In what has to be the least-shocking NFL development of the year — ok, second-least shocking behind Pacman Jones starting another fracas — it’s starting to look like NFL league officials are not fond of the Patriots … and really like the Jets and Brett Favre.

(What? You mean the NFL is sick of this guy? Really?)

I know, it’s shocking. When you pick your jaw up off the floor, PROFOOTBALLTALK.com explains how we finally know that the NFL is pulling for the success of the New York franchises, particularly since a certain number 4 is slinging the ball around in a green and white jersey these days. Both NFL V.P. of football operations Ray Anderson and another league official walked down the tunnel beneath Gillette Stadium to congratulate Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum after the Jets’ overtime victory against the Patriots last Thursday.

Not only has the league pulled the original video from YouTube, citing a psuedo-bogus copyright claim, but has since ramped up it’s excuses for the tunnel interchange, releasing another statement directed at PROFOOTBALLTALK’s Mike Florio just a couple hours ago. Pretty interesting that the league would decide to address the video more than a week after it trickled out, when it’s now been seen by thousands on YouTube and here.

“Ray Anderson and other league officials were headed into the officials locker room when they ran into some of the Jets. It’s common courtesy to say congrats to the winning team,” McCarthy said. “At Gillette Stadium, the visiting team locker room and the officials locker room are adjacent to each other so people headed to the officials locker room had to go by the Jets contingent.

That sounds like far too easy an excuse. Look, it’s really not a shock that the league is fed up with the Patriots. Between SpyGate, a coach who dresses like he’s stealing from a YMCA lost and found bin and the team’s complete media saturation during four separate Super Bowl runs, it’s fairly natural for the NFL front office to be sick and tired of dealing with New England.

Of course, that doesn’t mean its ok for them to admit their Boston-area disdain, or to let it be seen on the internet in the form of congratulating a rival. This is the first season in recent memory when there really is a chance, albeit a fairly remote one, of a Subway Super Bowl. The Giants have been dominating the NFC. The Jets are on the rise in the AFC, and the quarterbacks for those teams having Manning and Favre written on the back of their jerseys. Naturally, that’s the game the NFL wants to see.

That doesn’t make celebrating with the Jets after a regular season win excusable, even if NFL V.P. of corporate communications Brian McCarthy thinks it does.