09/28 — Arizona has rebounded some to start the second half, driving 79 yards to Edgerrin James' 4-yard TD run up the middle to cut the Jets' lead to 34-7. And the Cards take a three-and-out punt and start moving again.

But even on this drive, you can tell the Jets have knocked the visitors off their game. Kurt Warner swings a pass to Anquan Boldin, who, with no one around, can't bring the pass in and drops it.

And then on first-and-10 at the Jets 30, Bryan Thomas turns it on again for his fourth sack of the season. The BT Express picks up this sack even though Arizona RT Levi Brown clearly leaves his stance early but is not flagged. Nevertheless, Thomas rips around Brown to the outside and gets the defense's fourth sack of the game.

Edge James completes the drive with another TD run from 2 yards out, then gets the two-point conversion, cutting the lead to 34-15 with 5:41 left in the third quarter.

The fans boo, and perhaps it's understandable after rolling to a 34-0 halftime lead, then giving up two TD marches to start the second half. But the Jets will get them back on their side with an offensive response.

However, that will have to wait when Neil Rackers executes a successful onside kick recovered by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

Again the Cards move downfield for their third TD drive of the quarter. Of course Jets fans are upset about this development but it underscores that as bad as Big Red looked in the first half, they are still a formidable team, especially on offense.

The big play in the series is Warner's 32-yard completion over the middle to Larry Fitzgerald, beating Kerry Rhodes' blitz up the gut. Three plays later, rookie RB Tim Hightower muscles over from a yard out. A small success comes when the Jets bat away Warner's two-point pass. Had the Cards connected, they'd be a TD, a two-point conversion and a FG down. Now they're two TDs away from a one-point win, down by 34-21.

But Brett Favre and the offense finally get it together and restore order to the game on a 12-play, 70-yard drive of their own. Helped by two Cards penalties and perhaps an overemphasis on Coles (who has eight catches for 105 yards at this moment, including four third-down conversions), Favre finds Jerricho Cotchery for only J-Co's second reception of the day.

But this one is big. It goes for 17 yards and a TD and puts the Jets back in three-TD control, 41-21, with 11:50 to play.

It is Favre's fourth touchdown pass of the game, marking the 19th time he's thrown for four or more TDs in his storied career.

And the last time the Jets scored more than 41 points, it was the 42-17 win over the Packers to end the regular season and lift the Jets into the 2002 division title and playoffs.

Yet as quick as the Jets opened it back up, the Cards closed it back up. In two minutes and one second, Warner finds Anquan Boldin for an 8-yard score and with 9:49 left it's 41-28. The Jets are still blitzing, but the Cards' strong passing game is winning the battles in the man-to-man passing duels that are resulting.

But Eric Mangini and Brian Schottenheimer, not to mention Favre and Cotchery, may have driven the final nail into the Arizona coffin this day. Facing fourth-and-1 at the Cards 40, the Jets decide to go for it, even calling a timeout to set up the play. It looks like a handoff to Thomas Jones, and the Cards jump their line at the last second to try to stuff the middle.

But it's a play fake and a beauty, and Cotchery is running free to the post down the middle of the field. Favre hits him in stride for a 40-yard score, his fifth TD pass of the game and J-Co's second scoring grab. It's now 48-28 with 7:26 to go. The 48 points is tied for the fourth-most points in a game in franchise history.

And it's the fourth time Favre has thrown for five TDs in his career, the most recent game coming 10 years and a day ago, on Sept. 27, 1998, for the Packers.

The Jets are faced with a difficult fourth-down call on fourth-and-8 from the Cards 26. They've exhausted the Cards' timeouts but need another score to keep the visitors at bay. Jay Feely tries a 44-yard field goal from the left hash that fades wide left. It's still a 13-point ballgame with 3:06 left.

But on the first play the Jets' pass rush, rabid in the first half, dormant in the second, rises up again as David Bowens picks up his second strip-sack of the game, Calvin Pace recovering at the Arizona 29.

Yet even this isn't enough to slay Big Red on this Arena League kind of day. The Jets have a fourth-and-5 at the 24 at the two-minute warning.

No problem. Again on fourth down, Favre goes for the downs and again the Cards turn a receiver loose. This time it's TE Dustin Keller open running down the left side for the 24-yard strike. Leon Washington runs it in for two to make it 56-35 with 1:54 left.

Six TD passes in a game is the most in Favre's 18-year NFL career. It ties the Jets' franchise record, set by Joe Namath when he outdueled Johnny Unitas at Baltimore in 1972. And the Jets' 56 points are the second-most in franchise history, behind the 62 points the Jets put up against Tampa Bay in the Meadowlands in 1985.

There's no quit in the Cards, who move downfield again. But with 27 seconds Boldin suffered a head-jarring collision with Jets S Eric Smith at the goal line on an incompletion. Smith gets up and walks off, but Boldin is surrounded by Cards and Jets players and medical staff as he lies on the turf. His head and neck are finally immobilized and he's taken off the field on the cart after what Jets radio play-by-play man Bob Wischusen called "a very scary hit." We'll report on Boldin's condition as we find out more about it.

Eric Allen's game story will be up on newyorkjets.com in a short while. I'll have a final Radar entry from the locker room, and Tim Carlson will report on the Jets' pass rush that reawakened at just the right time to help Favre and the offense prevail in this remarkable game.