It took 4 1/2 days to become a story, Coles offering his tepid praise of Favre on Wednesday in one of those conference calls players make to the opposing team's media, and the words not reaching print until a few hours before the Jets lost, 24-14, to the 49ers.

The first question to Coles had been, "What do you think of Brett Favre professionally?" a figurative put-down for a prideful wide receiver who by December had wearied of Favre conversation.

So, Coles, who has been with the Jets for a number of years, grudgingly spoke of Favre, who hasn't, explaining, "Now, we're in a quarterback-driven offense where he pretty much has control of everything, where before the offense was pretty much driven through me in the past.

"Now we have a lot of guys that can make plays . . . Now I just kind of become a role player, instead of a guy that teams had to prepare for. So my role is drastically changed."

As a reference point, it must be acknowledged that every offense in the NFL is quarterback-driven, since that guy handles the ball 98 percent of the plays (the exceptions being the Wildcat formation, punts and place kicks). And going into the game against the Niners, Coles had 55 receptions for 615 yards and six touchdowns, while last year in total Coles had 55 receptions for 646 yards and six touchdowns.

Against the Niners, true, Coles, had only one catch for 5 yards, but other than Chansi Stuckey, none of the Jets' wide receivers was very visible, with Favre throwing swing passes to running backs Leon Washington (six) and Thomas Jones (three).

On Wednesday, Coles said, "Of course [Favre] is the big name, he's the Hall of Famer, he's going to get the majority of the credit, but most of the guys who deserve the credit don't really get it."

Then he responded to another question: "Why would you say I'm not happy with it? It doesn't bother me at all. But the first question off the bat, it was Brett, right?"

Yesterday, after the game, Coles understandably was less flippant.

"At this point," he said quietly, "all I can do is focus on what I'm doing, that's the main thing. Making sure I'm preparing the same way week in and week out and doing whatever is asked of me. That's basically what it's about - making sure you're doing what you're supposed to do."

Meaning catching balls, not flak.