Bodog Beat

New York Jets fans can put that whole Brett Favre thing behind them, but they can't expect too much going into the new season, either. Talk about a brutal schedule.

The NFL's schedule-makers didn't do the New York Jets any favors this season, handing them the league's seventh-toughest schedule – although that's mainly due to the Jets playing in the very tough AFC East. Well, the NFL's decision-makers didn't do the Jets any favors this week, either, when they suspended linebacker Calvin Pace for the first four games of this upcoming season.

Pace, the team's best linebacker, violated the league's performance-enhancing substance policy, so it's not like he left NFL officials much choice in the matter. Pace said the positive test "resulted from an over-the-counter dietary supplement that contained a substance that I did not know violated the league's policy. I am responsible for what I put into my body, and I should have paid closer attention to the league's guidelines."

Indeed. And with this news, the Jets will enter Week 5 at 0-4. Pace is eligible to return to the Jets' active roster on the day after the team's Oct. 4 game against the New Orleans Saints.

Pace, who can take part in training camp and play in preseason games, led the team last year with 12 tackles for loss (fifth in the NFL) and five forced fumbles (including a TD return). He was second on the team in sacks with seven and had 80 tackles. How valuable was he? When Pace had at least a half-sack in a game last year, New York was 6-1. He had two sacks in Week 15 last year against the Bills, and that was the only game the Jets won among their final five.

Now the team has to count on disappointing 2008 rookie first-rounder Vernon Gholston to get pressure on the quarterback. He had just 13 tackles and zero sacks last year, including being inactive for a game, and reportedly hasn't been too stellar this offseason, either.

Take a look at the Jets' first four games: at Houston, vs. New England, vs. Tennessee, at New Orleans. That's three pretty good offensive teams. Frankly, the Jets, who are 40/1 odds to win Super Bowl XLIV on Bodog, were likely going to be underdogs in all of those even before Pace was suspended. But also remember this team is having to learn a new defensive philosophy under first-year head coach Rex Ryan and probably will be starting a rookie quarterback in Mark Sanchez on opening day.

Sorry, Jets fans. It's going to be a long season, and your team might not win a game — or even be favored to win one — until mid-to-late October.

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