for kicker Mike Nugent, but he suffered a strained quadriceps muscle in the first quarter while kicking off, which led the Jets to eschew the field goal and go for the first down.

As Favre dropped to pass, pressure came from the inside from Randy Starks, who had him in his grasp, only to have Favre shake free. With linebacker Channing Crowder beating down on him, Favre did the wise thing, a truly veteran move.

He simply tossed it into the air.

"I saw him," Favre said. "I didn't think he had a chance in hell to catch it."

The "he" was receiver Chansi Stuckey, who somehow was wide open in the middle of the field. As Stuckey waited alone, the ball slowly fell out of the sky, more punt than pass.

"It was up there forever," Stuckey said. "I thought I was going to get murdered by five guys, but nobody came."

Instead he gathered it in, fell into the end zone and the Jets had a 13-7 lead. They were forced to go for two on the next play and didn't make it. That could have been really troubling if the Dolphins' last-ditch rally hadn't fallen short when Pennington was picked off in the end zone by Darrelle Revis with five seconds left in the game.

That meant Favre, who made his 254th consecutive start -- first in a Jets uniform -- could walk off the field a winner.

Dolphins coach Tony Sparano summed up the play as succinctly as possible when he said, "Sometimes, it's just leading a good life."

Favre has had a heck of a football life, one that seemed over for most of the offseason. But his decision to come out of retirement after saying he was headed to the farm in Mississippi for good last March was the news of the year. The Packers didn't want him back and eventually relented by trading him to the Jets.

Asked if he had any funny feelings taking the field as a Jets player, Favre said no.

"I didn't dwell on it too much," Favre said. "I'm over that. I think one time during the course of the game I looked up and they were flashing scores and I saw Packers-Vikings. Tomorrow night. And it wasn't like I was supposed to be there. I'm a Jet. I had a great career in Green Bay, but that's over and done with."

In New York, they think they have the makings of a playoff team with Favre at quarterback. I didn't think so, but two things changed that Sunday.

The first is the way their defense played against the Dolphins. They pressured Pennington all day long, sacking him four times and hitting him much more than that. The second thing that helped the Jets' playoff chances improve was news coming from the north.

That's where New England quarterback Tom Brady suffered a potentially serious knee injury, one that could send the division into chaos. The Jets and the Buffalo Bills will be the favorites in the division if Brady is done for the year.

"I just found out about that," Favre said of the Brady injury. "That's terrible. I guess it's an ACL or something. They've always overcome injuries and things like that that but that's pretty difficult."

All Favre needs to do is overcome his unfamiliarity with the offense. Studying and putting in extra work will help do that.

Then it's all on him. Can the soon-to-be 39-year-old quarterback still show the old magic? For one play Sunday, he reminded us that he could do it, even if there was a lot of luck involved.

He can never say "same play" with that one. Like many of his others, it will never be duplicated.