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LB dept. : LAST game...& dinner....together ~ ~ ~


kelly

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Jets linebackers likely to play last game together after four successful years

Saturday night, as they have done for every road game, Bryan Thomas, Bart Scott, David Harris and Calvin Pace will get together for dinner at some yet-to-be-determined restaurant in Buffalo. Not the most expensive one but the one with the honest-to-goodness best food. In the past, they’ve gone to a steakhouse, a barbeque joint, or for seafood – though the worst one they’ve experienced was in Toronto when sardines were the delicacy of choice.

And they’ll talk.

“Reminisce about the good, the bad, talk (smack) to each other,” Thomas said.“We go out, talk about what’s going on in each other’s lives. What’s going on throughout the team and the season – everything. Whatever we talk about we talk about.”

It will probably be the last one for the four.

Last week, defensive coordinator Mike Pettine admitted the reality that this will likely be the last game the four linebackers will be together four. They’ve been the Jets’ starting unit since Bart Scott came to the team along with Rex Ryan. They’ve been in the middle of a No. 1 defense and the core of one of the most successful periods in the franchise’s history.

But the end is near.

Scott and Pace are 32 years old and Thomas is 33 – and as Pettine noted, the economics of the league will help break them apart as well.The four have come to be as much friends as teammates. During the season, the linebackers would sometimes get together at Scott’s house to watch Monday Night Football, eat, and play pool. It’s another tradition that will likely be broken.“Things change,” said Thomas, who is doubtful for tomorrow due to a chest injury. “Us four have been together four years. It’s been great playing with them guys. But (that’s) how this game and this business works.”

Thomas has already been hit by the cruel nature of the NFL this season. He was cut for a weekend in September when he was injured and the Jets needed a roster spot. He received texts asking what happened and simply replied that he would return that Monday after the game.“You forget that it’s a business because you start to form a bond with people,” Thomas said. “Guys and staff and coaches and management will be around so long that you forget its business and start to form a bond between them. Relationships and friendships on down the line and you forget those things. When that happened, reality set back in. But it’s over with. I have no regrets.”

> http://www.nj.com/je...ely_to_pla.html

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It's hardly BT's fault for not being a HOF safety. That's on Herm & Bradway.

But it's on BT to give less than a half-ass effort a year after he got a 5-year deal for big money.

It's symbolic of Jets organizational ineptitude. Every Jet fan I know wanted Ed Reed, the fans were screaming for Ed reed, but somehow Bradway knew better and took a small school workout warrior. It just goes to show that sometimes the fans know more than the professionals.

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It's symbolic of Jets organizational ineptitude. Every Jet fan I know wanted Ed Reed, the fans were screaming for Ed reed, but somehow Bradway knew better and took a small school workout warrior. It just goes to show that sometimes the fans know more than the professionals.

And Bradway wanted Russell Wilson!

Woody is prepared to add ANOTHER bigmouth ex-GM to his stable. Good luck with that backstabbing crap.

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It's symbolic of Jets organizational ineptitude. Every Jet fan I know wanted Ed Reed, the fans were screaming for Ed reed, but somehow Bradway knew better and took a small school workout warrior. It just goes to show that sometimes the fans know more than the professionals.

Wasn't just Bradway. Bradway may very well have taken Reed if not for Herm's genius idea of moving Shaun Ellis inside in a failed effort to turn him into a 6'5" Warren Sapp. Otherwise we already had two good young first round DEs on the roster and still under their rookie contracts for 3 more years apiece. Painfully stupid. But hey, we did just add Sam Garnes the prior month and Damien Robinson a year earlier (who showed little other than super-stupidity bringing a loaded weapon to the game like a week after 9/11 or something, plus that idiocy with Kyle Turley). So what would we ever want with a stud safety prospect there?

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It's symbolic of Jets organizational ineptitude. Every Jet fan I know wanted Ed Reed, the fans were screaming for Ed reed, but somehow Bradway knew better and took a small school workout warrior. It just goes to show that sometimes the fans know more than the professionals.

I'll never forget that draft. It was my first year bar tending at a huge sports bar in college. I was working during the draft and the Jets got on the board and I was freaking out. Positive we'd take Reed. All the regulars were praising me and saying he'll be great, its exactly what you need...and then BOOM!!!! The Jets select Bryan Thomas. It was a collective jaw dropping moment which led to a run down of all the Jets draft day blunders.

For the rest of my life, when I hear the name Bryan Thomas, I will immediately associate it with Ed Reed.

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I'll never forget that draft. It was my first year bar tending at a huge sports bar in college. I was working during the draft and the Jets got on the board and I was freaking out. Positive we'd take Reed. All the regulars were praising me and saying he'll be great, its exactly what you need...and then BOOM!!!! The Jets select Bryan Thomas. It was a collective jaw dropping moment which led to a run down of all the Jets draft day blunders.

For the rest of my life, when I hear the name Bryan Thomas, I will immediately associate it with Ed Reed.

My cousin called me to tell me and I said , "Who?" "WTF?"

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If all the Jets draft picks were 10+ year starters like Bryan Thomas the franchise would be in better shape. The perfect is the enemy of the good around here.

and btw the Jets really could have drafted rumph or lito sheppard. those were real possibilities.

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don't let the hecklers get you down bit, i for one appreciate that you're willing to take controversial stands. even the pros get it wrong plenty and for cowards to point to a few calls you got wrong as some sort of indictment, well that's on them in my opinion.

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If all the Jets draft picks were 10+ year starters like Bryan Thomas the franchise would be in better shape. The perfect is the enemy of the good around here.

and btw the Jets really could have drafted rumph or lito sheppard. those were real possibilities.

A team full of BT-level players starting for a decade doesn't win you a championship, which is ultimately all that matters. Drafting a mix of stars and scrubs will yield better results than a roster filled with solid, but unspectacular players.

And yes, Heaven forbid the Jets had instead drafted a player that went to two Pro Bowls and was an All-Pro selection like Sheppard instead of a stalwart like Bryan Thomas... it would have set the franchise back decades.

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A team full of BT-level players starting for a decade doesn't win you a championship, which is ultimately all that matters. Drafting a mix of stars and scrubs will yield better results than a roster filled with solid, but unspectacular players.

And yes, Heaven forbid the Jets had instead drafted a player that went to two Pro Bowls and was an All-Pro selection like Sheppard instead of a stalwart like Bryan Thomas... it would have set the franchise back decades.

BUT ED REED HASN'T WON A TITLE SO BRYAN THOMAS WASN'T SO BAD

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Bryan Thomas would have been a very good 4th round pick.

IIRC he was under weight for his position and the JETS has to hire someone to help him gain pounds. For a season or two looked like he was a bust. And then he was able to up his level of play to become a good enough player for his position.

Not what you expect from a 1st round pick.

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