EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—Sore ankle and all, Broadway Brett joined Broadway Joe in the Jets’ record book.
Brett Favre set a career high and tied Joe Namath’s Jets mark with six touchdown passes, including three to Laveranues Coles, and New York took advantage of a series of mistakes by Arizona in a big second quarter before holding on to beat the Cardinals 56-35 on Sunday.
“Throwing six touchdown passes was awesome,” Favre said. “That had nothing to do with how I felt I played. It was one of those games. More importantly, I felt the overall game itself, I managed it well.”
Favre, showing no signs of a left ankle injury that hobbled him during the week, finished 24-for-34 for 289 yards and an interception for the Jets (2-2).
“I asked him if he had tied a career high and he said, ‘I’ve never thrown six,”’ said Jerricho Cotchery, who had two TD catches. “That was like the end of the conversation because I’m scratching my head, like, ‘Really? He’s never thrown six touchdown passes before?’ He played great today.
“He was just dialing it up and telling everybody, ‘Hey, get ready. The ball is coming.”
Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin was carted off the field after a scary helmet-to-helmet collision with New York safety Eric Smith in the end zone with 27 seconds remaining. Boldin was moving all his extremities on the field and was talking to his teammates, but was immobilized and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York for precautionary reasons.
“He’s alert,” Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt said. “He asked to get up and the doctors wouldn’t let him.”
New York’s defense rattled Kurt Warner and forced three fumbles and two interceptions in the first half, and the Jets set a franchise record by scoring 34 points in the second quarter.
“That’s more like it,” safety Kerry Rhodes said. “We came after them with some looks and wrinkles they hadn’t seen.”
Coles had eight catches for 105 yards after campaigning to the coaches for more plays earlier in the week.
“I think it was a little bit of me being a brat,” he said. “Sometimes you want to be involved a little bit more, not in a selfish way. I feel if given an opportunity, I can help the team win some ballgames. I went and voiced that to the coaches and they heard me.”
Warner tried to bring the Cardinals (2-2) back in the second half as Arizona scored 35 points. Warner, 40-of-57 for 472 yards, threw a 14-yard TD pass to Jerheme Urban with 4:49 left, but lost the ball again on a fumble with less than 3 minutes left.
“It’s a game, you know?” said Warner, clearly shaken up by Boldin’s injury. “I didn’t play well. I’ll bounce back and play better next week.”
Favre hit Dustin Keller for a 24-yard touchdown and a 2-point conversion with 1:54 remaining to seal it for the Jets, wearing their navy and gold New York Titans throwback uniforms.
“It’s just one game,” Favre said. “Don’t expect six touchdowns every week, but we, as an offensive unit, should see and expect a lot of ourselves.”
After a scoreless first quarter, the Jets got on the scoreboard early in the second when Favre found Coles streaking across the back of the end zone for a 7-0 lead. Darrelle Revis gave the Jets a 14-0 lead just over a minute later on a 32-yard interception return.
AP - Sep 28, 6:41 pm EDT
Coles caught his second touchdown pass of the game with 7:17 left in the half as he went uncovered down the left sideline as defensive back Eric Green crumpled to the turf near the line of scrimmage with a sprained right knee.
Favre and Coles connected for the third time on a 2-yard score with 10 seconds left in the half to make it 31-0.
The Cardinals chose to run a play instead of taking a knee—and paid for it. Warner was sacked by David Bowens, who knocked the ball out of the quarterback’s hands and recovered it. Jay Feely kicked a 30-yard field goal as time expired.
Edgerrin James had touchdown runs on consecutive possessions in the second half, cutting the deficit to 34-15, and Tim Hightower added a 1-yard TD run to make it 34-21.
Favre came back and connected with Cotchery on a 17-yard touchdown, but Boldin had an 8-yard touchdown catch, cutting the deficit to 41-28.
Again, Favre led the Jets down the field and hit Cotchery for a 40-yard touchdown.
“As long as I play up to par and allow these guys to make plays,” Favre said, “we can be pretty good.”
Notes
Namath threw six TD passes in a 44-34 win at Baltimore in 1972. … Favre had thrown as many as five TD passes three previous times, but none since 1998. … Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald had eight catches in his 64th career game, making him the third fastest to 350.
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