08/13 — If Brett Favre’s progress with the Jets could be compared to a Spanish class, the quarterback would be familiar enough with the language to pass the midterm, but he is still far from fluent, according to Jets coach Eric Mangini.

“There’s a lot going in, a lot of things he’s able to associate with,” the coach said in today’s news conference. “It just doesn’t roll off the tongue like he’d like it to. He’s been speaking another language for a long time.”

But, Mangini added, Favre is able to associate concepts and understands what the offense is looking to get done on each play. The coach believes that all the signal-caller needs is time.

“That’s going to come after getting used to being in a huddle, saying it a few times, going through the walk-through and seeing it on tape,” he said.

One good sign, Mangini noted, was that Favre has been making dummy audibles at the line to confuse the defense. When he is most demonstrative in his codes and gesticulations, the coach noticed, sometimes it’s “just fluff.”

Mangini also is weighing whether or not to appease the new guy by allowing him to select practice tracks. Favre spoke with the coach about possibly adding some country music to the playlist, but Mangini, who said that he will consider it, isn’t sure how many other players would appreciate rustic crooning.

As for Saturday’s preseason game against the Redskins, Mangini said that he would like to play the starters longer than he did last week versus the Browns. He didn’t specify how deep into the game they would go, though. The first-team offense and defense didn’t get an ideal 50-50 split in the first quarter (the defense got the bulk of the work), so the coach would like to extend them.

He added that Shaun Ellis, who has been out with a hand injury, is expected back before the season-opener but has only “an outside shot” of playing on Saturday.