In, 2008 Brett Favre shocked the world. Coming out of his retirement from Green Bay to join the New York Jets, who were in the middle of a tricky quarterback situation having just moved on from Chad Pennington. Favre was almost like a night in shining armor, a gunslinging quarterback to lead the Jets to greatness. And for the first half of the year, he did. Through week 12, the Jets went 8-3, were towards the top of the division, and had a legitimate shot at winning the AFC East or at the least a wildcard shot to make the playoffs. An injury to Brett's throwing arm caused them to go 1-4 down the stretch and miss the playoffs completely.
As a fan this is the year I've always wondered about. What if Favre didn't get injured? Would Eric Mangini have stayed the Jets coach? He was later replaced by Rex Ryan. Would the Jets have traded up for Mark Sanchez? It's possible, Favre was towards the end of his career. The 08 Jets had 7 Pro Bowlers, The 16th passing attack (would have been better if Favre remained healthy), the 9th ranked rushing attack, and the 18th ranked team defense according to Pro Football Focus. However... what if things were different? What if Favre stays healthy... is it possible that he's able to pull the trigger and win the Jets a Super Bowl? We will never know the real answer, but as a fan it's something I've always thought about.
At HOF weekend, Brett Favre described that as the year of "What could of been". I'm glad i'm not the only one who thinks so.