Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 Pats not hospitable toward Gang Green Thursday, December 13, 2007 By J.P. Pelzman STAFF WRITER Coach Eric Mangini confirmed Wednesday that a Jets' employee was removed from the area behind one of the end zones at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, where he had been filming the playoff game between the teams in January. But Mangini said the filming was something the Jets do at every road game. They film from behind both end zones so that they can have video of the game with their players lined up in the foreground, both on offense and defense. He said they were not taping signals by the Patriots' coaches, and that New England had given permission to do so before both games between the teams at Foxboro, Mass., last season. "I don't know," Mangini said when asked why the Patriots did an about-face. "We had asked for permission It was granted and then that changed, and we respect their decision. It's their stadium." The Jets didn't ask if they could film from those locations Sunday. "Just didn't look to get permission," Mangini said. "Didn't think it would be granted." New England coach Bill Belichick declined to talk about the situation. "There are a lot of things that have happened in the past," he said, "but I'm not concerned about any of them." Snow Bowl? Early forecasts are calling for heavy snow in New England on Saturday night and/or Sunday. The Jets-Patriots game will start at 1 p.m. "If it's snowing, you make the necessary adjustments," quarterback Kellen Clemens said. "You make sure you've got a good grip on the ball before you throw it. You try to ensure things like the center-quarterback exchange, any time you're handing it off to a running back. But ultimately you try not to let it affect you. You're aware of it, and you take it into account, but you try not to let it affect you to the point where it rattles you or maybe it takes you away from your game." "Usually teams go to more of a running game [in slippery conditions],'' cornerback Darrelle Revis said. "I still think they'll pass as well because they've got so many weapons. But usually a team will try to pound you [on the ground] when it's raining or snowing." 7233044 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 Jets' Mangini ought to know taping was big deal Bob Glauber December 13, 2007 Eric Mangini offered a plausible explanation for the events that led to a Jets employee and his video camera being booted from Gillette Stadium during last January's Jets-Pats playoff game. The only thing he got wrong was his overall take on the matter. "It's really not that big a deal," he said. Sorry, coach. This is Jets-Patriots. Everything is a big deal. Especially when it's a Jets cameraman being ordered by stadium security to stop taping the game because the Patriots had been unaware of his presence. Especially in light of the Spygate scandal that rocked Mangini mentor Bill Belichick in Week 1, when Mangini and general manager Mike Tannenbaum turned Belichick in to the league and set off a dizzying chain of events that led to unprecedented punishment of the Pats coach. Bob Glauber Bio | E-mail | Recent columns This rivalry has come to be defined in recent years by the myriad confrontations between the organizations, and this week's imbroglio is only the latest. The revelations of what happened last season in Foxborough merely add to the angst. From Leon Hess swiping Bill Parcells from the Pats in 1997, to Parcells swiping Curtis Martin a year later, to "I BB resign as HC of the NYJ," to Robert Kraft swiping Belichick from the Jets. And the Jets hiring Mangini away from Belichick. And the Jets going after holdout receiver Deion Branch when the Pats let him seek a trade, to the Patriots filing tampering charges over the matter. To Spygate. And now to mini-Spygate. Yes, it's all a very, very big deal, and it has turned this rivalry into the most heated, the most vitriolic, the most personal that we've seen in any sport. It has turned into a virtual blood feud. This latest episode may have resulted from miscommunication by both teams, but the immediacy of the ejection of the Jets' cameraman tells you how seriously the Pats took the matter. And that they took matters into their own hands was kind of cool. When in doubt, tell the guy to take a hike. But there's an easy way to avoid such messy confrontations. At the very least, the NFL has to close the loophole to make sure nothing similar happens again. The league leaves it up to the teams to give each other permission for a second end zone camera. But why create a situation like last year's? Better to have both teams put in writing that they're giving permission for the extra camera, fax it to the league and be done with it. Surely 10 minutes of paperwork is worth avoiding the ugly confrontation between Patriots security and the Jets' cameraman. I wonder if the Jets wish they'd acted like the Patriots when they caught Matt Estrella illegally videotaping the Jets' defensive signals in the first quarter of this year's season opener. They had the choice of handling it themselves, as the Packers and Lions did when they caught the Patriots doing it in previous years. If the Jets had made Estrella knock it off, then kept an eye on him to make sure he didn't do it again, it would have been over and done with. Instead, it mushroomed into a mega-story. Had the Jets known what it would become, I'll bet they'd have handled things differently, and wouldn't have to answer questions coming up about last year's playoff game and Spygate. This whole thing took on a life of its own and the Jets ended up looking like tattletales, all the while stoking the competitive furor of Belichick and providing motivation for the Patriots to turn into one of history's greatest single-season teams. The Patriots might be the first team to go unbeaten in a 16-game season and win the Super Bowl. I'm not saying what the Patriots did was right; it wasn't. But I'm also not na Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 Jets' Coles thinks highly of Patriots fans BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com December 13, 2007 The Jets can't be expecting the warmest welcome Sunday in Foxborough. But at least one Jet was looking forward to it. "That's cool," Laveranues Coles said of walking into the hostility. "Our stands have been pretty empty the last couple of games we've played, so to get full stands and people making noise, it's an exciting ballgame. The more people the better." There were times this year when even the home crowd turned on the Jets, not to mention the Steelers game in which about half of those at Giants Stadium wore black and gold and waved Terrible Towels. In general, however, Coles said he's always had a pleasant experience in New England. "I think they're very nice," he said of Patriots fans. "Good people there. They don't cuss you too bad like they do in other places." Maybe not before, but considering the venom most Pats fans have for the Jets after the videotaping scandal in September, things could get pretty rough for the players close to the stands. Jonesing for end zone Thomas Jones is on the verge of his third straight 1,000-yard rushing season, but if he is unable to score another touchdown he would be the first back since 1995 to reach the plateau with only one score. Garrison Hearst ran for 1,070 yards and only one TD for the Cardinals that season. Since then several have had 1,000 yards and two TDs. Jones has 944 yards and a TD. That's almost twice as many yards as the next closest rusher with only one score, Denver's Selvin Young with 559 yards. Then again, the NFL's leading rusher is Pittsburgh's Willie Parker, who has only two touchdowns. Jet streams In an unorthodox move, the Patriots did not practice yesterday ... Bill Belichick was asked about his plans for greeting Eric Mangini after the game. "Well, right now my focus is on getting ready for the New York Jets," he said. "High-fives, I really haven't thought too much about that. Cartwheels." Cartwheels? Now that would be something to see ... WRs Jerricho Cotchery (finger) and Coles (ankle) were limited in practice yesterday. More articles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 Jets deny their taping of Patriots was illegal BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com December 13, 2007 The Jets denied there was anything illegal about their videotaping practices at last season's playoff game in Foxborough, calling the use of a second end zone camera "standard operating procedure." But they also said they won't try to do it on Sunday when they return to Gillette Stadium. "We had asked for permission, it was granted, and then that changed and we respect their decision," Jets coach Eric Mangini said yesterday regarding the Jets employee who was stopped from videotaping that playoff game early in the first quarter, as first reported yesterday in Newsday. Asked if the Jets were taping defensive signals at the time, Mangini's answer was a curt "no." He said the camera was in place to film the game. He said they had a similar camera in place for last season's Nov. 12 game in Foxborough without incident. "We do it every time we go on the road," Mangini said of the team's use of two end zone cameras. "We ask for permission to do it. It's within the league rules, and when people ask us to do it [at Giants Stadium], we grant it as well." Asked why the Jets have not requested permission for the extra vantage point for Sunday's game, Mangini said he simply didn't think it would be granted. Patriots coach Bill Belichick would not answer questions regarding the situation, nodding to other tensions between the teams but insisting he is focused on the upcoming game. "There are a lot of things that have happened in the past, but I'm not concerned about any of those," he said. The incident at Gillette Stadium preceded the more notorious videotape controversy between the teams that became known as "Spygate," making this latest revelation a Star Wars-like prequel. In September a Patriots employee was confronted by Jets security while taping Jets defensive signals from the sideline at Giants Stadium. The NFL confiscated the camera and its contents, and less than a week later commissioner Roger Goodell fined Belichick $500,000, the team an additional $250,000, and stripped the Patriots of a conditional draft pick that will be a first-rounder. A league source said the decision to remove the Jets cameraman did not come from Belichick, who was unaware of the conflict at the time it occurred. On Tuesday night the Jets confirmed the mezzanine incident at the playoff game, which seemed to contradict a statement by general manager Mike Tannenbaum in response to rumors in September. Yesterday the Jets clarified the discrepancy. They said Tannenbaum's responses of "Absolutely no truth to that whatsoever" and "Completely false" were to a question of whether the Jets, like the Patriots, had been filming signals from the sideline. When Newsday asked the Jets whether a member of their staff was caught videotaping the playoff game and told to stop, they confirmed the events. It is not uncommon for visiting teams to request permission to shoot coaching video from both end zones. Mangini said the team uses footage so that the camera is always at the back of the offensive players. There are no restrictions on shooting from both end zone positions as long as the opportunity is provided to both teams. No permission is needed from the league office. "It's a pretty common courtesy," said Mangini, who added he never bothered to pursue the matter with the Patriots after his camera operator with permission to be in one place was suddenly kicked out of it in January. Asked if he had picked up the technique of filming from both end zones during his tutelage under Belichick, Mangini said he had not. "It's just something we talked about and other teams have done it," Mangini said. "It's not really that big a deal." Sunday Jets at New England 1 p.m. TV: Ch. 2 Radio: WEPN (1050), WABC (770), WRCN (103.9) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 Patriots' Belichick to pay back Jets' Mangini BARBARA BARKER | barbara.barker@newsday.com December 13, 2007 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. You have to climb more than 100 steps to get to the scene of the crime, a chilly corner of Gillette Stadium that is sandwiched between the scoreboard and a sculpture of a lighthouse in the end zone. According to the latest twist in Spygate, it is from this remote outpost that a videocamera-wielding Jets employee was ousted by Patriots security during a Jets-Pats game last year. Ousted, despite the fact, according to Jets coach Eric Mangini, that he had permission to be there. Did the Jets really have permission? Was New England coach Bill Belichick aware of the incident? Was this just a bungle job by one badge-happy security guard or a part of a larger Belichick-led conspiracy? It took more than three decades to find out the identity of Deep Throat, and it looks as if Spygate is headed in the same direction as Belichick politely but deftly sidestepped all questions yesterday about the incident and his frosty relationship with former prot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 TAPE THAT PATS! NFL BACKS JETS IN FIRST Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 MEN OF MANGINI JETS MUST STAND UP FOR COACH December 13, 2007 -- BILL Belichick has been waiting three long months to unleash his hounds of hell on Eric Mangini. This is his chance to punish, to torture, to humiliate his young pupil, who to him is now nothing more than an ingrate tattletale who turned him in and tried to tarnish the three Super Bowl rings he won with Tom Brady and most of these current 13-0 players. As the Patriots drive for a historic perfect season, let me make one thing perfectly clear - Belichick's players have his back. If the Jets feel the same way about Eric Mangini that the Patriots feel about Belichick - and after 3-10, who can possibly say for sure? - they will show us they have his back Sunday in riotous Foxborough, Mass. "Coach is his own man; he can handle whatever's thrown his way," Kerry Rhodes said yesterday. "They're talking about him a little bit here and there, and saying that he told, and whatever, but we're behind him 100 percent whatever he does, and he's a reflection of us and we're a reflection of him. So, if they think he's bad, we're bad too." Sunday at 1 becomes a referendum not only on how much pride the Jet players have, but also on how far they will go to defend the honor of their coach. "In every organization, you should be playing for the other players and your coaches," Rhodes said. "I mean, everybody's a family here, we're all together and we all want to stick behind each other no matter what. Every organization, it should be that way, from top to bottom, from head to toe, you should always have each other's back, no matter. You should have the ballboy's back - if he falls, you should help him up. They're loyal and we're loyal." Belichick's remorselessness in running up scores is perceived by many as his way of running away from the notion of "Belicheat." The aspersion was cast on his players, as well. The Jets, who claim they were given permission to videotape during the January playoff game in Foxborough and were not penalized by the NFL, had better rally around Mangini the way the Patriots have rallied around Belichick. "That could definitely be a motivating factor for 'em, but I'm not in their locker room, so I really couldn't tell you," Brad Kassell said. Will you guys be rallying behind your coach? "We're behind our coach every time we step out on the field, regardless," Kassell said. "We go out there and play for the whole team, organization and stuff like that." Actions will speak louder than words this week, that's for sure. "It's not our Super Bowl, it's not our season, it's the next game for us," Chad Pennington said. It's the Spygate Bowl. "To be honest with you, it wasn't even mentioned, it wasn't even talked about in our meeting room, so it's a non-issue for us," Rodney Harrison said. Until Sunday at 1. steve.serby@nypost.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 An avalanche of evidence says only Mother Nature slows Pats Thursday, December 13, 2007 BY KEVIN MANAHAN Star-Ledger Staff FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- He's 250 miles away, but if you listen closely, over the rumble of the commuter traffic on the Mass Pike, you probably can hear Eric Mangini caroling to himself in his office by the blinking lights of the VCR: "Oh, sure, Brady-to-Moss is frightful, But tattling on Bill was soooo delightful, We can stop the Pats from 16 and oh, So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." Imagine Gillette Stadium as the world's biggest snow globe, with nearly a foot of snow on the ground, more falling, and bitter 30-mph winds whipping it all into a merry meringue for the Jets. Previously unstoppable Randy Moss is trying to run deep routes in snowshoes. Little Wes Welker is stuck in a snowbank. Laurence Maroney is spinning his wheels, and Tom Brady's passes are sailing like Tim Wakefield wild pitches. And when the game is over -- win or lose by a small margin -- Mangini, the head coach of the Jets, runs to the middle of the field to shake frostbitten hands with ... the weather man. Foxborough, local forecasters say, is about to get whacked twice with snow. Tonight's storm is expected to drop 4 to 6 inches on the area, and another weather system, predicted to hit in the wee hours of Sunday morning and continue through the day, could dump another 6 inches to a foot. The New England Patriots' record-pace offense could learn an important lesson: Mother Nature plays a mean Cover Two. Before this, Brady was licking his lips at the thought of the 3-10 Jets. Now that'll just make 'em chapped. Not that Bill Belichick, Brady's head coach, isn't already chapped enough. After all, Belichick is still smarting from the fines and draft pick he and the Patriots had to give up when Mangini finked on his former boss for illegally videotaping the Jets in September. Since that season-opener -- won by the Patriots, 38-14 -- and Mangini's call to the commissioner, the Patriots have spent the past three months venting their anger on 11 innocent teams and the mouthy Pittsburgh Steelers. So, it seems logical the Patriots (13-0) will want to teach the Jets a lesson, too. But the league prohibits pouring sugar into Mangini's gas tank, so Belichick was expected to run up the score. Blizzards and blowouts, however, don't go together. The Patriots are likely to stay unbeaten as they track -- like a Nor'easter -- toward a perfect season, but they might not be able to inflict as much pain (or as many points) as they want, not that Belichick would admit to lusting for that. Yesterday, in his news conference, it was snowing clich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 Clemens getting big opportunity against Patriots Thursday, December 13, 2007 BY DAVE HUTCHINSON Star-Ledger Staff HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Jets quarterback Kellen Clemens was asked yesterday if he has had an "I-can-do-this-moment" during his first six NFL starts this season. "I think each snap that I get, each opportunity, each series, each game, I grow as a quarterback and I improve," the second-year pro said. "If there is a moment where it all just dawns on you, I've had some times like that. I'm not going to sit up here and say I'm going to be (a starting NFL quarterback for many years) or I'm not going to be. "But I'm growing in confidence each week and looking forward to the opportunity that we have this week." The Jets (3-10) meet the undefeated New England Patriots (13-0) on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, and Clemens might find himself battling snowy conditions as well as Bill Belichick's defense. New England has scored a league-high 503 points, and Clemens must get the Jets' sputtering offense humming or it'll be a long day. Belichick has a reputation for making even the most seasoned NFL quarterbacks look like deer in the headlights. For years, he frustrated the Colts' Peyton Manning until Manning finally struck back last season and guided his team to a Super Bowl victory, beating the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Jets veteran Chad Pennington also has felt the wrath of a Belichick defense, which often changes from week to week and even series to series. "It's a great challenge," Clemens said. "They are the New England Patriots and they are Bill Belichick's defense. "Fortunately, I've had the opportunity to watch the last four times that we've played them, and have been a part of game-planning and trying to learn about the things that they do defensively while Chad was playing. I took those opportunities very seriously." Clemens, underwhelming against the Browns' league-worst defense last week in a 24-18 loss, is 2-4 as a starter and hasn't exactly wowed anyone. He has thrown four touchdowns and nine interceptions, including one in the end zone against the Browns. Not counting the four touchdown drives he had in a 40-13 victory two weeks ago against the Dolphins, he had led the Jets to only four touchdowns in his five other starts. His pocket presence and accuracy have been sticking points. Clemens has looked sharp in the hurry-up, two-minute offense, and has displayed a strong arm. He has made some outstanding throws but missed on others. He has all the intangibles you want in a quarterback -- leadership, toughness, escapability. Inconsistency has been his major problem. No one expects Clemens to be Joe Namath after just six starts, but the Jets went with Clemens and intended to use the remainder of the season to determine if he is their long-term answer at quarterback. A solid performance against the Patriots could help Clemens' cause. "There's always going to be growing pains when you have a young player who is experiencing things for the first time," Jets coach Eric Mangini said. "With the things that he has been asked to do and has a familiarity with, I thought he's done really well. ... He has kept us in a lot of games and won some games there as well." Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@starledger.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 'Spygate' precursor came off at Gillette Thursday, December 13, 2007 BY DAVE HUTCHINSON Star-Ledger Staff HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. -- Perhaps "Spygate" was a little payback from the Jets to the Patriots. Coach Eric Mangini confirmed that the Jets were told by Gillette Stadium officials to stop videotaping the teams' playoff game last year in New England from a mezzanine location in the end zone but said the team had received permission from the Patriots to do so. Unlike some teams, the Jets prefer to videotape their games from each end zone on the road (and at home), and Mangini said they always ask the opposing team for permission. He said the Patriots granted them permission for the regular-season game last season and initially gave the Jets the okay to film the playoff game from each end zone. The Pats then inexplicably changed their mind during the game and told the Jets' employee to leave the area in one of the end zones. The camera wasn't confiscated. The Pats won that game, 37-16. No other teams have denied the Jets permission to film from both end zones when possible, Mangini said. Mangini said the Patriots gave no reason for their decision. He said the Jets didn't request such permission for Sunday's game. League rules allow the visiting team to film from one end zone. Mangini likes to get video from both end zones because he prefers to study film watching his team from behind, which affords better angles. That's how he films practices. "We respect their decision. It's their stadium," said Mangini, adding that granting such permission is "a pretty common courtesy." Patriots coach Bill Belichick refused to address the issue, saying, "All of the past is in the past." In "Spygate," the Patriots were caught videotaping the Jets defensive signals from the sideline, which is illegal. Belichick laughed when asked to name his favorite Cleveland Browns ballboy, a position Eric Mangini held when Belichick was the head coach. 'Probably my son, Steve," Belichick said. "I couldn't put anyone ahead of him. He was young and inexperienced, but I had a soft spot for him." WR Laveranues Coles said the fans at Gillette Stadium have always been good to him and he doesn't anticipate a crude crowd despite "Spygate." Advertisement "Every time I've been up there, the fans haven't been as bad as other places," said Coles, joking that he was booed at Giants Stadium when Steelers fans took over in a Week 11 game. "They don't yell foul things. But now that I've said something, they really will." Also, Coles said the way players perform against the Patriots on Sunday will go a long way in determining their future. "Anytime you play against New England, you should get excited," he said. "It's a great team. I'm sure it helps in the off-season with guys and coaches grading them." Mangini does have at least one friend in the Patriots locker room. "I respect him," said Patriots S Rodney Harrison. "Eric, I've talked to him in the off-season. He's always treated me with respect. (He's) a guy I consider a friend." The Patriots didn't practice yesterday. Belichick has done that before, saying the team was tired. ... Coles (high ankle sprain) was limited but is expected to play. ... QB Kellen Clemens (thigh) showed up on the injury report. Kevin Manahan contributed to this report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kentucky Jet Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 New England Patriots Belichick says 3-10 Jets have firepower to take off 01:00 AM EST on Thursday, December 13, 2007 BY ROBERT LEE Journal Sports Writer Jets receiver Jerricho Cotchery, entangled with the Patriots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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