JETS ARTICLES - WED 1/3

[Sperm Edwards]

[i haven't read any other articles yet this morning, but this first one - though long - is excellent.]

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=175062

Let’s put focus on field: Lots to watch for with Jets in town

By Michael Felger/ Patriots Insider

Boston Herald Patriots Beat Columnist

Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - Updated: 02:09 AM EST

FOXBORO - We love writing about Bill Belichick’s disdain for the New York Jets [team stats] and his relationship with Eric Mangini as much as anyone (see below), but at some point you have to turn your attention to the field.

There you will find a host of key matchups and things to watch as the Pats and Jets gear up for Sunday’s wild card matchup at Gillette Stadium.

Here are a few:

* The most remarkable thing about the Jets is how uniformly unremarkable they are. They ranked 25th in the league this season in offense, 20th in defense. They were 18th in points scored. Their turnover margin was even, tied with four teams for 17th in the NFL. They were 21st in red zone offense, 19th in red zone defense.

There are only three areas in which the Jets were substantially above average: Third-down efficiency (fourth at 43.8 percent), kickoff return average (fifth at 24.1 yards) and points allowed (sixth at 18.4 per game). They have just one Pro Bowler: rookie returner Justin Miller.

The Jets are the classic example of a team that plays greater than the sum of its parts.

* Perhaps the No. 1 area of focus for the Pats this week will be pass protection.

In their 17-14 win in Foxboro Nov. 12, the Jets got to Tom Brady [stats] like few teams have before. Certainly, the Pats have lost their share of one-on-one battles against the likes of Jason Taylor and Aaron Schobel over the years, but the Jets did it through confusion and disguised looks. In other words, they outsmarted the Pats as a team. That rarely happens.

The Jets called 28 blitzes on the day, the most they’ve dialed up this season, and they came away with four sacks, six hurries and a forced fumble, which Brady recovered. How the Jets dial up the pressure this week, and how the Pats counter it, will be perhaps the most intriguing storyline of the game.

(Other than the coaches, of course).

* One of the Jets’ best players has been rookie center Nick Mangold, who did not give up a single sack while starting all 16 games. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the only time Pats nose tackle Vince Wilfork [stats] really struggled this year was in the Nov. 12 meeting. That’s why the return to full health of Wilfork, who missed the last three games with a sprained ankle, and the new FieldTurf installed at Gillette Stadium will be in focus on Sunday.

In a related story, the Pats were without Ty Warren [stats], their best defensive lineman this year, in the November game, which necessitated a banged-up Richard Seymour [stats] (elbow) moving to the left side. Now Warren is 100 percent and Seymour is back on the right side. That should be a big difference from the last meeting.

Jets rookie left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson has given up 10 sacks this season.

* In the teams’ first meeting, a 24-17 Pats win in New Jersey Sept. 17, the Pats used a 4-3 base defense for one of the few times this year. And aside from a few big plays late in the game, they stifled the Jets. Then in the second meeting, the Pats went to the 3-4, were gashed by a dink-dunk-approach by the Jets and never switched back to a four-man front. Afterward, some players talked about the Pats not making “adjustments,” and you have to wonder if this was what they were talking about. It will be interesting to see how the Pats come out this time.

* The Pats will have to find a way to keep safety Kerry Rhodes out of their kitchen, something they were unsuccessful in doing in both meetings. Rhodes totaled 20 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the two games. He stands as the top example of a condition that has afflicted the Pats all season, as opposing safeties, not having to fear any deep threats on the outside, have had field days creeping up against the Pats offense. The Pats have to find a way to keep Rhodes in the deep part of the field.

Speaking of which, an injury to starter Andre Dyson has given the Jets a rotation at cornerback featuring David Barrett, Miller and Hank Poteat (yes, that Hank Poteat). If the Pats receivers can’t make plays against that JAG (“just another guy”) trio, then they’ve got serious issues.

* You have to wonder when or if Pats rookie kicker Stephen Gostkowski will be called on to win a game. On the other side, Jets kicker Mike Nugent enters the postseason on fire, having made 18 kicks in a row.

* After their troubles last week against Pacman Jones, it will be interesting to see how the Pats’ coverage units respond against Miller.

* The Jets running game is unspectacular, ranking 20th in the league. Their leading rusher, rookie Leon Washington [stats], totaled 650 yards and four touchdowns this season. Kevan Barlow, projected to be the lead back when the season started, won’t even play Sunday. Cedric Houston will be the complement to Washington.

But the Pats can’t go to sleep against the Jets backfield. That’s because offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer has found different ways to get Washington the ball, and the rookie has proven to be a threat on screens and draws in much the same way Kevin Faulk [stats] fills the role with the Pats. The Pats linebackers, who have been spotty in coverage at times, will have to be on the lookout.

* Perhaps the best reason to feel good about the Patriots [team stats] is that they’ve cleaned up their turnover problem heading into the postseason. They went the final three weeks without a single giveaway, finishing the year tied for fourth in the NFL with a +8 turnover margin.

Hatred runs deep

Jeffrey Kessler can still picture it.

It’s 2 a.m. on a freezing January night in New York and Belichick is holed up at Kessler’s law firm.

It’s 2000 and the legal maneuverings between Belichick and the Jets have been going back and forth for nearly a month, with then-NFL chief counsel Jeff Pash having already ruled against the coach in an arbitration hearing.

Yet here was Belichick, hunched over a table, poring over legal documents, helping his attorneys prepare an antitrust case to take to federal court.

That’s how badly Belichick wanted out of the Jets’ organization.

“I remember him going at that task with the same energy and strategic planning he puts into his coaching,” said Kessler, the noted labor attorney who served as Belichick’s lead counsel through the ordeal.

Fans know that Belichick hates the Jets like poison, but the roots have been lost to history. Here’s a refresher:

Belichick was basically head coach of the Jets on three separate occasions, one when Bill Parcells moved from the Pats in 1997, once during the 1998 Pro Bowl and for a final time following the 1999 season. Belichick had taken a bonus from late owner Leon Hess to succeed Parcells, but when the moment of truth came late in 1999, Belichick found that Parcells was staying in the organization and that both his and the Tuna’s contract gave each final say on the roster.

In other words, the job Belichick was being given was not the one he had been promised, which is why he felt he was in the right to break his contract and move on to the Pats. It’s why he handed then-team president Steve Gutman a hand-written note explaining that he was retiring as the “HC of the NYJ” on the very morning he was meeting the press to take the job. Gutman infamously responded by saying at the press conference that Belichick was in “turmoil.”

More than four years later, Belichick still wasn’t over it. The date was Jan. 15, 2004, and the Pats were preparing for a divisional playoff game against the Colts in Foxboro. The game had nothing to do with the Jets or New York, but that’s still the day Belichick levied one of the best blasts in memory during an interview with the New York Post.

“I can’t think of anybody in professional sports, and certainly in my 30 years of professional football, who has said more and won less than Steve Gutman,” said Belichick.

Zing!

There is some evidence that the Patriots tampered with Belichick prior to the end of the 1999 season and that he was well aware of what awaited him in New England, that is, final say. But as we all realize now, there rarely seems to have been a time between the Jets and Pats when there wasn’t tampering involved.

The Jets allegedly tampered with Parcells. Parcells allegedly tampered with Curtis Martin. The Pats allegedly tampered with Belichick. The Jets allegedly tampered with Mangini. Mangini allegedly tampered with Deion Branch. Allegedly. And on it goes.

You are sure to hear a lot of happy talk this week, as Belichick attempts to reverse the tenor of the discussion regarding Mangini. In fact, it was his blatant disdain for his former assistant that may have given the Jets an edge in the second meeting, and it is essentially the root cause of all the media hype this week.

In other words, Belichick brought it on himself. If he had merely treated Mangini the same way he treats Nick Saban every time they meet, the media would have no stories.

But when it comes to the Pats and Jets, sometimes it’s hard to help yourself.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-sphow035038152jan03,0,1560346.column?coll=ny-jets-print

Chad's actions say it all now

Johnette Howard

SPORTS COLUMNIST

January 3, 2007

It would be nice to fully understand all that Jets quarterback Chad Pennington has gone through in the past year to drag himself and the Jets to the juncture they're now at - a Sunday playoff opener against the archrival Patriots, whom they've already beaten once during a 10-6 season in which Pennington turned a lot of straw into gold. But at this stage of his career, you can't count on Pennington to tell us everything anymore. At least not when he's at a microphone.

To get the truest glimpse of what Pennington is feeling, you often have to watch him now during games. Remember that he-man muscle he made after throwing a long TD pass against San Diego in the wild-card game on Jan. 8, 2005, as if to underscore how his oft-maligned arm isn't half bad? Did you see him Sunday, cradling the game ball with both hands after the playoff-clinching win, then happily bobbing in place as if taking the last snap in a season he was finally healthy from start to finish meant the world to him?

Somewhere along the way in the last few years - and the feeling here is it started two Decembers ago, after Pennington finally got so fed up with criticism that he has a rag arm or couldn't win the big game that he gave an angry, finger-pointing lecture to the local media - the 24/7 glare of New York seems to have driven Pennington more inward.

On the field, he'll still show fire and bravado. But put Pennington in front of a microphone now and he becomes Robo-Quarterback, a perfectly nice but intentionally bland man who speaks in football pieties about character and teamwork, but keeps the nitty-gritty details or his deepest feelings shuttered for the most part.

It's a shame in a way because as much as Pennington has been wildly praised this season, the truth is when it comes to eliciting enough wonder or credit, he's still being shortchanged.

The problem with the now-familiar rehash about Pennington's unprecedented comeback from two career-threatening shoulder injuries is it's just the shorthand version. It makes it seem as if those two surgeries he had in 2005 in the space of just eight months are all he's had to overcome this season.

The surgeries were just the start.

Pennington had to do more than devote himself to six to eight hours of daily rehab or mash down his doubts by telling himself, "Take baby steps." Remember last March when Pennington agreed to take an 11th-hour, $6-million pay cut and incentive-laden contract just to stay with the team? Remember the uncertainty he later had to ride out as the Jets debated whether to use the No. 4 pick overall on one of the hotshot quarterbacks in the 2006 draft?

As it was, the Jets still took strong-armed Kellen Clemens with their second-round pick. Then rookie head coach Eric Mangini declared the quarterback job an open competition and Pennington's incumbency meant nothing. He received only the same number of practice reps as Clemens or veteran import Patrick Ramsey. He had to leave the team for a few days in the preseason, and word leaked out only later that his father had survived a heart attack. Then came more anxiety, another indignity: Mangini held off naming Pennington his starter long after it seemed obvious to everyone else.

And that's still not all. Jets Hall of Fame running back Curtis Martin never made it back onto the field, leaving Pennington to win games with a new offense, a 5-8 rookie running back and a line featuring a rookie center and rookie left tackle protecting his blind side. So Pennington did.

When Pennington took the first nasty hit on his throwing shoulder in a preseason game, plenty of Jets didn't exhale until he got up. Late in the season, not much had changed. When Texans rookie Mario Williams drilled Pennington with a vicious hit that left him writhing, an awful hush fell over Giants Stadium when he didn't get up ... and then he didn't get up.

But Pennington not only hauled himself to his feet. As he jogged off for one snap, he started flapping his arms and egging on the roaring crowd to let everyone know Williams' hit wasn't enough to keep him down.

It was a nice moment. Almost as nice as watching Pennington jump for joy and cradle that game ball to his chest Sunday as a gift to himself - yet another on-field gesture of his that spoke volumes.

At the microphone later, Pennington finally let a bit more slip out. He spoke about how he no longer takes anything for granted. But he didn't really have to say it.

Between the lines, it showed.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjets035038148jan03,0,1428148.story?coll=ny-jets-print

Why not them?

Even after proving naysayers wrong, Jets getting little respect

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

January 3, 2007

No one came out and said "I told you so," likely because no one had actually said it to begin with. But mixed in with the feelings of elation and joy that pervaded the Jets' locker room following Sunday's playoff-clinching win over the Raiders was a tone of vindication.

"I'm glad I'm not in the business of making predictions," left guard Pete Kendall said of the dire reports many in the media provided at the beginning of the season, prognostications that proved to be quite wrong. "I never took personal offense at what people from the outside said. It seemed, I guess, relatively well thought out. But the perception and the reality that I saw when we got together in August, there was quite a bit of difference. I'm not going to sit here and say that I thought at that point we were a 10-win team, but I knew that what I had read and what I was seeing were two different things."

The Jets trudged through the season, overcoming bad losses to the Browns and Bills, earning emotional wins over the Patriots and Dolphins, and now head into the playoffs. Finally, this team gets some respect.

But then comes the nine-point spread from Vegas, even though the two Jets-Patriots games this season were decided by an average of five points, one of them a Jets win, and five of the last eight meetings were decided by a touchdown or less. Following closely behind are the statistical analyses, pointing out that the Jets are ranked 25th in overall offense, 20th in overall defense and 24th in rushing defense. Then come the backhanded compliments, about how the Jets have had a nice season and it's an accomplishment just to be in the playoffs, but how can they compete with the dynasty Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have forged in New England?

The Jets played 16 games to escape the doomsday predictions that were floated in August, only to emerge and find similar thoughts in January.

"I don't really put much stock in what people from the outside think or say about us," Kendall said. "We know that we control our own destiny, so whether people think we're a one-and-done team or we're going all the way. If we play poorly, we're a one-and-done and if we play well enough, we'll see where it winds up. There's nothing that any talking head or pundit is going to do to affect that."

The Jets may not be putting any weight into the buzz surrounding their wild-card game against the Patriots in Foxborough on Sunday, but they certainly hear it. Whether it rankles them, drives them or amuses them depends on the player.

Tight end Chris Baker said he's pretty sure about the answer most teams would give when asked whether they preferred to play the Jets or the Chiefs, the other AFC wild card.

"People would probably say they'd rather play the Jets, that nothing jumps out at you on film," he said. "They don't do this well, they don't do that well. That's been the perception all year. They're a product of this or that or whatever. I think we had a pretty good year."

Linebacker Matt Chatham has been on the other end of the Rodney Dangerfield scale of respect when he won three Super Bowls with the Patriots. He said the NFL is set up for teams like the Jets to outperform any preseason naysaying.

"This is such an odd league that we have where you can come in and do anything each year," Chatham said. "I know the mentality of this city is tough and expectations might not have been quite as high for us, but any team in the league should have the expectations that they are going to do things until proven otherwise."

Which is why the Jets refuse to believe they don't have a very good chance to win Sunday.

"Why wouldn't we?" receiver Laveranues Coles asked. "When you say we don't have a chance, it's probably the same people who are doubting us. Look at who's saying we don't have a chance. How smart have they been this far?"

Wild-card playoff game

Jets at Patriots

Sunday, 1 p.m.

TV: Ch. 2

Radio: WEPN (1050), WABC (770),

WRCN (103.9)

Line: Patriots by 8 1/2

Key matchup

Newsday breaks down a key matchup each day leading up to Sunday's game in New England.

Previous matchups:

D'Brickashaw Ferguson vs. Richard Seymour. Edge: Patriots

Reche Caldwell vs. Hank Poteat. Edge: Jets

Justin Miller vs. Laurence Maroney

One foot. That's how much better the Jets' Justin Miller was than the Patriots' Laurence Maroney when it came to returning kickoffs this season, topping the NFL with a 28.3-yard average compared to the rookie's 28.0. Where Miller separated himself was in touchdowns (he had two, including a 103-yarder) and volume (his 46 returns were fewer than only one other returner whose average was in the top 10). Although Miller hasn't busted one loose since Week 8, he has been steady, averaging 26.0 yards during the second half of the season and 25.7 in the last four games. In what is expected to be a slugfest Sunday, every foot of field position will help. Edge: Jets

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.newsday.com/sports/football/jets/ny-spjnotes035038126jan03,0,2436436.story?coll=ny-jets-print

Mangini still wary of Harrison

BY TOM ROCK

Newsday Staff Writer

January 3, 2007

Eric Mangini has read the reports about Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, but his reaction is he'll have to see it to believe it.

"Until you see that Rodney is not out there, we are going to plan that he is, unless we get some official word that he's definitely out," Mangini said. The teams will issue their first injury reports of the week today.

Harrison suffered a knee injury in the regular-season finale against the Titans on what some Patriots thought was a dirty block by receiver Bobby Wade. The Boston Herald first reported that Harrison suffered a mid-level MCL sprain and could miss two to four weeks.

Harrison sat out the Jets-Patriots game in November after he broke his shoulder blade, missing six games in all. He was also unlikely to play when the teams faced in Week 2, recovering from a knee injury, but was on the field for the Patriots' win.

"There were rumors that he would not be out there before our first game, and one play into it, he's out there causing problems," Mangini said. "We'll have to hold off on that one."

Back to reality

In the afterglow of Sunday's playoff-clinching win over the Raiders, there seemed to be two schools of reaction. The younger players were very excited, while the veterans remained stoic.

"For me, I'm very excited," cornerback David Barrett, a seven-year veteran, said of the emotions after the game. "Other guys, they take it as it comes. Some young guys don't know how to act yet."

Defensive tackle Bobby Hamilton, who has won two Super Bowls, said the team quickly fell into line with the veteran mentality of remaining focused. "We have to be professional," he said. "We have to look at it and say 'We're here, there are 12 teams here, and it's about who can take their game to another level.' "

Injury bug

After avoiding injuries for most of the season, the Jets could be faced with some critical wounds Sunday. C Nick Mangold and RG Brandon Moore suffered knee injuries against the Raiders that caused them to be helped off the field, though both played the entire second half. CB Andre Dyson's knee kept him off the field against the Raiders. S Kerry Rhodes was slowed in practice last week by a knee injury, and long-snapper James Dearth had an air cast on his left wrist on Monday.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01032007/sports/jets/ex_ray_vision_jets_mark_cannizzaro.htm

EX-RAY VISION

By MARK CANNIZZARO

January 3, 2007 -- Mickens' career, which has spanned 11 seasons, nine of which were with the Jets as one of the top nickel cornerbacks in the business, has taken him to New England, where he was signed as a free agent a month ago.

The reason for his cram session of studying is Sunday's AFC wild-card showdown between his new team, the Patriots, and his former team, the Jets.

And, as Mickens knows well, having played for Eric Mangini before, preparing for a Mangini-coached team is as daunting as preparing for a Belichick-coached team.

Mickens conceded yesterday, in a conversation with The Post, that he couldn't help but smile when he saw the playoff scenarios unfold Sunday and when the dust settled it was Jets-Patriots, 1 p.m. Sunday.

"Man, this is a big game,'' he said. "I had a wonderful career with the Jets and that's where it ends. I'm a New England Patriot now and I'm going to do everything I can to help the Patriots win.''

Mickens said he still has numerous friends in the Jets' locker room with whom he speaks regularly. There hasn't been and will not be any friendly phone conversations with former teammates this week, though.

"No, I stay away form that,'' he said. "What I've got to do here, making sure I'm prepared, is more important than giving a friend a call this week.''

Despite the fact he was cut by the Jets on the last day of training camp this past summer, Mickens holds Mangini in high regard.

"I really don't have any bad blood feelings about their decision,'' Mickens insisted. "I shook hands with Eric and Mike (Tannenbaum, the GM) before I left.

"I felt like I was having a good camp coming back off sports hernia surgery. It was really just a decision to keep Derrick Strait, a younger guy. They did what they felt was best for the team, and obviously they're in the playoffs so it worked out.''

Strait, of course, was jettisoned later.

Mickens went home to Dallas, worked out, stayed ready, and got a call from the Patriots' Scott Pioli in early December.

Now Mickens will try to help beat the team he made his career with.

"I feel blessed to be up there, to be back with coach Belichick, the guy that helped my career substantially when I first started,'' Mickens said. "He taught me how to be a professional. I played for him for three years (with the Jets) and I've carried those same standards with me even when he wasn't my coach anymore. To be reunited with him is a blessing.''

Mickens recalled the days when Belichick was Jets defensive coordinator and the defensive players couldn't wait to get to work on Wednesdays to see what kind of game plan he concocted for that week's game.

"He was always doing something differently,'' Mickens said.

There is a similar pattern going on with Mangini and his players. Mangini, like his mentor Belichick, is constantly shaking things up so no opponent can get a beat on any tendencies.

That is the most fascinating element to Sunday's game: How Belichick counters the things Mangini was so successful with in the Jets' 17-14 November victory in Foxborough, and how Mangini shakes things up this time.

Mickens, because of the combustible and sensitive nature of the complicated Belichick-Mangini relationship, steered clear of getting into too much analysis of the two.

"This week,'' Mickens said politely, "I'm not going to be comparing those two guys. I'm not going to get into that. I have respect for Eric as well as the other (Jets) coaches. I respect Eric whole-heartedly.

"I told people the Jets were going to be successful with Eric as head coach. I believed Eric was going to get that thing turned around.''

The question is whether Mangini has the Jets turned around and good enough to overcome Belichick's playoff-tested Patriots in their own building.

Mickens wouldn't touch that topic either, but the feeling here is that the Mangini Jets do, indeed, have the stuff to beat the Belichick Patriots.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01032007/sports/jets/familiar_fallout_jets_mike_vaccaro.htm

FAMILIAR FALLOUT

By MIKE VACCARO

January 3, 2007 -- JEFF Van Gundy has walked in Eric Mangini's shoes before, felt the raging waters of loyalty and loathing collide within his bloodstream. He knows what it's like to be shunned by a man he used to lionize, for whom he gladly would have taken a bullet, for whom he willingly worked endless strings of 20-hour days.

"Until you go through this, it's hard to understand all the things that are going on in your mind and in your heart," Van Gundy said yesterday from Houston, a safe geographical distance removed from the growing intrigue surrounding Sunday's meeting of Eric Mangini's Jets and Bill Belichick's Patriots, the better part of a decade removed from when he played the role of faithful protégé forever trying to earn the respect of an exacting mentor named Pat Riley.

"It goes beyond that, though, especially when you factor in New York and what that means, and the media, and what that means," Van Gundy said. "Every time you shake the other guy's hand, everyone wants to know what it means. Every quote you say, everyone wants to know what that means."

Van Gundy paused, then chuckled.

"Let me ask you something," he said. "What do you think people really want to see? Do they want to see a big bear hug after the game, the two guys smiling at each other, letting the world know there's no hard feelings? Really? Here's what they'd say then: They'd say the one guy (Belichick) has a soft spot for his old assistant, and they'd kill him for that. And they'd say the other guy (Mangini) isn't tough enough to be his own man, and they'd really kill him for that. These things will work out when it's time for them to work out."

They worked out for Van Gundy, who toiled under four other coaches during his time as a Knicks assistant but always was most closely identified with Riley, the icon in Armani against whom he wound up squaring off four consecutive years in the playoffs, winning three of those series.

It was after the second of those epics, in May 1998, that Van Gundy first understood the frost that can form when the student too quickly surpasses the teacher, when Riley ripped Van Gundy for his part in the Garden brawl that marred Game 4 of the best-of-five, immortalized forever in the picture of Van Gundy clutching Alonzo Mourning's leg.

Two days later, after the Knicks blitzed the Heat at Miami Arena, the first of three straight seasons they'd eliminate the Heat in a decisive game in South Florida, Riley purposefully turned left out of the old arena's interview room rather than right, choosing to take the long way back to his locker room rather than having to see - and either congratulate or snub - Van Gundy.

"Pretty quickly, you come to the conclusion that whatever you were before, when you worked together whether he was just your boss, or your friend, or whatever - it can't matter anymore when you're fighting for the same thing, especially if you're playing in the same division, the way we were, the way those guys are," Van Gundy said. "Relationships have to change. It's the same way in other businesses, too, it's just that nobody cares if you shake hands or not."

Riley, the ultimate alpha-dog competitor, ultimately granted Van Gundy the only thing he really wanted. In May 1999, after a year had passed, after the Knicks had broken the Heat's hearts again, Van Gundy received a package in Atlanta, saw the familiar handwriting on the outside and a word that made him take pause. It was addressed to "Coach Jeff Van Gundy." In the parlance of Rileyspeak, that was the highest tribute to be offered, and a sign that anger had been replaced, however reluctantly, by pride.

"You learn from these things," Van Gundy said. "Hey, I wound up having to coach some games against my brother, too. That was a lot harder, believe me."

Whether Mangini ever earns a similar nod from Belichick, only the HC of the NEP will ever decide. Van Gundy had to build those bricks when it mattered most, eliminating his old boss in the playoffs before he could earn equal billing. Maybe beating the Pats in Foxboro this Sunday won't be a similar elixir for Mangini. But it would be a good place to start.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nypost.com/seven/01032007/sports/jets/bill_paid_a_compliment_by_mangini_jets_mark_cannizzaro.htm

BILL PAID A COMPLIMENT BY MANGINI

By MARK CANNIZZARO

January 3, 2007 -- Bill Belichick will be on a conference call with New York writers today and the over/under on how many Eric Mangini answers he'll deliver without uttering Mangini's name is 12 - one for each win the Patriots have secured this season.

Mangini, however, has little problem waxing about the good things Belichick has done for him in his career.

Asked the one thing he learned most from Belichick while he coached under him at New England, Mangini said, "I'd say the one thing I took away from that whole New England experience was the value of character. The locker room was filled with character. To me, character wins.

"Character is so important, not just when you're winning, but really when you're losing. When things are tough, when it's hard to come to work, when it's hard to sacrifice because it's not going to the way you want it to go . . . those are the guys that continue to fight.

"If you're down a lot of points, those are the ones that continue to fight. That's probably the thing that I learned, the one thing that if I had to summarize it from that experience was the value of character.''

If only Belichick would show a little more character when asked about his former apprentice.

*

Mangini was asked how he felt about Patriots S Rodney Harrison possibly being out for Sunday's game and he refused to believe it, knowing Harrison's noted toughness. Harrison was injured by a controversial cut block in Tennessee on Sunday, a hit that infuriated his teammates.

"Until you see that Rodney is not out there, we are going to plan that he is, unless we get some official word that he's definitely out,'' Mangini said. "Rodney's tough. There were rumors that he would not be out there before our first game and, one play into it, he's out there causing problems. We'll have to hold off on that one.''

*

Speaking of tough, former Jets CB Ray Mickens paid tribute to one of his former teammates with the Jets, WR Laveranues Coles, who's been banged up all season yet has barely missed a play.

Two games ago, Coles was clobbered on a helmet-to-helmet hit by Miami LB Zach Thomas (who was not penalized in the game but later fined $7,500) and he came back.

"He's been hurt a lot and he's played through a lot,'' Mickens said. "Being his teammate for so many years and playing against him when he was in Washington, I have all the respect in the world for him."

You know he's going to be ready to play, bottom line.

"He's not real fancy, but he's going to get his job done. He wants to win. That's the thing I respected most about him when he was my teammate.''

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/485181p-408486c.html

Jets come back for seconds

But beating Pats twice a Super task

By RICH CIMINI

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

The Jets' upset over the Patriots two months ago in the Foxboro mud was a galvanizing, confidence-building win, according to many players. After seven consecutive losses to New England, they needed that badly.

But there may have been a downside to the emotional victory: They roused the beast - and the beast rarely gets caught napping twice in the same season by the same opponent, which might not bode well for the Jets in their wild-card showdown Sunday in Foxboro.

That explains why Laveranues Coles wasn't too thrilled upon learning the Jets' first-round opponent. He knows the history. Asked if the Jets could benefit from a positive carryover from the previous meeting, Coles replied without hesitation.

"No," he said matter-of-factly. "New England is a totally different team in the playoffs because of the way they prepare and the experience they have. They've won three Super Bowls. They're the team to beat."

Fool Bill Belichick once, shame on him. Fool him twice . . . well, it doesn't happen that often.

Since the Patriots began their run of dominance in 2001, the season they won the first of three Super Bowls, they're 6-1 when they get another crack at a team that beat them earlier in the year. The lone blemish occurred last season, when they lost a rematch with the Broncos in the divisional playoffs. Both defeats, it should be noted, occurred in Denver.

The Patriots are likely to take a different approach with the Jets. Much like his former protégé, Eric Mangini, Belichick isn't opposed to reinventing his team on a weekly basis, depending on the opponent and the matchups.

Example: In the Week 2 win over the Jets, the Patriots threw a changeup, playing a 4-3 defensive front most of the game. In the rematch, they went back to the 3-4, which didn't work particularly well. What's it going to be this time?

Mangini, who was at Belichick's side for those three Super Bowls and the 10-1 postseason record from 2001 to 2005, knows all too well that his former boss is going to cook up a different way to attack.

"There are definitely things you can take away from it - lessons from the first game, lessons from the second game - but their approach is very opponent-specific and it's very game-specific," Mangini said.

A lot has changed since the Week 10 meeting, starting with the field. After that loss, the Patriots replaced their chewed-up grass field with FieldTurf. They're 3-0 on the new surface, allowing quarterback Tom Brady to improve to 22-1 on artificial turf.

Another difference: Defensive end Richard Seymour is healthy and fellow end Ty Warren is back in the lineup. Warren, the Patriots' steadiest defensive lineman this season, missed the last meeting with a shoulder injury. It forced Seymour, hampered by a hyperextended elbow, to play out of position, on the left side.

The perennial Pro Bowler was so ineffective that he was actually benched for part of the game. For a change, the Jets ran the ball efficiently, with Kevan Barlow wading through the muck for 75 yards on 17 carries. That probably contributed to Seymour's grumpy postgame mood, saying Belichick was outcoached by Mangini. Ouch.

Since then, the Patriots have gone 6-1, although they did endure a sloppy stretch in which they committed 11 turnovers in a three-game span. It fueled another chorus of criticism from the doomsayers, who claimed it was a harbinger of doom.

All they did was finish 12-4, ending the regular season with a three-game winning streak that included zero turnovers. The Patriots cleaned up nicely. Now they have the added incentive of trying to avenge a loss.

"They've been giving it to the Jets for a while," Jerricho Cotchery said, "and their confidence level is very high because they're the Patriots."

HARRISON HURT: Patriots safety Rodney Harrison sprained his knee in the season finale and will miss two to four weeks, Boston-area papers reported yesterday. . . . With Andre Dyson (sprained knee) expected to miss his second straight game, the Jets signed ex-Chiefs CB Alphonso Hodge yesterday to their practice squad, according to a league source. Hodge could be signed to the 53-man roster if necessary. They also auditioned Mike Rumph, a former first-round pick of the 49ers, but he wasn't signed. David Barrett replaced Dyson last week in the starting lineup, but their depth is thin at the position.

Originally published on January 3, 2007

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/story/485180p-408483c.html

Vinny feels Super on comeback

When Vinny Testaverde signed with the Jets in 1998, his football fantasy was to play in a Super Bowl for the team he grew up rooting for as a kid on Long Island. He came close, but never made it.

Now Testaverde has a chance to make the Super Bowl as a 43-year-old backup quarterback for the Patriots. The post-season journey starts Sunday against - how freaky is this? - the Jets.

"I chuckled when I found out it was the Jets," Testaverde told the Daily News Monday night.

Testaverde still bleeds green, but not this week.

"I'm excited for their success and I'm happy they made the playoffs," said Testaverde, who started four games last season for the Jets. "I spent a lot of good years there. If this were any other year, I'd be pulling for them. But not this year.

"One of the reasons I came back was to experience a Super Bowl. That would mean beating the Jets because they're standing in our way."

Testaverde signed on Nov. 12, the day before his birthday, to serve as the Patriots' emergency quarterback. Before heading to Foxboro, he called Wayne Chrebet to break the news. "I'm jealous," said Chrebet, who retired last summer.

Testaverde was in semi-retirement, living on Long Island and playing a lot of golf. When the opportunity arose, he jumped at it. Now he's one of the subplots in a game loaded with headlines, including the Eric Mangini-Bill Belichick feud. Testaverde, who knows the Jets-Patriots rivalry as well as anyone, can appreciate a good story.

"You have the whole Mangini-Belichick thing going on, the division rivalry, a lot of little stories," he said. "I'm sure there will be plenty of stuff to write about this week."

Testaverde is thrilled his former understudy, Chad Pennington, was able to rebound from his shoulder injuries. He left Pennington a voice mail earlier in the season, telling him "he was looking good and throwing with a lot of zip," Testaverde said.

This is Testaverde's 20th season, but only his fifth trip to the playoffs. If he plays Sunday, it'll probably mean the Patriots are winning a blowout. Mostly, he serves as a mop-up man and Tom Brady's consigliere.

Testaverde attempted only three passes during the regular season, including a 6-yard touchdown to 35-year-old Troy Brown in a mop-up situation last Sunday in Tennessee. It extended Testaverde's streak to 20 straight seasons with a touchdown pass, a league mark. Some Titans were furious that Belichick put Testaverde in the game, claiming he was rubbing it in.

For Testaverde, it was a blast.

"You know what made it so fun? The guys were really excited," he said. "Some of them were teasing me, saying it was the oldest touchdown connection in the history of the league. I never thought it would happen again."

Rich Cimini

Originally published on January 3, 2007

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxMjEmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwNTAxMjMmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2

Numbers tell story of success

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

By RANDY LANGE

STAFF WRITER

Every NFL veteran worth his salt has a favorite statistic, a sacred index that sums up the quality of his team or his opponent.

Eric Mangini isn't the first coach to stress the importance of turnover margin in winning games. Herm Edwards so valued the riches of a good red-zone offense that Coach Herm tried to popularize a new phrase for inside-the-20 success: "the gold zone." (It still hasn't caught on.)

But Jets defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen, wrapping up his 13th NFL season, puts his faith in a more fundamental stat.

"Points," von Oelhoffen said. "They're the most important thing. You can give up 1,000 yards and it doesn't matter, as long as you don't give up points."

Kimo has a point, and the Jets are Exhibit A. Reflect on this question: Which NFL team has given up the fewest points in the last nine weeks of the regular season? Baltimore? Miami? New England?

Actually, it's good old Gang Green.

To be fair, the Jets are No. 1 in this partial-season category with an asterisk. Since their bye week, they've allowed 102 points in their eight games, an average of 12.8 points per game. The Ravens have yielded 110 points, but they played nine games, for a 12.2 average.

So the Jets were really No. 2 in the NFL in scoring defense the second half of this season.

But how did they sneak up on us like this? Their bottom-feeder rankings, the Rose Bowl parade of 100-yard backs, that anemic pass rush ...

Well, when every defender was saying things were really starting to come together, it wasn't just a collective hallucination. For the season, the Jets are:

20th in total yardage allowed, their highest ranking all year.

24th in run defense, their highest since Week 2.

14th in pass defense, their best all year.

20th in sack rate, a category in which they were last over the first half of the schedule.

No longer last in three-and-out drive percentage. "Third downs are a big down for us," linebacker Eric Barton said after the Oakland playoff clincher. "We knew we had to get the ball to Chad Pennington and those guys and keep the pressure on the Raiders' defense."

So apparently the graft of the Mangini/Bob Sutton 3-4 scheme, even without all the perfect parts, has begun to take.

But how does the Jets' season-long ranking of sixth in points allowed come about? Certainly part of it is playing offensively challenged opponents such as Houston, Green Bay, Minnesota, Miami and Oakland in the last month and a half. None of them scored more than 13 points and the Jets won all five.

Another component is hidden yardage. The Jets had 35 fewer penalties than their opponents, tied for the top with Pittsburgh. They were the only team not to allow a punt return of 20-plus yards. They have the league's leading kickoff returner in Justin Miller.

This blueprint should sound familiar. Bill Belichick's Patriots frequently have had mediocre yardage rankings but outstanding point rankings. In 2003, the Pats led the NFL in scoring defense; this year they're second. In the three Super Bowl seasons their average ranking was third.

So Mangini, a Belichick disciple after all, quickly has taught these Jets how to outscore opponents without Indy-like yardage explosions.

"We're confident about ourselves individually and confident about our defense," linebacker Jonathan Vilma has said. "We know we can stop anybody down the road."

Next they'll go up the road called I-95 for a Sunday rubber match with the Patriots. Another win at Gillette Stadium points the way to San Diego or Baltimore, deeper into the playoffs.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.nysportsday.com/news/jets/1167823480.php

Rookies Lead The Way

by: Brian Bohl | Senior Writer - NY Sports Day | Wednesday, January 3, 2007

HEMPSTEAD, NY - All the tapes of famous boxing matches and hours of film work and preparation cannot completely simulate playoff conditions, where elimination hangs in the balance of every game.

One mistake can mean the end of the Jets’ magical run that started with low expectations in August but turned into a 10-6 record and the AFC’s fifth-seed one season after finishing 4-12. Improved healthy was a major reason for the turnaround, but the youth infusion generated new life around the team.

The fresh faces will get their first experience of playing professional into January against the AFC East champion Patriots this Sunday in Foxboro. While some coaches are hesitant to entrust untested players in the post-season, Eric Mangini will not be in a position to discriminate against his players because of age. Mangini, the youngest NFL coach at 35 years old, just completed his first regular season with a chance to be named Coach of the Year.

Helping to put him in a position to capture an award all years has been the contributions of the Jets’ youngest members. During Sunday’s victory over Oakland at Giants Stadium in the regular season finale, Mangini dressed 16 players with less than two full years of experience.

None of those 16 men have played in an NFL playoff game, something that will change for most of that corps this Sunday in New England. Among that group is rookie running back Leon Washington, who led the team in rushing yards after being drafted in the fourth round.

Kicker Mike Nugent and punter Ben Graham went through some early growing pains as rookies last year, though both have made the special teams unit an asset during this year’s post-season march. Nugent’s 88.9 field goal percentage is one of the top marks in the league, while Graham placed 26 punts inside the opposing 20-yard line.

The rookies’ contributions, from Washington’s two 100-yard rushing games to the play of offensive linemen D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold, contributed to the wild card playoff spot, though Mangini said their willingness to learn from the veterans facilitated the acclimation process from the college game.

Mangini added that the partnership between the old guard and new blood needs to continue as they face a Patriots’ team that feature three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady and defensive mastermind/head coach Bill Belichick.

“The young guys have done a really good job of listening to the older guys who have experience,” Mangini said. “And they need to understand, too, that we are playing a team that's lived in the playoffs for quite a few years and that locker room is filled with playoff experience. We need to match that intensity.”

Washington rushed for 53 yards and a touchdown during a win over the Raiders and helped set-up the last minute victory over the Dolphins the week before after catching Chad Pennington’s screen pass and racing 64-yards to set up Nugent’s game-winning kick. The fourth-round draft picked played behind Kevan Barlow in the Jets’ 17-14 win in New England on Nov. 14, carrying the ball only nine times for 35 yards, though he might be splitting carries with Cedric Houston while getting more involved when the team ventures back to Gillette Stadium.

“They’re a very disciplined team, a team that will take advantage of your mistakes when you make them,” Washington said. “They’re a very well-coached team and have players who have been in this position before and know what it takes to make big-time plays. We’ll have our work cut out for us this weekend.”

It’s easy to say the Jets capitalized on an easy schedule. They posted only one victory against a team with an above .500 record, with that win coming against the Patriots. One veteran—receiver Laveranues Coles—insisted that the previous two meetings can add some insight during midweek preparation, but Belichick is at his best with the pressure increases.

“New England is a totally different team in the playoffs,” Coles said. “When you watch them, they’re the last team you ever want to see in the playoffs, because of the way you prepare and the experience they have. We know we have our work cut out for us, it’s something that we’re just going to have to grit our teeth at.”

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/chargers/20070103-9999-1s3chargers.html

...The Chargers also defeated the Jets last season on the road (31-26), but New York presents a different challenge this season with a new coach (Eric Mangini) and new offensive coordinator with whom Schottenheimer could not be any more familiar.

It's his son, Brian.

“I'm torn,” Schottenheimer said. “I want the Jets to be successful, but I'm not sure how my wife will manage a head-to-head battle between us.”

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/01/03/harrison_wont_play_sunday/?rss_id=Boston.com%20--%20New%20England%20Patriots%20news

Harrison won't play Sunday

Safety Rodney Harrison will miss Sunday's playoff game against the Jets after injuring his medial collateral ligament against the Titans, according to a league source. While the severity of the injury is not known, it is serious enough that he already has been ruled out.

History lesson

Jets coach Eric Mangini turned to the history books to note that the heated rivalry between the Patriots and Jets has included just one playoff game. That came in a 1985 wild-card game at Giants Stadium, a 26-14 Patriots victory that was the first of their three road victories en route to Super Bowl XX

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/01/03/opposing_views_on_the_matchup/?rss_id=Boston.com%20--%20New%20England%20Patriots%20news

Opposing views on the matchup

By Mike Reiss, Globe Staff | January 3, 2007

When Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini address the media today, there is a good chance both will cite the importance of playing solid football in all three phases of the game -- offense, defense, and special teams.

Playing complementary football in those areas is a core part of the philosophy both coaches adopt, and is one reason Belichick's Patriots and Mangini's Jets are squaring off in the wild-card round of the playoffs Sunday at Gillette Stadium.

So what happens when two teams focused so intently on complementary play knock heads? How does one begin to analyze such a matchup?

By hitting the NFL trail, of course, and compiling our own team of NFL coordinators to dissect the three facets of play. Our panel consists of Bills offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild; Texans assistant head coach/offense Mike Sherman; Jaguars defensive coordinator Mike Smith; Packers defensive coordinator Bob Sanders; and Texans special teams coordinator Joe Marciano. Each coach game-planned against both the Jets and Patriots this season and can provide an insider's perspective.

DEFENSES IN FOCUS

While much could be made of the similarities between the Patriots and Jets because they both play a 3-4 alignment, Fairchild sees differences.

"Their schemes are similar, which you'd expect because they come from the same background with Coach Mangini having New England ties, but probably one of the big differences is that the Jets are a little more on the move, not quite as big, whereas New England is a stout, physical group," Fairchild said. "Schematically they start out the same, but no matter who you are, like the West Coast offense, you're going to get a hold of it and put your own stamp on it."

When Fairchild assesses the Patriots' defense, he believes the key is at the line of scrimmage.

"Across the board, they're impressive when their down three are healthy," he said of Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, and Vince Wilfork. "In game-planning for the opener, we studied all summer and had great respect for them in that regard, and they were every bit as good as we thought. Very stout.

"The challenge for an offense is that you're trying to get two hats on the down guys to get movement, and it's hard to get to the linebackers, because those guys tie you up and free their linebackers up. We did some real studies about the best approach to run the ball on the 3-4, and we found that New England is impressive, real hard to knock out of there."

Because of that strength up front, and the difficulty of running against the Patriots, Fairchild said the unit is effective at "getting you into a passing game and then rushing the passer well."

How do the Jets compare?

"They're a little different. The same problems exist, because they are a 3-4 defense, but they do more, they scheme you up a little bit. They got us a few times on some blitzes in the first game that we didn't pick up very well. Personnel-wise, [linebacker] Jonathan Vilma is the place to start. He's a playmaker, very impressive, and he's hard to get to, even as you scheme to get a hat on him."

Sherman also sees differences between the teams.

"Each coach has his own personality and does it his own way, even though they're both in the 3-4 family," he said. "We certainly didn't have all the answers for the New England Patriots. I think the beauty of their approach is that they simplify their game plan specific to you, and stop what you do best. We didn't do a lot of things well, so that wasn't a difficult challenge against us, but they allow their players to play, and play with instincts, without overburdening them. Their game plans will be totally different than the previous week, so they're specific to the opponent, and they do a good job of that.

"On the Jets, their blitz and pressure package was challenging for us. They know that if they get you in certain sets, they're going to come with certain blitz packages."

OFFENSES IN FOCUS

As is often the case when speaking with coaches who game-plan against the Patriots' offense, there is little debate about where the problems start.

"The first thing you have to prepare for is Tom Brady, and what offense they're going to roll out, because they do it all," said Smith. "So you're always concerned about matching different personnel groupings when you play the Patriots. To me, that's the thing, because you're not sure which [approach] they'll roll out and they've gone the whole spectrum, and that can get the chalk flying on your sideline, making adjustments. The thing that happens with Tom is that he's very cerebral, and he is going to have a very good idea of what [defensive call] you're in pre-snap. When he's able to do that, you still may know what he's going to do, but he's going to get the ball out of his hands, and get it to the right person."

Sanders echoed those thoughts on Brady, noting, "It all starts with him, because he's so smart and gets them into the right play." Sanders sees considerable differences between the Patriots' offense and the Jets' offense, saying they are "each unique in their own way." "Tempo" and "no-huddle" are two terms that define the Jets' attack, which is directed by quarterback Chad Pennington.

"Pennington is having a great year for them, he does a great job running their offense, and one of the big things you have to be ready for is that they will give you a lot of different looks, and a lot of pre-snap movements. They don't huddle up, which helps them control the tempo of the game, and they do a nice job with that. Sometimes it's a quick tempo, sometimes it's not. So it starts with Pennington and he's doing a great job executing what they're asking him to do."

Smith, thinking back to the Jaguars' early-season meeting against the Jets, said the no-huddle and substitutions had a significant effect on the tempo of the game. In terms of personnel, Smith locked in on Pennington and two of his favorite skill-position weapons, running back Leon Washington and receiver Laveranues Coles. He noted that Pennington is "very accurate and efficient in the short passing game"; he compared Washington to Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew ("both are strong, short guys who are difficult to tackle"); and he called Coles "one of the best clutch receivers and pressure catchers" in the league.

SPECIAL TEAMS IN FOCUS

Marciano has some advice for fans who might be watching Sunday's game.

"I'd say don't go get a beer any time there is a kick in play, because these are two of the best returners in the league -- with Laurence Maroney and Justin Miller, that's worth the price of admission," he said.

While it's possible Maroney will handle kickoff duties, he hasn't taken returns since coming back from torn rib cartilage two weeks ago against Jacksonville, giving way to Ellis Hobbs, who has also excelled.

In terms of schemes, Marciano believes there are differences between the kickoff-return approach of Patriots special teams coach Brad Seely and Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff.

"Brad has gone more to the wedge this year, whereas in the past, he was not a real wedge team, and Mike uses the wedge but he'll also run some misdirection with Miller, so you have to cover the whole field," he said. "Brad is more straight-ahead, get north stuff.

"On the flip side, the Jets' kickoff coverage will also try to cause confusion, bunching guys up, running motion, it's something different every kick. That can force you to be more simplistic with your scheme, making sure to get hats on hats, getting guys blocked. It's a chess match with the cover game with Mike."

While the schemes might be different, Marciano sees similarities with the personnel. "Overall, these are two of the bigger, physical special teams units we've seen, which is what you get with teams that play the 3-4 defense, those big thumper guys. You also see similarities in that both coaches know how important special teams are, as there are 2-3 players on each team who are there solely to special teams; they may never see the field [on offense or defense]. That's a luxury to have as a special teams coach, and I think you often see that with defensive-minded head coaches."

Marciano also noted the presence of left-footed Jets punter Ben Graham, whose offerings challenged the Texans.

"Sometimes you get a knuckleball from him," he said. "Our guys didn't always feel comfortable catching it."

On the Patriots' side, Marciano doesn't see the changes at punter (Todd Sauerbrun) and field goal holder (Matt Cassel) as a big issue.

[Sperm Edwards]

[Oh, those classy Bostonians. What a wonderful way to pay someone a compliment.]

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=175064

Sorry for the ribbing: Mangini proves doubters wrong

By Gerry Callahan

Boston Herald General Sports Columnist

Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - Updated: 05:27 AM EST

Dear Rib Boy,

We’re sorry.

We were wrong.

A year ago, when the Jets brought you to New York and introduced you as their new head coach, all we could think of were Newman from “Seinfeld” and Flounder from “Animal House.” We thought the Jets were just throwing the baby-faced fat kid in front of the cameras for a cheap laugh. It’s an old Vaudeville trick.

And make no mistake: Laugh is what we did on that first day. Laugh is what most people did when they heard you were taking Herm Edwards’ place in New York. It hardly seemed like the ideal job for a 35-year-old Wesleyan grad and former ballboy who had been an NFL coordinator for only one season and who had never even used the men’s room without Bill Belichick’s approval.

Then you stepped to the podium and opened your mouth, and we were convinced: This was a worse fit than Bill Parcells in bike shorts. You sounded like an eighth-grader trying to ask a pretty girl to the dance. You are a large man, but we were convinced the New York media would swallow you whole before you made it to your first minicamp. They had devoured many coaches over the years, hardened veterans like Rich Kotite and Pete Carroll and poor Ray Handley. Surely, they would ruin your life without thinking twice.

When you said you wanted players who played for the name on the front of the jersey and not the name on the back, we actually felt sorry for you. I mean, forget the fact that the Jets don’t have a name on the front of their jerseys, it hardly seemed like the kind of message that was going to resonate with Laveranues Coles [stats] or Chad Pennington [stats] or Pete Kendall. We were waiting for you to tell them how many I’s there are in team, too.

Back then, it seemed obvious why Belichick didn’t want you to take the job: You weren’t ready and he knew it. He was the youngest head coach in the NFL when he took the Browns job at age 38, and he had well-chronicled problems with the media and with some veteran players. And of course, he was smart enough to quit as HC of the NYJ when Bob Kraft came calling, and he probably was convinced it was a no-win situation for you, his portly protege.

He was wrong. Everyone was wrong about you. Sean Payton performed miracles in New Orleans this season, but he had Drew Brees at quarterback, arguably the MVP of the league. Reggie Bush fell in his lap. Your quarterback was coming off two shoulder surgeries. Your star running back, Curtis Martin, was all done. You used your top draft pick, No. 4 overall, on D’Brickashaw Ferguson, an offensive lineman who would take some time to develop. Not good for a head coach who desperately needed to establish credibility.

Payton, who went 10-6 and won the NFC South, did a great job in New Orleans. You did a better one in New York. You won 10 games when most people thought you’d be lucky to win half that. You took the Jets to the playoffs, which has to qualify as the biggest upset in sports in 2006. Now Mike Shanahan is home in front of his TV. Joe Gibbs and Bill Cowher and John Fox are all home. Bill Parcells would be home if he weren’t playing on the Nationwide Tour this season. Meanwhile, Rib Boy marches on.

How does this happen? In the same city, in the same stadium, Giants players tune out tough-guy Tom Coughlin while Jets players follow Eric Mangini like they’re under a spell. Boomer Esiason, former Jet and cynical New Yorker, says it’s amazing how completely the players have bought into Mangini’s system. Here’s what Kimo von Oelhoffen, a 13-year veteran who played on the Super Bowl champion Steelers last year, said to ESPN.com after one regular season with Mangini: “I’ve learned more football from that man in one year than I’ve learned in a long time. He doesn’t leave one stone unturned. . . . He works harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. He gets his point across and makes sure everyone knows his role, his responsibility, and the game through every situation, and when those situations arise, we know how to respond.”

Clearly, the Jets aren’t playing for the name on the front or the back of their jerseys. They’re playing for the chubby young guy on the sideline who never played beyond the NESCAC. In the second half of the season, your defense held opponents to just 12.8 points per game, best in the NFL. You’ve given up fewer big plays (20 yards or more) than any team in the NFL. You’ve coached them up in every way.

They’re playing for you, Rib Boy, and they’re doing it before your first full season is over. They’re listening, they’re learning, and they’re following their young coach on to the postseason and into Foxboro.

No one thinks you can win up here in the playoffs, but no one has been right about you yet. Except maybe your old buddy Bill. He never wanted you to go to New York in the first place. Maybe he just knew how good you could be.

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/jets/2007-01-02-running-backs_x.htm

Committee keeps Jets in the running

Updated 1/3/2007 3:41 AM ET

By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — When NFL teams refer to "running back by committee," they usually intend to have two players share the load. When the New York Jets use the term, it's time to find extra chairs.

The Jets have used a procession of ballcarriers to help compensate for the absence of injured star Curtis Martin, and their cumulative success is a major reason why they will travel to New England on Sunday for a wild-card playoff game against the AFC East rival Patriots.

"Sometimes that happens, when a group of people fill a void left by one person," says first-year coach Eric Mangini. "Curtis, he's a great player, and collectively I think the group has responded to that."

With Martin suffering from a chronic knee injury that caused him to miss the season and will likely force him into retirement, Mangini had no choice but to get creative.

Derrick Blaylock started the first two games before yielding to Kevan Barlow for the next two. Converted quarterback Brad Smith got the nod in Week 5 before Leon Washington opened the next three. Then it was Smith, Washington and Barlow before Washington earned four successive starts. Cedric Houston made it the equivalent of an NBA starting five when New York improved to 10-6 with Sunday's 23-3 win against the Oakland Raiders.

If it all sounds a bit confusing, it can get that way for players, too. Especially in the hurry-up offense.

"Particularly in the no-huddle, we never really know who's in the game," guard Pete Kendall says.

While the result of all of this shuffling has been less than outstanding, it was good enough for the Jets to snag a playoff berth in what was expected to be a rebuilding year following last season's 4-12 debacle.

They rank 20th among the 32 teams with 1,738 rushing yards, an average of 108.6 yards a game. Washington developed rapidly to finish with 650 yards, the fourth-most productive season in history by a Jets rookie running back, to go with four touchdowns. He was followed by Houston (374 yards, five TDs) and Barlow (370 yards, six scores).

The complexity of replacing Martin says everything about him. He went on the physically-unable-to-perform list Aug. 29 as the fourth-leading rusher of all time with 14,101 yards. It also speaks to the Jets' determination to overcome all obstacles.

"We didn't have time to have doubt, to say 'What if?' " says quarterback Chad Pennington. "It's been full-go since Day 1. Our young guys who haven't had opportunities have stepped to the forefront.

"Each week somebody you may not have heard of before, who has kind of been in the background, steps up and makes a play for us, and that's what football is all about. When you look at our team, it really has been a total team effort."

Mangini decided on each week's starting back based on practice performance and the talent that best fit that game plan. Washington, for instance, is at his best when he is able to break outside; Houston has a punishing style between the tackles.

It hasn't always been pretty. New York was held below 100 yards seven times, nearly half of the 16-game schedule, including a 26-carry, 27-yard effort in a strange 26-11 victory against the visiting Houston Texans on Nov. 26.

The effectiveness of the running game should go a long way in determining whether the Jets, already one of the league's biggest surprises, can defy skeptics once more. They were held to 51 rushing yards when they lost to New England 24-17 in Week 2. The group rebounded for 117 yards on the ground in a 17-14 road upset of the Patriots (12-4) eight weeks later.

Washington is confident the committee will respond positively to its next challenge because of the makeup of the members.

"The reason why it's worked well is because of our main theme. This team is selfless," he says. "When you have players who want to win for the team, you can accomplish whatever you want to accomplish."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070103/SPORTS01/701030373/1108/SPORTS01

Barrett's latest role: starting left cornerback

By Andrew Gross

The Journal News

(Original Publication: January 3, 2007)

Others might choose to label David Barrett's season as somewhat in flux, considering he's been a starter, inactive and a backup while playing the right and now the left side. The veteran Jets cornerback does not.

"It's been pretty steady; it hasn't been really a roller coaster or anything," Barrett said. "I did the same things I was doing when I got here, and nothing changed for me."

But circumstances have changed for the wild-card Jets (10-6), who open the playoffs against their nemesis, the Patriots (12-4), Sunday at New England at 1 p.m.

Steady left cornerback Andre Dyson is expected to miss his second straight game with an injured right knee, most likely leaving Barrett to start his third career playoff game.

"I'm excited to be in the playoffs," said the 29-year-old Barrett, who started both of the Jets' playoff games two seasons ago. "It's only the second time in my career in the playoffs, and you don't get here very often."

How the Jets' secondary plays will be critical because Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is a precision passer who exhausts defenses by spreading the ball around.

The Jets won at New England 17-14 on Nov. 12, but nine of Brady's 25 completions went to journeyman Reche Caldwell, for 90 yards and one touchdown. In the Patriots' 24-17 win at the Meadowlands on Sept. 17, veteran Troy Brown was their leading receiver with four catches for 51 yards, and Chad Jackson caught a 13-yard touchdown.

Barrett made two tackles Sunday against the Raiders, and Aaron Brooks, guiding the NFL's lowest-ranked offense, completed 15 of 26 passes for 136 yards and was picked off in the fourth quarter by rookie safety Eric Smith.

Barrett's signature moment in the game came when he stripped wide receiver Johnnie Morant of the ball after a quick slant, leading to cornerback Hank Poteat's recovery at the Raiders 44-yard line. The turnover set up the Jets' first touchdown.

"That's been a real point of emphasis for a while," Jets coach Eric Mangini said. "That was the first one in the game where we've actually gone in and (stripped the ball) securing the tackle. You can see the volume of force that he's putting on the ball to get it out."

Assistant defensive-line coach Bryan Cox works on stripping techniques during practice, and Barrett said the secondary runs a "distraction drill" to practice intercepting the ball.

"We try to exploit things out there that we need to take advantage of in terms of turnovers," said Barrett, who has 36 tackles and three interceptions this season.

Dyson started the first 15 games before hurting his right knee in a 13-10 win at Miami Christmas night and missing the playoff-clinching 23-3 win over the Raiders. He was expected to be listed as questionable on today's injury report.

So Barrett will likely take his spot at left cornerback again, as he did against the Raiders. That marked Barrett's first start since a 10-0 loss to the Bears on Nov. 19, and just his third of the season.

Dyson, on the left, often drew the assignment of guarding the opponent's top receiver off the line.

"As a corner, you should be able to play both sides," said Barrett, who did play the left side in college. "They should be interchangeable."

Except for Dyson, that would fairly describe how Mangini has used his cornerbacks this season. Barrett started in a 28-20 win at Buffalo in Week 3, then was inactive for three of the next four games as the Jets listed him as questionable with a hip injury. Barrett hinted he was fine.

Meanwhile, Justin Miller and rookie Drew Coleman took turns starting at right cornerback until Mangini decided on Patriots cast-off Poteat, who started the last six games.

Barrett, the Cardinals' fourth-round pick out of Arkansas in 2000, started 24 of his first 29 games with the Jets after signing as an unrestricted free agent following four seasons in Arizona.

"It is what it is," Barrett said. "When I'm in, I'm in, and when I'm not in, whoever is in is going to take care of the job."

[Sperm Edwards]

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxMjEmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcwNTAwNDgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2

Jets look ahead

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Jets (10-6) vs. Patriots (12-4)

Gillette Stadium

Sunday, 1 p.m.

Early line

Patriots by 8½

The Jets were six-point home underdogs in Game 2, when they lost to New England, 24-17. Eight weeks later they were 10½-point road 'dogs and covered by 13½ in their 17-14 upset at Gillette Stadium. From 2001-05 under Bill Belichick, the Patriots' home record against the spread was a gaudy 29-14-2, but this season the Pats are 2-5-1 vs. the line. Against the spread, the Jets under Eric Mangini, who was a big part of that Patriots' success, are 11-5 overall and 6-2 on the road.

On the hot seat

Jets LB Victor Hobson

Hobson is having his best Jets season and has been one of the leaders of the sub defenses with a team-high 11 tackles and two sacks. The heat will be on him to continue his production against the run, on third down and out of the blitz, all of which took an upturn beginning in Game 9 with an active performance vs. Tom Brady and the Patriots. However, Hobson needs to avoid any plays that could be interpreted as roughing the passer.

Game plan

The Jets will want to include elements of their plan from nine weeks ago that helped topple New England. Chad Pennington was at his short-passing best, especially in finding Jerricho Cotchery. (Will Kevan Barlow be active? He had his best game as a Jet in the Foxboro mud that day, but the Pats have since resurfaced with FieldTurf.) On defense, they threw a season-high 27 blitzes at Brady and could send the posse again. Patience on both sides of the ball will be a large key to another Gillette Stadium shocker.

-- Randy Lange

[BwanaZulia]

"If only Belichick would show a little more character when asked about his former apprentice."

True. True.

BZ

[JetCane]

[Oh, those classy Bostonians. What a wonderful way to pay someone a compliment.]

http://patriots.bostonherald.com/pat...ticleid=175064

Sorry for the ribbing: Mangini proves doubters wrong

By Gerry Callahan

Boston Herald General Sports Columnist

Wednesday, January 3, 2007 - Updated: 05:27 AM EST

Dear Rib Boy,

We

[Preston Howley III]

There are only three areas in which the Jets were substantially above average: Third-down efficiency (fourth at 43.8 percent), kickoff return average (fifth at 24.1 yards) and points allowed (sixth at 18.4 per game). They have just one Pro Bowler: rookie returner Justin Miller.

The Jets are the classic example of a team that plays greater than the sum of its parts.

And there are idiots in the press who actually have the audacity to suggest Herm -or anybody- could have done what Mangini and his staff have done. As if the Jets finishing 10-6 this year was no big deal.

They make me sick! A pox on them and their enablers at JI!

[BwanaZulia]

And there are idiots in the press who actually have the audacity to suggest Herm -or anybody- could have done what Mangini and his staff have done. As if the Jets finishing 10-6 this year was no big deal.

They make me sick! A pox on them and their enablers at JI!

Actually there are.

A lot of the talk down in Miami was of the "2004 Playoff Jets"...

BZ