Although Favre threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns in the Jets' 48-29 Monday night loss at San Diego, he also coughed up two interceptions. One was returned 52 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Antonio Cromartie, and the other, a diving pick by safety Eric Weddle, led to a 45-yard touchdown march.

"I thought our game plan was a very good game plan," Favre said Wednesday. "San Diego changed their defense completely for that game. I give them credit. They executed it well. We had plenty of opportunities. The bottom line is we gave them too many points, or gave them too many chances to score points from our end offensively."

Running back Thomas Jones also lost a fumble that gave San Diego the ball at the Jets' 16.

"Make no mistake about it, (with) their offense, you don't need to give them a short field. They're explosive," Favre said. "We're still trying to work some things out, sure. I don't think that had anything to do with that game the other night."

Favre was referring to the continuing saga of him and his new receivers trying to establish chemistry. That process won't be helped this week by the left ankle injury Favre suffered on a sack by San Diego's Jyles Tucker in the third quarter. He was limited in practice Thursday and certainly could be hampered against the Cardinals, although he did look much better than earlier in the week.

Against the Chargers, that injury "affected me some" in the second half, Favre said, but added, "I thought in the second half I threw the ball pretty good. Now we didn't throw any deep balls, really didn't throw any deep balls throughout the whole game. It remains to be seen how that would affect me with a deep ball. (But) I'm not really concerned about it."

"I'm not really concerned about lack of (practice)," Favre said, adding that mental reps are "what's most important."

As is the Jets' attitude, something else Favre discussed, noting that Jets fans might be thinking, "Well, they're 1-2, here we go again."

Same old Jets?

"My hope is that's not the case," Favre said. "I like the way the guys have handled the last two weeks, even though they were losses, (with) the character they've shown. ... I really believe this team is not only good, and Eric (Mangini) stressed this the other day before and after the game, (and) I think it's so true, that once this team starts believing, all 53 guys start believing that it can be done, then it will be."

"When there's doubt creeping in from wherever," Favre added, "and you see (only) flashes of how good we can be, as we have, then it's going to be the way it has been. ... There's no doubt from my end. I'll continue to do what I've done from Day One, from the day I first stepped onto a field. If that's not good enough, then it's not good enough. It's been good enough up to this point. I've won way more games than I've lost. I don't anticipate that changing."

"I don't know about the whole belief thing or whatever that is," strong safety Kerry Rhodes said, "but I think individually and collectively, we have to do the right things (to win). ... I still think we stack up pretty well. We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times against a good team to overcome it (at San Diego). Hopefully, we'll right our ship and get to see them again and see how it goes."

SERIES HISTORY: 7th meeting. Jets lead series, 4-2. In the last meeting, Jets starting QB Quincy Carter missed most of the first half after a blow to the head, but returned in the second half and threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss in the Jets' 13-3 victory on Nov. 28, 2004. Carter was starting his third straight game because Chad Pennington was out with a shoulder injury, later disclosed to be a torn rotator cuff. Pennington returned the next week and led the Jets to a victory over Houston. The last time the Jets faced a Kurt Warner-quarterbacked team came on Oct. 21, 2001, when Warner completed 18 of 27 passes for 215 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions in St. Louis' 34-14 victory.