But in their preseason game against the Giants last Saturday, they discovered that perhaps some of their other players need the offense to be simplified a little.

Two long passes by Favre, including a 49-yard touchdown pass to Jerricho Cotchery in the second quarter, were negated by penalties caused by the Jets' inability to be properly aligned at the line of scrimmage. Mainly because of that, Favre was unable to lead the Jets to any points in five possessions, including a one-play kneel-down at the end of the first half of their 10-7 win over the Giants.

Playing only the first half, Favre was 9-for-12 for 96 yards with no interceptions.

"I felt more at ease in the huddle," Favre said. "I felt more at ease in the field. I felt more like myself."

And he certainly looked it, although because of the Jets' mistakes, he had nothing on the scoreboard to show for it.

The throw to Cotchery was nullified because tight end Bubba Franks was lined up in an illegal formation. He backed off the line of scrimmage and went in motion, leaving the Jets without enough players on the line when the ball was snapped.

"The thing about Bubba," Favre said, "(is) he's one of the smarter players on the field. His name doesn't do him justice. His real name is Daniel. His mother and I are the only ones who call him Daniel, and I called him Daniel after that play.

"I've made mistakes before," Favre added, blaming himself for holding the snap count a bit too long on a play in which center Nick Mangold was whistled for a false start. "Bubba stepped off late, he was supposed to step off on motion and he was late on it for whatever reason. It happens. When he steps off (the line of scrimmage), someone has to step on. That's day one of teaching. We're all at fault for that. That's not Bubba. I don't even know who the wide receivers were, but it was a costly penalty."

The Jets (2-1) committed 12 penalties for 77 yards, with 10 of those on offense. At the start of the second half, the Jets' second-string offense had three consecutive penalties, two for illegal formations and one for a false start. The Jets had nine penalties for illegal shifts, formations and procedures.

"Offensively, there were positive things," coach Eric Mangini said, "but any time you have 12 penalties and (10) of them are on offensive plays, that's an issue."

Third-year offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer is quite innovative, but perhaps he needs to scale back on the multiple pre-snap shifts and formations to avoid so many penalties, although Mangini denied that's the problem.

"I don't think it was an issue," he said. "I didn't do a good enough job emphasizing getting the (offensive) tackles up even tighter than they were. Like I said, that did come down from the league. That was a point of emphasis. Anytime that's a point of emphasis, you better get it fixed and you better get it straightened out. I could have done a much better job with that."

Mangini was non-committal on whether Favre would play in the preseason finale at Philadelphia on Thursday. Favre hasn't sat out a preseason finale since 2003, and admitted he would like to play this week.

"I would love to play," Favre said. "I'll present my side. I'll say that I'd love to play one series, two series. (Mangini) may say that it's not worth it and so be it."