Favre Faces An Age-Old Question

So now what? Now that Brett Favre has a team that wants him, what happens on the field? At 38, does Favre go out with the New York Jets the way the great Johnny Unitas went out with the San Diego Chargers in one final season, at 40, stumbling through a mere five games and throwing more than twice as many interceptions as touchdowns? Is leaving Green Bay for New York destined to turn out for Favre the way leaving the Jets for a one-year fling with the Los Angeles Rams turned out for Joe Namath -- which is to say, badly?

Or will Favre have the kind of success Joe Montana had in Kansas City, when he led the Chiefs to the AFC championship game after turning 37? Suppose Favre has as much left in the tank as Warren Moon, who threw 76 touchdown passes from 1995, when he turned 39, to 1998, or Y.A. Tittle, who at 37 led the New York Giants to the NFL championship game and was the league's MVP?

Despite the sheer volume and hysterical tone of the coverage, Favre isn't the first iconic quarterback to end his career someplace other than where he made his name. The Packers didn't help matters by taking two weeks to do the exact thing they could have done without the drama. And it's going to be fascinating to see how Favre, who has operated in the patience and calm of America's Dairyland, responds to the relative lunacy of metropolitan New York. A 1-3 record in Green Bay was treated as a slow start to a long season. In New York it'll get him roasted.

The last time one of the all-time giants went to New York so late in a Hall of Fame career, Willie Mays was with the Mets and it was painful to watch. Mays and Unitas are the first two names usually mentioned when a player leaves a franchise after an athletic lifetime to put on a new jersey. But there's really no tangible evidence to suggest Favre is Mays or Unitas, who already was an old man in his last couple of seasons in Baltimore.

Although Favre struggled in 2005 and 2006, he led the Packers to within one play of the Super Bowl last season. He's old but not ancient. He hasn't been crumpled by a series of injuries. He's not hunched and defenseless. After 17 seasons in Baltimore, Unitas threw for three touchdowns and seven interceptions for the Chargers in 1973, completing only 45 percent of his passes and going away quietly after the season. Likewise, Namath barely could drop back from center by the time he left the Jets after 12 seasons for the Rams. Namath played in just four games, threw three touchdown passes and five interceptions, and was done.

After 13 seasons with the 49ers (plus one he missed entirely with an injury), Montana threw 29 touchdown passes to only 16 interceptions in his two years with the Chiefs, at 37 and 38, and he completed a typically efficient 61 percent of his passes. Of the Hall of Famers who made the late switch, Tittle and Moon clearly were the late bloomers. At 37, Tittle threw for 36 touchdowns to only 14 interceptions in 1963, which by an absurd margin was his best season.

Moon only led the Vikings to the playoffs once, but his performance wasn't the reason for their relative lack of success. Moon had his second-highest passer rating in 1995, when he turned 39. He threw 33 touchdown passes to only 14 interceptions. And in 1997, the year he turned 41, Moon threw 25 touchdown passes to 16 interceptions for the Seattle Seahawks. Don't tell me the Jets wouldn't be thrilled with getting those numbers from Favre.

And yes, Favre has a chance to produce them because he's got weapons in running back Thomas Jones and wide receivers Jerricho Cotchery and Laveranues Coles. Favre will be reunited with his old teammate, tight end Bubba Franks, who is a relative pup at 30. The Jets were 4-12 last year but spent some money in the offseason on some players Favre will quickly come to depend on, guard Alan Faneca and tackle Damien Woody.

The Jets have been more overhauled than upgraded, though with training camp half over, it's legitimate to wonder how long it's going to take Favre to get accustomed to his new teammates. And it's also legit to wonder if Favre, now physically unable to be the gunslinger he was in his early 30s, can be persuaded to manage the game as he did last year en route to the NFC championship game or whether he'll feel the need to show everybody, especially the Packers, that he's still got it. The latter would be a huge mistake.

It's really a sorry chapter in Packers history, and not because they traded Favre; it's easy to make the case that it's time for the franchise to find out whether former first-round pick Aaron Rodgers can play or not. But the split didn't need to become contentious, with each side convinced by Wednesday that neither could be fully committed to the other. A trade, probably the same trade, could have been worked out without the nation being updated every night on flights from Mississippi to Wisconsin and without the Packers having the first two weeks of their training camp hijacked by the Favre drama. If the Packers stumble out of the blocks, it seems entirely fair to blame General Manager Ted Thompson.

And if Favre has anything left, it's not as if the good people of Wisconsin won't know about it. Favre's every move will be enormous news in New York. His tipping habits at New York restaurants will be scrutinized in the tabloids, as will his wife's wardrobe and his nights out in Manhattan. He's lived his life as the biggest fish imaginable in the smallest pond. Now, at 38 and with an iconic reputation to protect, he'll be one of the biggest fish in the biggest pond. The trade of Brett Favre put one chapter to bed, but that doesn't mean it's the last.