In the chill of a late-October election season, it's high time for a referendum.

On Chad Pennington.

Well...sort of.

While it's true the reigning AFC offensive player of the week won't be dinking and dunking around Ralph Wilson Stadium when the New York Jets visit the Buffalo Bills this weekend, the varying levels of success those two have had facing Pennington's new team and others may shed light on his more celebrated successor.

For example, Chaddy and the Fins were beaten by Bretty and the Jets on opening day in September, but rallied in the second half last week to stun the first- place Bills in Miami. Advantage: New York.

In Week 2, Pennington was pulled by new coach Tony Sparano on the way to a humbling 31-10 loss to the Arizona Cardinals - a team the Jets later routed with six Favre TD passes, but one the Bills convincingly lost to, 41-17, behind a 33-completion day from Kurt Warner. Advantage: New York.

Of course, Miami got a super-efficient 22-for-28 day from Pennington in Week 5 en route to a 17-10 defeat of perennial AFC powerhouse San Diego, which ripped Favre and the Jets, 48-29, in Week 3 while losing a 23-14 decision to the Bills 28 days later in Orchard Park. Advantage: Buffalo.

So what's it all mean when the long-time AFL rivals get together for the 95th time since 1960?

Probably not much.

But it makes for interesting copy.

Regardless of your allegiance, it's clear that since eschewing the low-risk, low-reward approach of Pennington for the high-energy, high-error mindset favored by Favre, the Jets have been equal parts electric and enraging through seven games in 2008.

The Green Bay expatriate tossed two classic "Favre" touchdowns in the defeat of the Dolphins, then stunk out the joint in consecutive follow-up losses to the Patriots and Chargers.

He was reinvigorated for the career-best single-game touchdown total in the aforementioned blowout of the Cardinals, but has served up just three scores alongside seven interceptions in three games since - though, in the interest of full disclosure, two have resulted in victories.

Overall, the 39-year-old has tossed 11 interceptions against 15 touchdowns.

"We have a lot of potential," said Favre, whose TD total ties him for second in the league.

"If I clean up those mistakes and we get back healthy, I think we can be pretty good."

Meanwhile, the Pennington-like "game management" style has worked wonders overall in Buffalo, where first-year starter Trent Edwards has completed at least 60 percent of his passes in all seven games while never exceeding 279 yards or a single touchdown in any one contest.

The Stanford grad has relied on myriad weapons in steering the Bills to five wins in seven games, getting 450 yards and six rushing touchdowns from second- year back Marshawn Lynch and connecting with wideout Lee Evans for 637 pass yards and three aerial scores.

Edwards has just five TD passes and three interceptions through seven games, though his passer rating of 92.9 is third in the AFC and dwarfs the 89.5 mark posted by Favre in the same time frame.

Additionally, the Bills are 3-0 at home in 2008 and have averaged 27 points per game.

That said, angst still reigned after the loss in Miami.

"I think a lot of it had to do with field position and a lot of little mistakes and missed assignments and it's kind of frustrating," Edwards said. "We made mistakes that got us beat, and that's what's frustrating.

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