Brett Favre wins debut as a New York Jet, beats Miami Dolphins

Brett Favre struck early and struck hard and made a statement as the new starting quarterback of the New York Jets in a wild 20-14 win. Favre finished 15 for 22 with 194 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Favre wasn't the only new starter on the field, Chad Pennington became just the newest quarterback to start for the Miami Dolphins. Pennington looked wild and nervous at the beginning of the game starting out 1 for 6 and -1 yards. He managed to settle down and eventually threw 26 for 43 with 251 yards, 1 touchdown and a game ending interception.

The Jets who have in the past proved dominant over the Dolphins, looked as if it was going to be a warmup for their next game against the New England Patriots when Favre threw a 56 yard touchdown to Jerricho Cotchery for the first points of the game early in the 1st quarter.

The Dolphins had nothing going for them early as the running and passing game weren't working. The Jets drove down the field for what seemed to be a potential field goal, but Mike Nugent missed wide right and appeared to be injured. The Dolphins used it to their advantage and drove down the field for their first touchdown of the season on a Anthony Fasano 5 yard catch. Fasano finished with 84 yards on 8 catches, leading the team.

With what looked like a potential field goal midway through the 2nd proved to be the Dolphins kryptonite in the game. On a 4th and 13 with no kicker, the Jets elected to go for it on the Dolphins 22. Favre under heavy pressure threw the ball up as a rainbow and fell right into the hands of Chansi Stuckey with no defender on him for the touchdown. The Jets couldn't convert on the 2-point conversion.

It appeared over for the Dolphins as the Jets increased the lead to 20-7 on a Thomas Jones 6 yard run nearing the end of the 3rd quarter. Jones finished with 101 yards on 22 carries. A frantic Dolphin offense led the way nearing the end of the 4th quarter. Pennington drove the Dolphins downfield leading to a 11 yard touchdown by David Martin.

After a quick 3 and out by the Jets running the clock down to 1:30. The Dolphins drove fast on a number of 15 yard passes eventually getting up to the 20 yard line with 30 seconds left. The Dolphins couldn't complete any passes and with 5 seconds left on 4th down, Pennington threw up an interception in the corner of the end zone to seal the fate of the Dolphins and to give the Jets the win.

The running game was ineffective for the Dolphins. Ronnie Brown finished with 23 yards and Ricky Williams finished with 24. Only 17 running plays were run by Miami.

Jake Long picked up 2 crucial penalties on what would have been long runs by Chad Pennington and potential scores. The first being a phantom tripping call that would have set up a field goal nearing the end of the 1st half. The second a holding that negated a Pennington first down.

The Dolphins look to next week as they face the Arizona Cardinals on the road.