JETS ARTICLES TUE 10/31

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/466779p-392789c.html

Stunned Jets live with call

BY RICH CIMINI

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006

The players watched the play over and over, and it looked the same to them every time: Chris Baker's controversial non-touchdown should've been ruled a touchdown. They felt that way after seeing it live, and the replay only reinforced their opinion.

"I'm no Isaac Newton," guard Pete Kendall said yesterday, "but it seems to me that if he wasn't pushed, he would've come down inbounds."

Unfortunately for the Jets, the 17th-century English scientist wasn't the field judge in Sunday's 20-13 loss to the Browns. As Newton said, what goes up must come down, but the leaping Baker didn't come down in the same place. And the Jets couldn't get any help from the NFL's 21st-century replay system.

Eric Mangini reviewed the tape but he refused to criticize the call, which was deemed a judgment call and therefore wasn't subject to instant replay.

"If I was the official, I would always rule for the Jets. Unfortunately, I can't," Mangini said. "He made the decision he made, and that's the decision we have to respect and deal with."

The Jets didn't make a big stink about it, but, make no mistake, they were stung. They felt Baker was forced out of bounds by safety Brodney Pool, that their tight end would've landed with both feet in the end zone if he hadn't been sideswiped in mid-air. It would've been a game-tying, 24-yard touchdown pass from Chad Pennington with 59 seconds remaining.

One official, believed to be the side judge, ruled in favor of the Jets. But the field judge, Buddy Horton, convinced referee Mike Carey that it was no catch. The act of force isn't reviewable, according to the NFL.

Mangini said the play will be included on the list of questionable calls the Jets routinely send to the league office each week for clarification. If the league agrees it was a blown call, it may deliver an unofficial apology to the Jets.

Even if he gets a "sorry-we-goofed" response from the NFL, Mangini said he wouldn't share it publicly because it's "internal communication." But he did say he'd like the league's competition committee to examine the "force-out" rule and whether it should be reviewable.

"Where you stand depends on where you sit," Mangini said. "I just think it's something definitely for us to talk about. We have the ability to present ideas as an organization, and that may be one we talk about. But there's nothing we can do right now."

According to a league spokesman, the competition committee "has looked at many issues and concluded that replay should remain focused on objective facts involving lines and the ball, and not be involved in plays like pass interference, holding and force-out that are more purely judgment."

Poor judgment, according to the Jets. "Now that I've seen the replay, I know I was going to come down inbounds," Baker said. "There was no way possible I was going to jump out of bounds. But it didn't go that way."

The controversial call overshadowed a poor game by the Jets, who blew a chance to hit their midseason bye at 5-3. Their old bugaboos - running the ball and stopping the run - loomed large against an opponent that began the day with only one win.

The Jets had overcome those weaknesses in previous wins, but it was too much on a day in which Pennington (two interceptions) played one of the worst games of his career.

So where does that leave the Jets? Mangini provided a rundown in his team meeting: 2-2 in the preseason, 4-4 in the regular season, 3-3 at home, 3-3 on the road and a zero turnover margin.

In other words, they're all even, but perhaps haunted by what might have been.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10312006/sports/jets/holding_pattern_jets_dan_martin.htm

HOLDING PATTERN

By DAN MARTIN

October 31, 2006 -- The wait continues to find out when, if ever, Curtis Martin will start playing football again.

The Jet running back was eligible to come off the Physically Unable to Perform list two weeks ago, and coach Eric Mangini had previously said a decision regarding the Martin's future would be made this week.

Yesterday, however, Mangini ruled out that prospect, saying the team would not make a move with Martin until next Tuesday - the last day Possible - after consulting with the front office, medical staff and Martin himself.

"It gives us the maximum amount of time to speak with everyone involved," Mangini said of the 33-year-old Martin, who had surgery on his right knee in December.

Since being placed on the PUP list before training camp, Martin was forced to sit out the first six weeks of the season. The Jets then had a 21-day period to either put him back on the active roster and have him practice to some degree, or end his season, via keeping him on the PUP list or placing him on Injured Reserve.

Mangini said yesterday he thought Martin would be better served waiting the full three weeks since this is a bye week for the Jets, and they won't have a full week of practice.

The lack of a move this week certainly doesn't get Martin any closer to a return to the field, but Mangini insisted he was still a part of the team.

"He's worked like everybody else," Mangini said. "He's there with everybody else. He's not out with the guys, but he's with the guys. It's not a ceremonial position where he just shows up for meetings."

*

Kevan Barlow, acquired by the Jets during the preseason when it became apparent that Martin would not be ready, wasn't productive in Sunday's 20-13 loss to the Browns.

"Hopefully it's not my role, five carries in a game," said Barlow, who gained 16 yards Sunday. "I think it came down to personnel. Leon [Washington] runs a lot of single-back [plays], which I wasn't able to take part in [in camp]. But he's doing the job, so why fix it if it's not broken?"

Barlow wanted to make sure everyone knew he wasn't unhappy.

"I'm not complaining at all," Barlow said. "I'm happy here. There's nothing I can do about it."

*

The Jets surrendered 147 yards on the ground Sunday.

"We need to be more consistent," Mangini said.

"A lot of it is technique," DE Bryan Thomas said. "It can be corrected..."

Mangini said he would give the players the latter part of the week off. He plans on spending time with his family, including going trick-or-treating today.

"Hopefully they won't throw eggs," Mangini said, referring to the latest defeat. "Maybe I'll where a mask."

dan.martin@nypost.com

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10312006/sports/jets/too_little__too_late_jets_mark_cannizzaaro.htm

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

By MARK CANNIZZAARO

October 31, 2006 --

QUARTERBACK F Chad Pennington (11-of-28, 108 yards, 2 INTs, 21.1 rating) looked sharp early and then got unsettled. He was uncharacteristi cally errant with a number of high throws.

RUNNING BACK D Bad day for last week's star, Leon Wash ington, who rushed for 51 yards on 15 car ries and lost a fumble that led to a Browns' FG. Kevan Barlow (5-16) didn't have a carry in the second half, appearing to be injured.

WIDE RECEIVERS D No big plays for this group. Laveranues Coles had four catches for 40 yards and Jerricho Cotchery had five for 43 yards.

TIGHT END C Chris Baker (1-17) should have been the hero of the game, but his apparent game- tying, one-handed catch was ruled out of bounds at the end.

OFFENSIVE LINE D Pennington was sacked once, but there was pressure on him for much of the game. The run blocking was just OK.

DEFENSIVE LINE D DE Shaun Ellis had six tackles. Kimo Von Oelhoffen had three, as did Bobby Hamilton and NT Dewayne Robertson, who also had a QB hurry. Browns RB Reuben Droughns burst through the first line of defense too easily.

LINEBACKER D Bryan Thomas had six tackles and a sack. Eric Barton had a team-high 10 tack les, a sack and two QB hurries. Victor Hobson and Jonathan Vilma had eight tackles each. Hobson had a QB hurry that turned into a whiff on a big scramble by Charlie Frye.

SECONDARY C S Eric Coleman had nine tackles and a pass defended. S Kerry Rhodes had five tackles. CB Justin Miller gave up a touch down and had a key pass interference penalty. Rookie Eric Smith had an interception.

SPECIAL TEAMS B+ Miller had a 99-yard kickoff return for a TD and averaged 40.3 yards on four re turns. He botched the first return, though, letting it bounce to him. Tim Dwight had a very good day with an average of 13.8 yards on four punt returns. The coverage teams did a good job.

KICKING GAME A- K Mike Nugent kicked FGs of 27 and 47 yards, missed a 52-yarder and had one kickoff that went out of bounds. P Ben Graham had a 51.3-yard gross average and a 51.0 net average. His 69-yard punt late in the game allowed the offense to attempt a comeback.

COACHING D Something has to be done with the base defense, which is getting gashed by the run and is not putting enough pressure on the QB. Finally, in desperation, defensive coordina tor Bob Sutton dialed up some blitzes late and they pressured Frye into some mistakes and sacks.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/10312006/sports/jets/bad_judgment_jets_dan_martin.htm

BAD JUDGMENT

By DAN MARTIN

October 31, 2006 -- It didn't take long for Chris Baker to catch a glimpse of his last-gasp catch in the waning moments of the Jets' loss Sunday to the Browns.

"I saw the highlights on TV as soon as I got home," the tight end said. "I knew I would have been in as soon as it happened. But when I saw the play, it just confirmed it."

But the highlight also confirmed that while Cleveland safety Brodney Pool blasted Baker out of bounds, the referees felt he wouldn't have gotten his feet in.

"I'm not Isaac Newton, but to me, he would have landed inbounds," Pete Kendall said. "It's unfortunate it came to that. A lot of games do. When you leave the game in somebody else's hands, [it] doesn't always turn out the way you want."

That leaves the Jets just where they were at game's end: A 4-4 team that lost to a struggling Browns squad after playing poorly for too much of the game.

And like he did Sunday, head coach Eric Mangini chose yesterday to focus on the plays that caused the Jets to be in such a dire situation at the end of the game, rather than the one that sealed their fate.

"There were over 130 plays prior to that play and a lot of things we could have done better so that it wouldn't come down to a judgment call on fourth down," Mangini said. "And that's what it was. A decision was made and we have to live with that."

Mangini added that the organization puts together a tape of disputed calls and sends them to the league and that this week would be no different.

"We're going through the formal process we do every week," he said.

As they put that tape together, the team will no doubt see the plays, leading up to Baker's near-reception, that cost them a winning record as they head into this week's bye.

They'll see a game in which they passed for 108 yards and ran for 88.

"It shouldn't have come to that point," Laveranues Coles said of the Baker play. "We need to be more consistent. We left a lot of plays out there."

But the one everyone kept coming back to was that last one, when Chad Pennington deftly avoided the oncoming rush and lofted the ball beautifully to Baker, who hauled it in and managed to hang on to it despite being drilled by Pool.

"The ball was in play," Baker said. "It wasn't fading out of bounds. There's nothing we can do about it now. It's obviously tough. It's a game we needed to have."

Perhaps they would have if the play had been allowed to be reviewed, but because it was a judgment call, it could not be reviewed.

"When you're on this side of it, you'd love for it to be reviewed by the competition committee," Mangini said. "On the flip side, you think, 'Great call.' "

Mangini thought all the discussion was irrelevant.

"To me, such a bigger issue is the 130-plus plays that we had to not put ourselves in that position," the coach said. "To me, that becomes the bigger lesson. Foot-stomping over one call would be counterproductive."

Which means the Jets are a .500 team in every sense of the word.

"We were 2-2 in the preseason, 4-4 in the regular season, zero in giveaways and takeaways, 3-3 at home, 3-3 on the road," Mangini said. "That's what we need to look at, how to improve ourselves."

dan.martin@nypost.com

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/ny-spwally314954817oct31,0,3557528.column?coll=ny-sports-columnists

NFL needs to fix rule

Wallace Matthews

October 31, 2006

It isn't often that everything that is wrong with a rule, and the league that lives by it, is exposed as completely as the NFL and its replay rule were exposed Sunday afternoon in Cleveland.

Yet no one involved has the slightest interest in rectifying the wrong done to the Jets. Hell, nobody will even acknowledge anything out of the ordinary took place.

Understand that this column is not being written by a Jets fan, or a guy who took the points, or some fantasy geek who has Chris Baker and Chad Pennington on his roster.

However, if you fit into any of those categories - and I'm guessing plenty of you do - you had every reason to feel burned Sunday and even more reason to feel burned today.

Because if you have a replay rule, ostensibly designed to prevent the kind of egregious officiating mistake that could cost a team a victory, and you don't use it on the deciding play of the Jets-Browns game, then when do you use it? Why do you even have it?

If the apparent forceout of Baker in the end zone on what could have been a game-tying touchdown pass doesn't warrant an official review, then instant replay is just another way of wasting time during a football game, like having to endure John Mellencamp trying to sell me a truck every five minutes.

The NFL, always so glib when it comes to justifying its many hypocrisies and inconsistencies, says the play was not reviewable because it was "a judgment call."

I have news for the NFL. The only absolute in a football game is the coin toss. Everything else in the game is a judgment call.

When a quarterback dives for a first down and is pushed back, how do we know for sure that the football broke the plane of the first-down marker?

When a receiver tiptoes along the sideline, how do we confirm whether he had both feet in bounds?

To answer these and other relatively foolish, trivial questions, replay and field officials will take exhaustive measures, examining every possible angle, to get the call right.

But the most important play in this particular game is not even eligible?

Try explaining that one. Not even the NFL would. The league's spokesman, Greg Aiello, did not return calls yesterday.

What makes even less sense is that the Jets slunk away from the scene of their own mugging without so much as a whimper of protest. But then, Eric Mangini may be a baby among NFL head coaches, but he already knows how the game is played.

"It was a judgment call, [the official] made the decision he made, and that's what we have to accept," he said yesterday. "There's nothing we can do about it. There were 130 plays prior to that play. We should not get into a situation where it comes down to a judgment call on fourth down."

Mangini's unwillingness to excuse the abysmal play of his team, and especially his quarterback, is admirable. It also is disingenuous, because despite what Mangini said yesterday, his face told a different story on the sideline Sunday night.

He knew he and his team had gotten hosed. He also knew it would be better for him and his team to take their beating and move on.

He had seen Pennington finally throw a good pass, and he had seen Baker go up to get it clearly within the boundaries of the end zone. He knows that the law of gravity is no judgment call, and that an airborne 258-pound man likely will fall straight back to Earth.

He knew it was not the winds off Lake Erie that blew his tight end out of bounds. As the TV replays clearly showed, it was contact from a defensive player, which according to NFL rules is an illegal means of causing an incomplete pass.

But on this night, the NFL didn't choose to enforce that rule. It didn't choose to look at that replay. It didn't choose to use the one device it likes to claim, in its limitless arrogance, sets it apart from all those other, fallible pro sports leagues.

The NFL's head of officiating, Mike Pereira, is prone to boasting, "I love it when we're right!" after seeing a replay that vindicates his officials.

But like the rest of the NFL, Pereira had nothing to say yesterday, and it's probably just as well.

At least the videotape doesn't lie.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjets314954815oct31,0,3848401.story?coll=ny-jets-print

Not replaying it inside heads

Jets follow example of coach, not whining about TD that wasn't

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

October 31, 2006

Perhaps the most obvious sign that the Jets are following closely behind the lead of coach Eric Mangini came in the last two days. In light of the questionable call on tight end Chris Baker's near-catch in the end zone Sunday, there was hardly any "We wuz robbed!" whining, no blustering over a bad call, hardly any fiery reaction. The Jets seemed content to quietly fade into the bye week with a 4-4 record rather than raise a storm of complaints.

The apparent attitude: These things happen.

The underlying message: It shouldn't have had to happen.

Even yesterday, after he reviewed the play, Mangini would not commit to saying it was a bad call (though he did say it would be included in the weekly package of plays the Jets send to the NFL for clarification).

"It was the call that we have to deal with," he said. "If I were making the decision, I would cheer for the Jets and I would have gone with the Jets. But they made the decision based on the look that they had. We respect that."

Baker, who continued to politely insist he would have come down in bounds had he not been pushed out by Browns safety Brodney Pool, tempered his comments by calmly saying "It's one of those things" and "There's nothing we can do about it now."

Baker said that attitude trickles down from Mangini and his team-wide policy of a five-second rule; a player or coach has five seconds to celebrate a good play or feel down about a bad one, then must move on.

"Part of it is the things Eric has instilled in us," Baker said. "We can sit there and whine about it, but it's not going to change anything. What can you really do? Call the league and say, 'Hey, they missed this call'? It's not going to tie the score."

After a subpar overall performance against the Browns, the Jets did have that chance to tie the score with 59 seconds left when Chad Pennington threw a fourth-and-4 pass to Baker in the end zone. Baker made a stunning one-handed grab that would have made it 20-19 and set up a potential tying extra point, but he was ruled out of bounds. Replays indicated Baker might have landed inbounds if Pool had not made contact, but the call was not reviewable.

Mangini said he was not disappointed by any perceived lack of passion over the play. "I think foot-stomping over one call and one play is counterproductive," he said. "To me, the foot-stomping should be over the other 130 plays."

Some players tiptoed around the subject. "That's a money question," receiver Laveranues Coles said when asked about it, referring to the NFL's policy of fining critics of officiating and, perhaps, Mangini's house rules on dissent. Guard Pete Kendall was one of the few Jets players to outright object to the call.

"I'm no Isaac Newton, but it seems to me that if he wasn't pushed, he would have come down inbounds," he said after viewing a replay. "The guy makes the judgment call, it's right or it's wrong. It is what it is. But when you leave the game in someone else's hands, it doesn't always work out the way you want."

Kendall recalled playing for the Seahawks against the Jets in the notorious 1998 game at the Meadowlands - "We're still waiting for Vinny to cross the goal line," he said yesterday of a play in which quarterback Testaverde was credited with a touchdown - and said the team's reaction to that situation was more severe. That loss eliminated the Seahawks from the playoff hunt and went a long way toward the dismissal of coach Dennis Erickson and his assistants. To the players, that change meant the imminent introduction of a new coaching staff and roster turnover with effects on their job security.

"The ripple effect on that one was far more significant than what this one is going to be," Kendall said. "We realize that we had other opportunities that we didn't take advantage of [sunday]. The situation that happened, it happened. It was our fault for letting it get there. But it didn't go our way, so you move on."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/466780p-392791c.html

RB Kevan Barlow, who had only five carries in Sunday's loss to the Browns, sounds like he's getting frustrated with his diminishing role. "Hopefully, it's not my role - five carries," he said yesterday. Barlow is losing carries to rookie Leon Washington, although he insisted he wasn't complaining. "He's doing a good job," Barlow said. "Why fix something that's not broken?" . . . Jets, on their bye week, will practice today and tomorrow.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjnotes314954819oct31,0,3671431,print.story?coll=ny-jets-print

Just for kicks

Mangini said he has approached Ben Graham about his ability to handle kickoffs, but has been hesitant to let him work on them for fear of disturbing his punting. Mike Nugent sent a kickoff short and out of bounds Sunday and has only two touchbacks in 35 this season. His 60.6-yard average is 30th in the NFL.

Jet streams

Kevan Barlow stressed he is not complaining, but he is looking forward to getting more than the five carries he had Sunday ... Mangini announced the bye week schedule: practice today and tomorrow before breaking tomorrow night for the weekend.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/466718p-392753c.html

Sunday, on the Jets radio network, play-by-play man Bob Wischusen was apoplectic over officials ruling that Chris Baker was out of bounds on that "apparent" 24-yard, fourth quarter touchdown pass from Chad Pennington.

Wischusen's head had to be spinning Linda Blair-style. Instead of spitting a stream of green pea soup, Wischusen was regurgitating invective designed to: 1) demonize the zeebs who made what he believed was a bad call while 2) placating some Jets fans who will spend a week whining about the call.

He said the officials provided the Browns with a "brutal" break. He said they "robbed" the Jets of a chance to send the game into overtime. Wischusen went on and on about this. So much so, listeners were wondering if he was working solo in Cleveburg.

Silly me, I thought the play-by-play guy's job description was to paint the word picture, not anoint himself as judge, jury and executioner. That's the analyst's job.

And when Wischusen finally decided to come up for air, Marty Lyons, the analyst, chimed in. In a few seconds, Lyons highlighted what anyone who had not erased almost four quarters from his or her memory already knew. Lyons was not dealing in some Candyland fantasy. He showed great respect for the audience. He did not treat us like morons.

"The Jets," Lyons said, "should have never put themselves in the position to leave this game in the hands of the officials."

Or, as Ray Lucas said on SportsNet New York's Jets postgame show: "The Jets offense was nonexistent. This was a debacle from start to finish."

The basic premise of these comments was simple. If you can't make your own breaks, don't count on the officials to bail you out - especially in the NFL. The big upset in the NFL is when a game goes by without an official making an horrendous call.

Or without some play-by-play man making excuses.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nj.com/jets/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1162274903290230.xml&coll=1

Baker maintains that officials were out of bounds on call

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

BY DAVE HUTCHINSON

Star-Ledger Staff

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- After watching replays of tight end Chris Baker's apparent 24-yard, fourth-down touchdown catch with 1:06 left to play being ruled out of bounds in a loss to the Browns on Sunday, the Jets are more convinced than ever they were robbed.

One official ruled Baker made the leaping, one-handed grab out of bounds. Another said he was forced out of bounds, which would've given the Jets the touchdown. After the group of officials huddled, the play was ruled a no-catch and the Jets lost, 20-13, to the Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

A league official repeated yesterday that the decision on the field was simply "a judgment call" and nothing further is expected to come of it.

"Yes. Absolutely," said Baker when asked if he was 100 percent sure he would've landed inbounds if not for a big hit by Browns safety Brodney Pool. "I jumped toward the end zone, not toward the out-of-bounds. I definitely would've come down inbounds. But we didn't get it and we have to move on."

"I don't think there's much dispute," guard Pete Kendall said. "But they made the ruling they made and it's not reviewable. ... Anytime you leave it up to chance at that point, it can be human error, whether the league thinks there was or there wasn't. The only person's opinion who matters has already spoken. He made the call on the field."

Mangini, who said he hasn't heard from the league, said he plans to ask the league for clarification on the ruling of the play. He said he was more upset with his team for what it did during the "over 130 plays prior to that play" that allowed it to be in that position.

Pressed on if he thought it was the correct call, Mangini said, "I think when you're on this end of it, you would love for it to be reviewed by the competition committee. Maybe if I was on the flip side ... great call. Where you stand depends on where you sit."RB Kevin Barlow, who had only five carries for 16 yards vs. the Browns compared to 15 rushes for 51 yards by rookie Leon Washington, said his time will come.

"Like I said, I'm just taking it week-by-week and things might change," he said. "We have a bye week and it's another week for me to pick up some more offense and I might get more playing time against New England."Asked his thoughts on the Jets (4-4) after the first half of the season, Mangini said, "We talked about that, too, (yesterday). We said, 2-2, in the preseason, 4-4 in the regular season, zero in giveaway/takeaway, 3-3 at home and 3-3 on the road. That's just where we're at."Mangini said he'll use the bye week to self-scout the rest of the league. The Jets will practice today and tomorrow and then have a four-day weekend before reporting back to work on Monday. ...

Mangini plans to go trick-or-treating with his sons, Jake and Luke, tonight on Halloween. Jake will dress up as the cartoon fish Nemo, Luke will be Crush and Mangini says he'll be Marlin, the father of the fish.

"I want Jake (and Luke) to have a cool dad," he said smiling.CB Kevin Dyson is nursing a sore right ankle/foot but he was walking without a limp yesterday.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxMDYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwMTI4NjkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2

Jets fish for some answers

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

By RANDY LANGE

STAFF WRITER

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- The Jets' bye week has begun, so tonight Eric Mangini will be taking his sons out on Halloween.

His older son, Jake, will go as the Disney clownfish Nemo, his younger son, Luke, as the turtle Squirt. Mangini will go as Nemo's dad, Marlin.

"I don't think I'll go actually in the whole gear, maybe just a hat," Mangini said. "That, or a penguin, I haven't decided."

This actually ties into the Jets. As Deion Sanders said on NFL Network about them after their 20-13 loss at Cleveland on Sunday:

"They're tricking me one week and treating me the next."

That's been the Jets. One week they look like they can beat all the weaklings on their schedule and make an improbable playoff run. The next, they lay a goose egg at Jacksonville or get winded by the one-win Browns.

The Jets could go trick-or-treating as a green glass of water: Is it half-full or half-empty?

"We were 2-2 in the preseason, 4-4 in the regular season," Mangini tallied. "We're zero in giveaway-takeaway, 3-3 at home, 3-3 on the road. That's just where we're at. And to me, how we work and how we make progress and the things we do that we completely control are going to affect the next eight games."

The Jets begin their bye with full practice days today and Wednesday. Then come four days away from the team and healing bumps and bruises.

They have a number of parts that need fixing, but several stand out as major areas in need of Mangini consistency with the big, bad Patriots and the undefeated Bears coming up after the break.

RUNNING GAME: Chad Pennington had a quarterback's nightmare, but it wasn't all because of his unusually errant passing -- the rushing offense regressed at Cleveland.

"We've had points," wide receiver Laveranues Coles said, "where our offense has looked unstoppable, and there are points we can't seem to get out of our own way."

The good points often come when the running game is cooking and Pennington is play-faking off of it. Rookie Leon Washington and Kevan Barlow were bottled up by the Browns' good defense, and the Pats held the Jets to 51 yards in Game 2.

RUN DEFENSE: When the 3-4 is operating at peak efficiency, said guard Pete Kendall, who's practiced against the alignment, "There are no gaps, it's hard to get distortion, and the three down guys and the offensive linemen get into kind of a rugby scrum."

But the Jets keep getting scrambled -- they fell to a Mangini-low ranking of 29th in rushing yards allowed, despite having a fairly good idea the Browns would pound Reuben Droughns at them much of the game.

"We're not going in thinking we're not going to stop the run," linebacker Bryan Thomas said. "Certain things in the game just break down a little bit. A lot of it is run fits, hand placements, whatever we're not doing in our respective techniques."

PASS RUSH: Good run stopping would help here. So would better coverage and improvement in blitz effectiveness.

But the good news is the Jets rang up three sacks of Charlie Frye in their last three drives. With that burst, they moved past the Redskins, who now have the NFL's worst sack rate.

"We had a sense of urgency to try to get back in the game," safety Kerry Rhodes said of the defense's strong finish in general.

"We rallied. We made stops when we needed."

The trick for Mangini and staff is to find ways of getting that effort earlier and longer in games. The treat of an interesting second half depends on it.

E-mail: lange@northjersey.com

[Sperm Edwards]

http://blogs.trb.com/sports/football/jets/blog/2006/10/100th_jets_blog.html

100th Jets Blog!!!

By Tom Rock

A rather auspicious occasion, hitting the century mark here. Alert the media! Oh wait, that's me!

I think 100 episodes means we’re ready for syndication, which is where the big bucks are. I kind of wish I had something significant to report for Number 100 (or Numero Cien as Chad Johnson would say). Instead, I’ll just relay one of the fun happenings from Jetsville on this Halloween Eve.

Eric Mangini was still deciding on his costume today, a day before he takes his kids Jake and Luke trick-or-treating. The Mangini Men were all set to go out as the Finding Nemo family with Jake as Nemo, Luke as Squirt (he’s the surfer-dude little sea turtle for those uninitiated) and Eric as Marlin. But the coach started to back away from that a bit, not sure if he could pull off the clownfish costume. “I don’t think I’ll go in the whole gear, maybe just a hat,” he said. (How about a Florida Marlins hat, which would work on several levels???)

Then Mangini said he might go as a penguin, referring to his nickname among the players. That presented a whole new set of options. “I have a couple of different ideas, the Batman Penguin or Chilly Willy,” he said. “There are a lot of different avenues.”

Someone suggested he wear a tuxedo for his penguin costume.

“I just don’t know of kids today relate to Tennessee Tuxedo the same way,” he said. “I would hate to be the dad everybody is looking at, ‘Who brought this guy to the party?’ I want Jake to have a cool dad.”

It was quickly brought up that if Mangini goes door-to-door with the kiddies, he might quickly be engaged by a neighbor over the Chris Baker play. That added a whole new wrinkle to the costume drama.

“Maybe I’ll wear a mask,” he concluded. “That’s probably the safer route to go.”

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061031/SPORTS01/610310359/1108/SPORTS01

Team won't raise furor over call

By ANDREW GROSS

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original Publication: October 31, 2006)

HEMPSTEAD — Upon further review, the Jets still won't throw a public tantrum over the last-minute, non-touchdown throw to tight end Chris Baker in Sunday's 20-13 loss at Cleveland.

"That's one of them money questions, man. You've got to stay away from those,'' Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles said yesterday when asked for his opinion. "You watch the film. You watch the catch. Everybody draw your own conclusions. It really doesn't make a difference at this point.''

Baker leapt to make a one-handed catch of Chad Pennington's 24-yard fourth-down pass. But Baker was knocked out of the air and out of bounds by flying Browns safety Brodney Pool. The play was deemed not eligible for review because it was ruled Baker landed out of bounds, not forced out.

Television replays seemed to show Baker would have landed in the end zone if his flight path had not been deflected.

"That's why I said (Sunday), 'Let me look at it,' " Baker said. "Now that I've seen it, I know I was going to come down. There was no way possible I was going to jump out of bounds. The ball was in play, it wasn't fading out of bounds.''

Jets coach Eric Mangini said the team would follow its normal procedure and send a package of plays it considered questionable or wanted explanations for to the league office. However, Mangini termed that "internal communications'' and said the answers would not be disclosed.

But he did admit he'd like the NFL Competition Committee to consider whether such instances should be reviewable.

"I think foot stomping over one call and one play is counterproductive,'' Mangini said. "To me, the foot stomping should be over the other 130 plays. It's not the one play on fourth down at the end of the game.''

The NFL has been known to throw a hefty fine around for criticizing its officials. Venerable Steelers owner Dan Rooney was just fined $25,000 for saying the officials "should be ashamed of themselves'' following Pittsburgh's last-second loss to the Falcons on Oct. 22.

But one person not subject to such fines expressed his belief that the Jets were robbed.

"That's a horrible call,'' said NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders, who might be expected to side with a defensive back.

On the agenda: Second-year kicker Mike Nugent had a tough time with his kickoffs Sunday. His first curved out of bounds at the Browns' 23-yard line, and Mangini said the wind was not a factor as Nugent tried to place the ball to set up the Jets' kick coverage. His three subsequent kicks went to the Browns 13, 16 and 1.

Meanwhile, punter Ben Graham launched a career-best 69-yard boot. Mangini acknowledged he might eventually try out the Australian as a kickoff specialist.

"I've talked about developing different skill sets based off the strength of his leg,'' Mangini said. "We don't want to do that too much in season because it could affect his punting. But those are things we would definitely talk about in the offseason.''

Schedule set: Yesterday was team picture day. Today and tomorrow, there will be practice. Then the Jets will enjoy a four-day break for the bye week before reconvening Monday.

While Mangini likes dangling rewards, players said this was the schedule set last week and the team did not lose out on any time off as the result of losing to the Browns.