John Madden Slips a Knife Between Brett Favre's Shoulder Blades

By JOSH ALPER

Updated 3:09 PM EST, Wed, Nov 12, 2008

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The love affair that John Madden has with Brett Favre is the kind of thing that Shakespeare wrote sonnets about. Rough winds may shake the darling buds of May, but nothing could ever shake Madden's belief that Favre was capable of doing anything, at any time, when it came to the game of football.

In fact, Madden's ardor burns so brightly that it wouldn't be hard to picture him sometime in the 12th century appearing on Mongol Night Football and picking Favre to knock off Genghis Khan's rampaging hordes. Certainly you'd never expect to hear Madden say that there was a football game that Favre couldn't win.

Hold onto your hats true believers, Madden likes the Pats tomorrow night.

"If you would have asked me this before the season, I would have said it's another 'same old thing' -- Patriots vs. Jets, Mangini/Belichick, Spygate -- and then lo and behold [Tom] Brady goes down, the Jets get Brett Favre and the whole thing changes," Madden said. "Now, having said that, I still believe that the Patriots have the Jets' number. I really do. If you had to say 'who do you think is going to win?', I think it's going to be a good game and it will be pretty close, but I think the Patriots will beat them."

Notice how he left himself some wriggle room? While I apologize for the image of Madden wriggling, I hope you'll note how everything changed when Favre came to New York. Kris Jenkins, Calvin Pace and Alan Faneca are all unimportant acquisitions, it's just Favre that matters and just Favre who gives the Jets a chance to take back their number from New England.

If Madden had watched some recent Jet games, he'd know that guys like Jenkins, Pace and Thomas Jones will have a lot to do with the final score. Favre has to play well, to be sure, but he's not being used like the Favre who so excited Madden that he choked on his Outback steak. That may be too difficult a thought for Madden to ponder, however, which makes it easier to just pick the favored team playing at home.