Jets' Favre finds lousy weather a chilly challenge

Brett Favre has often been regarded as the king of miserable weather, leading his teams through snow, sleet, rain and freezing temperatures with amazing efficiency.

"Everyone says, 'This is your type of weather,'" the New York Jets quarterback said Wednesday.

Well, Favre might be losing his hold on that label with each frosty breath.

He has struggled in his last two outings in chilly conditions, including last Sunday against Denver at a wet and windy Meadowlands, and last January at an icy Lambeau Field in the NFC championship against the Giants.

"We never practiced it in Green Bay," the 39-year-old Favre said. "And no one ever thought anything about it until we lost the championship game last year. I didn't handle the cold well, probably should've practiced outside or whatever.

"I think it all comes down to the individual himself, first of all. I grew up in south Mississippi. I never saw snow until I got to Green Bay.

"It wasn't like all of a sudden I got off the plane and said, 'Whoo, my kind of weather!'"

His past performances suggested otherwise in a career filled with highlights of him running and throwing in the snow, freezing rain, blustery winds and any other adverse weather imaginable. Favre is 66-23, including 1-1 this season, when playing in temperatures of 45 degrees or less. He's also 43-6 at home, including the playoffs, when playing in 34 degrees or lower.

With two more home games this season, and possibly the playoffs, weather could become a big hurdle again for Favre.

"As I've said before: They will pay someone else to do it if I can't," he said. "I find that I don't get quite as tired in colder weather, if you're looking for something older versus younger. Your hands get cold, ball becomes slick, all those things."

Favre struggled against the Broncos on Sunday when it was 36 degrees, going 23-of-43 for 247 yards and one interception, with several passes that were either overthrown or hung in the air too long and were batted away from defenders. Meanwhile, Denver's Jay Cutler - who at 25 has been compared to a young Favre - excelled in the conditions, throwing for 357 yards and two touchdowns.

"The game the other day, they handled the conditions better than we did," said Favre, who prefers playing in snow over rain. "Jay played extremely well, and it had nothing to do with age or anything like that. Just, they handled it better. You don't practice in those type of conditions that often."

In subzero temperatures in the NFC championship game, Favre was 19-of-35 for 236 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, including the one by Corey Webster in overtime that led to the Giants' winning score. That came after a playoff victory over Seattle at home in a game that looked as though it was played in a snow globe.

"I thought I played pretty good in the championship game last year," Favre said. "I threw an interception to end the game. We went into overtime. Everyone said, 'All of a sudden, Brett can't play in bad conditions anymore.' The week before, I played one of my better games, in a blizzard. No one would say anything about it then. That was about as late as you can get. Both of those games were in January."

There was also the loss a month earlier in Chicago when he threw for only 153 yards and was intercepted twice in 16 degrees, with bone-chilling winds whipping up in what he called the worst conditions he ever played in.

"I think (weather) evens the playing field," he said. "It can make a very good team look average and an average team can stay average and win. It can force mistakes that can happen to anyone. The ball can slip out of your hand, you're a little bit off, the wind conditions, it's hard. I don't care who you are. To throw a ball in 30-, 40-mph winds, you have to get lucky. There's not a whole lot of skill involved with playing in 30-below."

Favre doesn't need to worry much about weather Sunday for the Jets' next game at San Francisco, where the forecast is for temperatures around 62 degrees and partly cloudy skies. Still, he knows what the perception will be until he plays well in another bad-weather ballgame.

"Jay Cutler outplayed me, so it's easy to say, out with the old and in with the new," Favre said. "Was I cold? Was I wet? Sure. Was it cold and snowy last year against Seattle? Absolutely. I didn't wear down then. At some point, I've got to fall apart. I'm not going to lie to you. It's like any car: You drive it long enough, it's going to fall apart, you're going to have a flat tire, something's going to happen.

"At some point, I'm going to fall apart. But right now, I'm still together."