It's become open season on Brett Favre around New York since the Jets completed their collapse last weekend in a 24-17 loss to Miami. What's more, the criticism isn't only coming from the media and talk radio.

"There was a lot of resentment in the [locker] room about him," one Jets player told Newsday.

"He never socialized with us, never went to dinner with anyone," the player said. Asked to describe Favre in a word, the player said: "Distant."

Running back Thomas Jones put his name next to his comments, coming on WQHT-FM in New York.

"The reality is, you throw interceptions, I'm [ticked] off, I don't like it. You know what I'm saying? I don't like it, I know everybody else on the team doesn't like it."

Guess we know at least two people that won't be in Favre's next Wrangler jeans commercial.

The most valuable players in Miami this week just might be the members of the Dolphin Stadium grounds crew.

In the span of eight days, the staduim will be the stage for three games of big-time significance. That means nearly around-the-clock painting and landscaping of the field surface. It began with this past Thursday's Orange Bowl, continues with today's 1 p.m. game between the Dolphins and Ravens and concludes Thursday night with the BCS championship game between Florida and Oklahoma.

What? No WPIAL playoff games?

You'd like to think Titans rookie running back Chris Johnson would like to take back his comments after Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was named offensive rookie of the year. The AP awards are selected by a panel of 50 media members. Johnson seems to think he would have been a winner if the players voted. "The whole thing is bogus because people are voting for it that are not on the same field as the people who are playing," he said. For the record, Ryan passed for 3,440 yards and helped a team that was 4-12 a year ago into the playoffs. Johnson (1,228 yards) wasn't even the leading rookie rusher, trailing Houston's Steve Slaton (1,282) and Chicago's Matt Forte (1,238).

This marks the first time in the Super Bowl era that two rookie quarterbacks (Baltimore's Joe Flacco, Atlanta's Matt Ryan) have started in the playoffs. The only other rookie arms to start in the playoffs since 1966 were Dan Marino (1983 Dolphins), Bernie Kosar ('85 Browns), Jim Everett ('86 Rams), Todd Marinovich ('91 Raiders), Shaun King ('99 Buccaneers) and Ben Roethlisberger ('04 Steelers).

NFL rushing champ Adrian Peterson admitted this week that he had been running on a bum left ankle for the better part of the last three games of the regular season, not just in the finale vs. the Giants when it became obvious after a hit. ... This postseason is anything but the same ol' same ol'. Seven of the 12 playoff teams are new from last year, including five of the six in the NFC. The lone NFC holdover: The defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants. ... Greg Cote of the Miami Herald lists the Steelers atop his Super Bowl rankings because their "awesome defense is champion quality."